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Planting and Pruning

 When creating a planting guide for your space, we consider a variety of important factors—such as your hardiness zone, sunlight exposure, watering needs, and desired maintenance level. If you’re looking for more information about the plants we offer, or need pruning and watering guides for plants already in your garden, explore the collection below.

What are "Plant Hardiness Zones"

Canadian Plant Hardiness Zones were developed in the 1960s using a mathematical formula based on long-term climate data. This data includes factors such as temperature, wind, rainfall, snowfall, frost, and other environmental conditions. The resulting map helps Canadian growers determine which plants are most likely to thrive in their region.

Most of the Central Alberta areas we service fall within Zones 3b and 4a. Choosing plants that are well suited to these zones is an important part of planning a successful garden. However, hardiness zones are only one piece of the puzzle. Watering practices, fertilization, sunlight exposure, and shelter from wind can all have a significant impact on a plant’s ability to grow and thrive—factors that are largely within your control.

As a general rule, the hardiness zone map should be used as a starting point to help guide the process of selecting the best plants for your garden.

If you are interested in more information about the Canadian Plant Hardiness Zones please visit Canada's Plant Hardiness Site

Goats Beard

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This medium-sized perennial features striking plumes, dark green foliage, and reliable performance across a range of growing conditions.

Columnar Aspen

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Valued in the landscape for its rigidly columnar form. It has attractive bluish-green evergreen foliage which emerges blue in spring. The needles are highly ornamental and remain bluish-green throughout the winter

Karl Foerster Grass

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This grass performs well in a wide range of climates, remains attractive for months on end, and is not invasive in any way. Clumps are strongly upright, with dark green leaves. Soft feathery green plumes appear in summer, maturing into stiff wheat-coloured spikes, which last into winter. May be used in large groupings towards the back of a border, but also very effective when used more as a single specimen

Columbines

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The columbine plant (Aquilegia) is an easy-to-grow perennial that offers seasonal interest throughout much of the year. ... Columbine flower seeds can be directly sown in the garden anytime between early spring and mid-summer

Hens and Chicks

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Succulent rosettes with the parent plant being the hen, which dies after flowering, and the new growth chicks taking over. A great groundcover for a dry area with full sun and well drained soil.

Allium

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Allium is a large group of ornamental plants known for their round, globe-shaped flower heads and strong onion-like scent. Commenly known as a Ornimental Onion

Columnar Blue Spruce

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bright blue needles on a narrowly upright and columnar form, branches forking upwards at a sharp angle; best used as an accent, for adding dynamic interest to the skyline or for smaller home landscapes.

Blue Oat Grass

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This species is a large, clump-forming evergreen grass with blue leaves and tan seed heads held on tall stems. It flourishes in growing conditions similar to that needed by blue fescue. It prefers well-drained soils. Partial to full sun.

Hosta

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They’re one of Canada’s favourite perennials for 3 good reasons: they’re low maintenance, totally rock in the shade, and have more elegance in one leaf than most perennials have in their whole plant.The lighter colour the foliage is, the more sun your hosta needs. Deep, dark foliage keeps its colour best in more shade while variegated types need more sun to keep crisp contrast.

Bleeding Heart

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A graceful Perennial with a vibrant heartshaped flower dangling from its vine it blooms for 4 to 6 weeks in late spring and early summer. this partial shade plant brings a lovley variety to your yard

Salvia

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Salvia is a full sun loving, drought resistant plant that provides tall colloms of flowers in a beautiful shade of purple.

Globe Blue Spruce

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Small, dense globe-shaped shrub has a mounded form that forms a compact and dense shape as it matures. The globe spruce is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a distinctive and refined form. The attractive blue foliage remains through winter and new growth emerges silvery-blue in spring

Sedum

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A large group of succulent plants ranging from low groundcovers through tall upright cultivars. 'Autumn Joy' is a staple for the fall bed with stiff stems topped with rose coloured florets,Part shade to full sun, well drained light soil.

Snow In Summer

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Mats of silver-green leaves and bright white flowers in early summer are a great filler. It forms extensive fibrous root systems, and prone to spreading into places it shouldn't go. Well contained under spruce trees, and does well in most well-drained soils. Full sun to partial shade.

Hydrangea

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Hydranga are beautiful flowers that create large balls of petals and can come in many varieties from Annebelle Hydrangas that have round wight bouquets of blooms, to Vanilla Strawberry that present in more of a cone shape that fades from a white tip to a beautiful strawberry pink colour.

Spring Snow Crabapple

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A highly regarded ornamental tree just covered in snowy white flowers in spring, a hardy fruitless variety with a tightly oval habit of growth; makes a beautiful accent in the front yard, very clean and tidy, needs well-drained soil and full sun. This tree should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out.

Bloomerang Lilac

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This is the newest variety of lilac introduced for the garden, “Bloomerang”. This lilac will bloom in the spring at the same time as all other lilacs and then continue to bloom off and on all summer long. In the fall this lilac will have another large flush of fragrant blooms.

Catmint

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Aside from being a beautiful ornamental plant, it can also help your garden thrive by attracting butterflies and repelling pests. Additionally, catmint has had an extensive history of being a household herbal remedy. Its delicious minty taste makes it great to use in cooking but also to repel mosquitos.

Mother of Thyme

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This species forms an evergreen mat with tiny purple-pink clusters of flowers in midsummer and spreads by creeping stems.Average to dry soil. Prefers a dry sunny location - does well in sun to partial shade cast by spruce trees, along walkways and rock gardens.

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