If you’re looking for the right perennials for your Calgary landscaping, you should consider perennials native to Calgary and Alberta. Perennials that are native here are most likely to survive. These plants are used to the cold snap of winter, and the highs of summer. Of course, Calgary Plants is your online and in-store source for local native plants! Let’s go over a few of the choices we offer…
Prairie Crocus
Prairie Crocus flowers in shades of purple and white. Generally crocuses are the first perennials to bloom each year, and they traditionally mark the dawn of Spring. These little fellas start attracting pollinators early, so if you’re looking to attract bees or hummingbirds, plant native prairie crocus!
Kinnikinnick / Bearberry
Bearberry is a prolific species, and it takes stake around the world in continents including Asia, Europe, and parts of Central America. Although generally these plants thrive best in cooler Arctic climates. Bearberry also has other common names including - but not exclusive to: Bear’s Grape, Crowberry, Hog Cranberry, Kinnikinnick, Mountain Tobacco, Sandberry, and Foxberry.
Limelight Sage or Variegated Mugwort
Mugwort and Sage are often used for their medicinal properties, and several species are especially prevalent in Europe.
Silver Brocade
Silver Brocade has other nicknames, including Oldwoman, Dusty Miiller, and Beach Wormwood. This plant thrives in sandy soil, and spreads quickly as ground cover.
Silver Mound
Silver Mound - like Silver Brocade - is another plant in the daisy family. Unlike Silver Brocade, Silver Mound grows in a balled up mass instead of a flat spread.
Giant Goat’s Beard
Goat’s Beard features a firework-shaped flower mass with tiny individual flowers that cascade off the stem. These plants are rather hardy, and contain medicinal properties within their roots.
Bunchberry
Canadian Bunchberry, or Creeping Dogwood, features bright green leaves with small white flowers. Late summer means Bunchberry fruit - which is edible, and relatively sweet!
Magnus Coneflower
The Coneflower is a member of the Echinacea genus. Echinacea is derived from the Greek word echino which refers to sea urchins - which are similar in shape to the flowers on these plants.
Joe Pye Weed
Joe Pye Weeds have big green leafs underneath pinkish firework plumes of flowers. Some varieties are white.
Prairie Smoke Avens
These native plants thrive in Northern America and had been traditionally used as medicine for tuberculosis by Plateau Indians.
Evergreen Candytuft
This plant makes great groundcover, and its flowers can often be observed cascading over rock walls. The flowers are prolific, and each bunch of flowers resembles a firework or fountain.
Meadow Blazing Star
These plants have unique flower structures, with each bloom surrounding a long cylinder. These are most commonly purple and pink flower structures.
Native Ostrich Fern
This fern features magnificent tapering leaves. These plants thrive in on riverbanks, and in wet sandy soil. They tend to thrive in late summer and early fall.
Evening Primrose
Evening Primrose originated in Southern and Central America, and has migrated northward over the ages. The plant features delicate yellow flowers that bloom in summer.
Remember, Calgary Plants carries all of these native Alberta plants online!