Please be advised, as a celebration of the prairie, only native plants will be sold at the Living Prairie Museum plant sales.
Now Blooming!
Philadelphia Fleabane
The more we garden closely with prairie plants, the more they show us their unique characteristics, behaviours, and survival methods, and the more we appreciate the prairie ecosystem as a whole. Prairie gardening is quite different, and sometimes people get a little discouraged by it's unpredictability. Please don't give up on these darling plants. We need them to keep our prairie ecosystems healthy.
Here's a question about prairie plants that I get asked all the time!
Where Did My Black Eyed Susan go?
Your Black Eyed Susan looks great for one or two years and suddenly it disappears! This is one of Black Eyed Susan's charming method's of survival.
Black Eyed Susan is considered a biennial or short-lived perennial, which means it will only live for 2 to 3 years. In contrast, many other prairie plants will live for several years. Short-lived perennials like Black Eyed Susan tend to self-sow, in other words, after flowering, their seed will drop and produce new offspring. This is how they ensure survival on the prairie. Instead of staying put year after year, and risking the death of an entire species due to extreme weather conditions, they put their energy into producing lots of viable seed. This seed will then emerge into new offspring when conditions are favourable.
Black Eyed Susans are pioneer plants, one of the first plants to grow after a fire or other natural disaster, which means they are very important for colonizing a new area or preventing erosion. These short-lived, self-sowers are also great for filling in spaces in already established gardens. If they like their space, they may grow plentiful, but will not take over your long-lived plants.
Black Eyed Susans enjoy poor, medium to moist soil, and full sun (at least 6 hours of direct sun). So, if you have a happy Black Eyed Susan in your garden this year, expect lots of little baby seedlings to grow next spring. Yay! Free plants! If no babies pop up, perhaps conditions were not ideal for the seed to germinate, and perhaps another prairie flower would be better suited to that space.
Black Eyed Susan
Thank you! Our 2016 Plant Sales Were a Success!
We would like to give a special thank you to the Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre for joining us at our May long weekend plant sale. It was a privilege getting to know the wildlife ambassadors and learning from their handlers' expertise.
And we couldn't have been more pleased to have our mentor John Morgan of Prairie Habitats Inc., provide us with a presentation based on his many years in the prairie industry.
Both Prairie Flora and JUST Community Market enjoyed talking plants with the party-goers. Proceeds from our plant sales at the garden party will help to support future community programming at the school. If you missed the event this year, you can still donate on-line or stay tuned for updates about next years garden party.
Mary Jane's Cooking School has beautiful core values which are based on a belief in nurturing today for a healthier tomorrow. With an interest in promoting healthful homes in healthy communities, their home cooking classes offer nutrition awareness, diet and weight control, life skills and feeding the family.
