Wakey, wakey! Native plants in spring

With the early end to winter, it seems spring has taken a long time to get going. That feels especially true to impatient old me at ​Lucas House​, Grounded’s native plant demonstration garden in Haliburton village.

But things are happening. And they’ll ramp up as we go through May.

It’s a nail-biting time in the world of natural gardening. All those native plant perennials have been waiting through the winter, ready to get going when the weather is warmer. There’s always the worry in my mind…will they actually turn green? Or are they all dead?!

The good news is, they’re starting. In this picture are Pearly Everlasting, Prairie Smoke, Black-eyed Susan, Heart-leaved Aster, Wild Strawberry and Slender Mountain Mint. Also showing some green but not pictured are Nodding Onion and Bottlebrush Grass.

Bottlebrush grass is a cool-season grass, which means it greens up in the spring but might go dormant in the summer when it’s hot. That’s in contrast to the, you guessed it, warm-season grasses, which need the summer heat to get going.

One thing I learned from Lucas House for future gardens is to include more cool-season grasses, so they green up earlier. After all, I don’t want Grounded’s gardens to look brown when all those lawns are a lush green. Right now, a lot of the grasses there, such as Little Bluestem, will need another few weeks to look alive.

Spring is springing! Now I just have to wait… But it won’t be long!