I’m excited to announce that Prairie Shore Botanicals has expanded to include a native prairie and woodland plant nursery.
When I landed the position of field technician for the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve back in 1994, I was ecstatic! The Preserve was only a few years old at the time, so my primary task was to inventory and make an official collection of all of the plant species that occurred within its boundaries. Laden with numerous field guides and botanical texts, binoculars and notebook, I wandered through pristine fields of blue-eyed grass, yellow stargrass and hoary puccoon, instantly falling in love. In my challenge to distinguish one species from another I was awed by the subtle, and not so subtle, differences between each one.
Over the years, I continued to discover new plants and add to the list that now includes 476 species. In subsequent years, my job description expanded to include monitoring the effects of various weather cycles and management activities on both native and non-native species.
In the last 20 - 30 years, native prairie plants have become increasingly in demand as ecologists seek to restore endangered grasslands and backyard gardeners strive to add something new and bold to their flower beds. Native prairie plants can be tricky to propagate and slow to grow and suppliers have responded by developing cultivars that are not only easier to mass produce, but have bolder colours, larger flowers and longer bloom times, among other modified traits.
Since historic Lake Agassiz dried up 9,000 years ago, local plants have been co-evolving with the surrounding insects, animals and fungi. As a result, various interrelationships and dependencies have formed within and between life forms. Take the western prairie fringed orchid, for example, which has flowers that only 5 species of moth are capable of pollinating.
Perhaps not surprisingly then, researchers have found that when native species and their modern cultivars are grown side by side, in the majority of cases, pollinating insects (bees, butterflies, beetles and others) prefer the native species over the cultivar - sometimes overwhelmingly. It turns out that larger flowers and more numerous petals often come at the expense of nectar or pollen production, and changes in flower colour may make a flower less attractive to the insect(s) it depends on for pollination.
With this weighing heavily on my mind, along with the realization that prairie restorations often omit the less common, but equally important, species found in pristine prairies, I decided to bring my love, knowledge and observations of local prairie and woodland plants together to provide an alternate source of native-to-Manitoba plants. My goal is to grow species that are less common and, as yet, not currently available at our other native plant nurseries in Manitoba, such as plants with a hemiparasitic nature.
So far, 30 species, adapted to a variety of habitat types from dry prairie to wetland, are available with more on the way as the nursery continues to expand. Anyone with an interest in backyard wildflower, pollinator and rain gardens, or prairie restoration, can find detailed descriptions of the plants in my online catalogue at www.psbotanicals.com/nursery.
I’m happy to say that I’ve developed a soil mix that is peat-free. I’m also striving to reduce plastic waste, so many of my plants are in unconventional pots. It’s taken some time and lots of patience, but I’m excited that the plants are healthy and ready to be planted in their new forever homes! To place an order, please email info@psbotanicals.com or call 204-425-3520.
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