Canada 150 special
Viking maples invade Canada
Stephen Westcott-Gratton
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
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
Stephen Westcott-Gratton
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
Stephen Westcott-Gratton
The prairie crocus (or “pasqueflower”) often blooms with sumptuous cup-shaped lavender-purple flowers before the last traces of winter snow have melted.
Purple pulpits and trilliums
Stephen Westcott-Gratton
Appreciating native plants in Stephen Westcott-Gratton's garden: Jack-in-the-pulpit and trilliums. They take years to bloom, but are worth the wait.
