Stephen Westcott-Gratton
Three tricoloured plants for Canada’s 150th party
Flowering plants that simultaneously bear blooms of three different colours – tricoloured plants – Campfire rose, ‘Genpei’ Japanese spirea, Carnaval weigela
Viking maples invade Canada
The widely planted Norway maple (Acer platanoides) is native from Scandinavia to Turkey, but imported to Canada and now an invasive species.
Mayapple and maidenhair fern flourish in woodland garden
Stephen Westcott-Gratton enjoys a large, robust mayapple colony and maidenhair ferns in his woodland-style front garden 100 kilometres north of Toronto.
“Canadian Wild Flowers” book: a labour of love 150 years ago
Catharine Parr Traill, Canada’s first popular chronicler of native flora and fauna, published Canadian Wild Flowers book with hand-painted images in 1868.
A gift from the West: The prairie crocus
The prairie crocus (or “pasqueflower”) often blooms with sumptuous cup-shaped lavender-purple flowers before the last traces of winter snow have melted.