Garden with Nature

Have you seen these “Lost” Ladybugs?

July 17, 2022

Two ‘Lost Lady Beetles’ – if you find one – WE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT!

These native Lady Beetles, once common in Ontario, are now endangered and Haliburton Highlands Land Trust (HHLT) is looking for them this summer.

Two not ‘lost’, but very rare Lady Beetles, if you find one – WE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT TOO!

If you think you see any of these Lady Beetles take a picture (from several angles if possible), with notation of location found, then post on iNaturalist “Lady Beetles of Haliburton County” project or email, along with your contact information to admin@haliburtonlandtrust.ca

Nine-spotted and Transverse Lady Beetles are species at risk (SAR) in Ontario and HHLT is trying to help! We will be searching our own properties and we are hoping you will help by becoming a Citizen Scientist and help sleuth on our behalf in your backyards or along your favourite hiking trails.

These beauties are not picky about their habitat, as long as they have food (like aphids). They will live in farm fields, meadows, forest edges, clearings, backyards and gardens…..so please keep your eyes open! Even though tiny, they play an unique role in the food web ecosystem. Each time a species disappears the food web gets weaker. We need to keep the web strong to support all life on Earth, including humans!

Not to be mistaken by these impostors:

Haliburton Highlands Land Trust 739 Mountain Street, P.O. Box 804 Haliburton, ON K0M 1S0
705-457-3700 admin@haliburtonlandtrust.ca www.haliburtonlandtrust.ca

Funding for this project was provided by the Government of Ontario

Photos obtained under Creative Commons licenses. Credits: Nine-spotted-Rebecca Ray, Jason Headley; Transverse—Lon&Queta; Two-spotted–urjsa; Parenthesis-Bloin Perrick; Asian and Seven spotted-Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Shoreline Restoration

April 8, 2022

The ribbon of land between the lake and cottage has undergone monumental changes since lake development began. Many cottage owners removed the natural vegetation at the shoreline in an attempt to urbanize the area. We now understand that this has disturbed the natural environment for wildlife as well as reducing the water quality of the lakes with serious repercussions for human health.

Shoreline protection and an understanding of how it affects waterways is critical for a variety of wildlife species including spawning fish, turtles and nesting waterfowl as well as terrestrial song birds and small mammals. A dense strip of native vegetation is an important buffer filtering snow and water runoff and preventing soil erosion and providing a continuous wildlife corridor.

Experts agree that preserving and restoring cottage shorelines with native vegetation is the best solution for water quality and long-term shoreline stability. This would be the way nature kept shorelines stable and our lakes and streams clean long before the impacts of human development. Native plants are those that occur naturally in a region in which they evolved. They are the ecological basis upon which life depends, including mammals, birds and people. Without them and the insects that co-evolved with them, local birds cannot survive. Native wildlife of all kinds is reduced when the land along the shoreline is paved, turfed, ornamented and exposed. Clear-cutting vegetation, creating steep slopes or mowing to the water’s edge come with consequences.

Sourcing native plants is a lot easier than it used to be. A list of native plant nurseries and resources is provided at the end of the document. The use of fertilizers encourages weeds to the detriment of native plants. Pesticides are detrimental to all living things including humans, aquatic and terrestrial life.

We have created a document that attempts to bring together in one place a description of many common native species that will grow in the Highlands (Zone4), including those that are likely to be available from area nurseries. This revised document also includes the native insects and wildlife that are attracted to native flora as well as some edible and medicinal information about the plants.

This document can be used to help property owners identify the native plants that are already growing on their land so they can ‘preserve’ them and secondly to help property owners choose which natives to purchase and plant in order to ‘restore’ their property.

Download PDF Version Here

Beware of Invasive Species

March 22, 2022

There is perhaps a tendency to mistakenly think of plants as being “rooted in place”. However, their ever increasing ability to travel through direct and indirect human assistance to new habitats both near and far can be a blessing or a curse…depending upon just how successful they are in relocating and the resulting threat that success creates in displacing natural vegetation.

A plant that succeeds at the expense of natural or cultivated vegetation soon becomes identified as an “Invasive Species”. Invasive species are plants that are alien to their new habitat and have biological characteristics such as strong root and reproductive systems and vigorous growth habit that allow them to outcompete and eventually threaten the viability of native or cultivated plants. This can result in reduced biodiversity and alteration of natural habitats that then impact negatively on both native flora and fauna. Native species can be deemed invasive if changing environmental circumstances allow them to overtake other native species within their habitat such as the case with the Manitoba maple which in many areas of Canada is now considered an undesirable “weed tree”.

Invasive species tend to be most problematic in areas that have been “disturbed” through human activity. They become very difficult to control or eradicate through natural means and when the threat to native plant and animal populations, successful cultivation of cash crops or human enjoyment of natural areas is heightened, they become the focus of programs aimed at eradication or at least limiting their spread to other areas.

It is the responsibility of all gardeners to be aware of the “invasive status” of any plant they bring into their gardens and to ensure they do not inadvertently contribute to increasing the level of threat these invasive species bring to the health of our natural species and habitats.

The following three invasive species are ones that I personally have struggled with in our home property in Southern Ontario (GTA) and cottage property in Central Ontario (Haliburton). They require constant vigilance in monitoring for new invasions and continuing efforts to control existing infestations. Left unattended they would quickly overrun both our gardens and the natural woodlands and meadows surrounding our properties. We do not use herbicides, but with large infestations that threaten natural areas this option may have to be carefully considered and the risks weighed in order to minimize the damage and contain the spread of these species. Researchers are also looking at biological ways to contain these invasive species and hopefully in the near future we will be able to address the spread of invasive species with less risk to the environment.

Garlic Mustard

Scientific Name: Alliaria petiolata
Family Name: Mustard Family (Cruciferae)
Type of Plant: Herbaceous Biennial; Non-native plant introduced by early colonists as a cooking/medicinal herb
Habitat/Culture: Woodlands, forest edges and trails, roadside ditches; highly adaptable in terms of light, soil and moisture requirements
Level of Threat: High

Description – Identifying Characteristics:

Height: up to one meter tall

Spread: 10 – 15 cm.

Stem: Tall with little branching; smooth or with a few simple hairs.

Leaves: First year plants produce dark green rosettes of a few to many leaves; leaves vary in shape from first year obovate (kidney) shaped with broad, rounded tip to second year upper leaves that are narrower and ovate with an acute apex and more deeply serrated, margins arranged alternately

Roots: Shallow fibrous root system that typically has a characteristic s-shaped bend that helps the plant “grab” the soil. Mature plants are however easily uprooted with hand pulling.

Flowers: Small, white, flowers with 4 petals, 3-6mm long and wide; grow predominately at the end of the stem in late spring to early summer. Leaves and flowers have garlic-like smell.

Propagation: Prolific seed producer. Short pedicels bear narrow seedpods that readily dry out in mid-late summer and burst open releasing small black seeds. One plant may produce up to 800 seeds that can remain viable in the soil for up to five years.

Control: Infestations spread rapidly. Control requires early detection and eradication generally through hand pulling. Once established, focus on containment and prevention of further spreading by pulling or cutting before seeds are produced. Careful disposal of pulled plants required due to hardiness of seeds.

Bind Weed

Scientific Name: Convolvulus sepium (Hedge Bindweed) C. arvensis (Field Bindweed)
Family Name: Morning Glory Family (Convolvulaceae)
Type of Plant: Vigorous perennial vine. Readily adaptable to disturbed soil areas
Habitat/Culture: Forest edges and trails, abandoned fields, roadside ditches, gardens, lawns
Level of Threat: Low – Medium

Description – Identifying Characteristics:

Height/Spread: Vines grow quickly up to 5 meters; can form dense, tangled mats.

Stem: Long slender, trailing, twining or creeping smooth stems with extensive branching.

Leaves: Arrowhead-shaped (hastate) alternate leaves with prominent lobes at leaf base; 2- 10 cm long, with smooth margins.

Roots: Deep, extensive root and rhizome system. Also capable of rooting from each stem nodule.

Flowers: Resemble miniature white, trumpet shaped ornamental morning glory blooms. Generally appear singly in axils of leaves; flower stalk has two small leaf bracts.

Propagation: Introduced to new area by seeds spread by birds, water, manure or as commercial seed contaminants. Seeds have a hard, impermeable seed coat, and can remain dormant in the soil for over 20 years. Once established spreads rapidly through vigorous roots and rhizomes that can regenerate if top removed.

Control: Very difficult to eradicate. Small new infestations may be controlled through repeated removal of top growth and deep cultivation that depletes root system. Larger established infestations require crop rotation and consideration of careful, repeated application of selected herbicides to destroy root.

Dog Strangling Vine

Scientific Name: Vincetoxicum nigrum (L.)
Family Name: Milkweed Family (Asclepiadaceae) (this can confuse Monarch butterflies that require true Milkweed plants for egg laying and survive of larvae)
Type of Plant: Aggressive perennial twining vine that readily adapts to disturbed soil. Tolerates variety of soil and moisture conditions.
Habitat/Culture: Forest edges and trails, fields, fencerows, roadsides, ravines
Level of Threat: Medium – High

Description – Identifying Characteristics:

Height/Spread: Vines grow up to 2 metres.

Stem: Long, herbaceous or woody twining stems that quickly scramble over ground, rocks, and vegetation forming impenetrable masses that “strangle” out other species.

Leaves: Ovate shaped leaves with rounded base and sharply pointed apex. Leaves are opposite (2 per node) with small hairs present on smooth margins and heavy veining on underside.

Roots: Vigorous fleshy, fibrous rootstalk or rhizome becomes more woody with age.

Flowers: Small pink, red-brown to dark maroon/purple flowers that begin in late May and end mid-July.

Propagation: Reproduce by seed and by massive underground root system (rhizomes). Seed is extremely viable once it germinates and the rhizomes can also propagate many new plants. Fruit pods resemble long narrow milkweed pods and release large numbers of parachute seed from mid-August to early-November.

Control: Very difficult to eradicate. Requires vigilant mowing and if possible removal of entire root system. Large aggressive infestations may require carefully considered and controlled use of herbicide Arsenal (preferably by professionals).

Resources
Chambers B, Legasy K, Bentley, C. 1996. Forest Plants of Central Ontario, Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton, Alberta.
Invasive Species Canadian Wildlife Federation http://www.cwf-fcf.org/en/resources/encyclopedias/invasive-species/
Canadian Wildlife Services – Invasive plants and their biology, impact and control options http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/publications/inv/11_e.cfm
Fydon, Andrew. Andy’s Northern Ontario Wildflowers Invasive Plants of Ontario http://www.ontariowildflower.com/invasive_plants.htm#top
Royal Botanical Gardens Invasive Plants http://www.rbg.ca/cbcn/en/projects/invasives/invade1.html
Invasive Plants List http://www.rbg.ca/cbcn/en/projects/invasives/i_list.html
The Ontario Woodlot Association – Invasive Exotic Species in Your Woodlot, S & W Report/FallWinter 2001, Vol. 22 http://www.ont-woodlot-assoc.org/sw_invasive_ex otic.html
Garlic Mustard Wisconsin Family Forests 2009 – Garlic Mustard Identification and Control http://www.in-sitevideo.com/wff/garlicmustard.html
Michigan State University Extension – About Garlic Mustard http://www.ipm.msu.edu/garlicAbout.htm

Bindweed
Garden Wise Online, – Invasive Bindweed – July 2008 http://www.gardenwiseonline.ca/gw/ask-pros/2008/07/18/invasive-bindweed
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs – Field Bindweed Fact Sheet http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/01-007.htm

Dog Strangling Vine
Fydon, Andrew. Andy’s Northern Ontario Wildflowers Invasive Plants of Ontario http://ontariowildflowers.com/main/species.php?id=200
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs –Dog Strangling Vine – An Invasive Species Creeping into Agricultural Fields http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/field/news/croptalk/2006/ct_0306a7.htm
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs – Ontario Weeds – Dog Strangling Vine http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/ontweeds/dogstrangling_vine.htm
Routh, John. Task Force Vice-Chair, Living in Toronto – Have you seen this plant? Dog strangling Vine. http://www.toronto.ca/don/dsv/index.htm

Blue Flag Iris

January 25, 2022

Blue Flag Iris (Native Ontario Wildflower)
Other Common Names: American Blue Flag, Dagger Flower, Flag Lily, Larger Blue Flag, Multi-coloured Blue Flag, Poison Flag, Snake Lily, Water Flag
French Names: Iris versicolore
Habitat: Marshes, shallow water, preferring sun to part shade and wet feet
Flowers: Its deep blue flowers bloom in July atop stems that reach 60-90 cm.

Perennial that spreads by fleshy rhizomes
Ripe seed pod will split open and release seeds
Muskrats will not eat the rhizomes

Irises make an attractive display in shallow water
All parts of the plant are toxic

Erosion Solutions From Heavy Rain

October 25, 2021

Question: Can you slow water runoff at the top of a slope?

Haliburton County Master Gardener advises you to build a small rain garden at the top of your slope. Add a small berm at the top of and/or mid-way down your slope. Put in a berm of logs, branches, soil and/or rocks to slow down the water running off and to allow time for the rain to absorb and for plant roots to establish. The idea is to place any material that will act to obstruct or slow down the path of water. Organic material has the additional benefit of providing texture and nutrients to your soil as it breaks down.

Clearing a shoreline or hillside of herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees can lead to erosion if not re-planted. Longer, steeper slopes, especially those without adequate vegetative cover are more susceptible to very high rates of erosion during heavy rains than shorter, less steep slopes.

Please remember that a rain garden is not the same as a water garden. There are 5 components to a rain garden:

1. Depression
2. Amended filter bed (see wood log trench below)
3. Berm on the low side
4. Rockery to slow water entering the garden if necessary
5. Plants tolerant of water and long periods of dryness (i.e. 2-3 days of standing water)

A rain garden is a low tech solution for a location that periodically gets inundated with water. For example some downspouts can’t handle the quantity of rain and the spill over can cause existing vegetation to die and erosion of soil. Hard surfaces channel water during torrential rain and spring snow melt events that cause erosion particularly on steep slopes. A rain garden and berm might be an affordable solution. A 5X10 foot rain garden 6 inches deep is equivalent to 11 rain barrels.

Dig your rain garden (12-18” deep) and fill with a combination of logs, branches, and wood chips at different stages of decomposition. Add native soil and locally composted organic matter. Plant. Remember good humid soil will store a lot of water. Other practices for extreme sites is to mulch deeply, contour the soil, plant native species adapted to the location and plant densely.

Select the Right Plants

In this situation plants that can withstand short periods of flooding and long periods of dryness are required. Xeriscaping plants i.e. those that tolerate drought won’t do well in a condition that includes extreme wet and extreme dry. Likewise plants that require constant moisture will not do well.

Do favor native over non-native plants and do not plant fast growing invasive plants however tempting that might be to stabilize your slope.

The following native Ontario plants can tolerate moist and dry soil:

Aster (Aster spp.)
Bergamot, Wild (Monarda fistulosa)
Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta)
Blazing stars, Rough (Liatris aspera)
Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis)
Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens)
Goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
Verbena (Verbena spp.)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Sweet gale or bog myrtle (Myrica gale L) Myricaceae (Wax-myrtle or bayberry Family)
Non invasive ornamental grasses, native sedges (they look like grasses and can tolerate some shade), and rushes. Hierochloe odorata or Sweetgrass
Marginal Woodfern (Dryopteris marginalis) can tolerates mid-summer drought if planted in the shade.
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) a Zone 3 Ontario Native that is heat and drought tolerant,
Liatris aspera or Blazing Star, another Ontario native,
Schizachyrium scoparium or Little Bluestem (Ontario native)
Highbush Cranberry (V. trilobum or V. opulus var. americanum). This native shrub likes to grow in open, wooded, somewhat poorly drained locations. In the ideal location, cranberry can become very wide, often three meters or more, and reach about the same height.
Low bush Cranberry or Squashberry (V. edule)
Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago) will grow almost anywhere including shade, but they take on their best form in full sunlight. In full sun their fall leaf colors will be a vibrant purple-red.
Common or Eastern Ninebark up to 3 m, spring flower cluster, berries

Credit Valley Conservation planted native plants in their rain garden. They chose the following plants because they were widely available at local nurseries: Red Osier Dogwood, New England Aster, Tall Meadow Rue, Black Eyed Susans, Canada Anemone. Shade-tolerant native plants included: Common elderberry, Sensitive Fern and Heart leaved Aster.

A dense base of day lilies and irises will give you a fibrous root system. While they aren’t native they are often planted in a naturalized landscape.

To buy plants please try your local garden center and check other sources listed in our list of suppliers and services here.

Article Sources

Credit Valley

Toronto Zoo

For additional plant selection please see Appendix C, List of Plants tolerating both wet and dry conditions. University of Guelph

Go Wild

July 4, 2020

Go Wild Article

"Homeowners in the Highlands are realizing that, in many cases, nature does it best. Discover how using naturalist planting can enhance your cottage - and your own well-being."

View PDF here>