Northern Wildflowers

06/25/2025

🌱 Know someone who's new to native plants and not sure where to start?

Share our list of Top 10 Native Plants to Start From Seed in Eastern Canada—low-maintenance, pollinator-friendly, and naturally beautiful. Starting native plants from seed is a rewarding and affordable way to create a resilient, biodiverse, and beautiful garden.

Get growing, your local ecosystem will thank you!

👉 Read more: https://northernwildflowers.ca/blogs/our-blog/top-10-native-plants-for-canadian-gardens

06/24/2025

🌱 "I tilled and sowed a wildflower seed mix—but now it looks like mostly w**ds are coming up!"
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone! When you clear an area and disturb the soil, it often wakes up the w**d seed bank—dormant seeds that have been waiting for light and space to grow.

👉 This is completely normal in the first year after sowing wildflowers. It doesn’t mean your seeds didn’t grow—it just means they may need a little more time to establish so they can compete with the w**ds in the seed bank.

✨ The good news? We’ve got your back! Use our Seedling ID Guide to help tell the difference between w**ds and your emerging wildflowers, so you know what to keep—and what to pull.

🔗 Seedling ID Guide Download here: https://northernwildflowers.ca/pages/2025-digital-catalogues

06/23/2025

Fresh from the garden! 🥬🌱 Radishes and Kale ready for the table — nothing beats homegrown.

06/22/2025

We've been enjoying a super simple homemade beverage the last few weeks and needed to share it with you. Rhubarb "Lemonade" has been our office treat this month, with rhubarb from the farm.

This refreshing and tart spring beverage is made entirely from fresh rhubarb - no citrus required. Its natural tartness gives it a lemonade-like zing, perfect for warm June days when you're craving something bright and refreshing. Best of all, there's no cooking involved - just blend, strain, and sip. It's a simple, seasonal drink that captures the crisp flavour of spring.

The super simple recipe is now up on our blog, just in case you want to try it yourself.
https://northernwildflowers.ca/blogs/our-blog/rhubarb-lemonade-recipe

06/21/2025

Restoration Research Spotlight: 🌼 eDNA on Flowers! 🌼

For this Pollinator Week edition of our research spotlight, we're highlighting a study on a cutting-edge way to monitor pollinators: researchers used environmental DNA collected directly from flowers—capturing genetic traces left by visiting insects—to identify pollinators visiting seven different native plant species. Their eDNA metabarcoding technique revealed a remarkable diversity of arthropods, exceeding what traditional camera traps could detect.

✅ Why it matters for Restoration & Pollinator Week:
Non-invasive: No handling needed—just swab flower DNA.
Broad scope: Detects even tiny, overlooked pollinators.
Powerful tool: Ideal for tracking pollinator-plant interactions in habitats.

This innovation supports our mission to restore native wildflower ecosystems and boost pollinator health. Let’s not forget how important this type of research is to helping and understanding the tiny heroes of our landscapes this Pollinator Week! 🐝🌸 Photos include 2 figures from the article including study site.

Read the full article here: Monitoring the birds and the bees: Environmental DNA metabarcoding of flowers detects plant–animal interactions https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/edn3.399

We have some very interesting research coming up on our own wildflower farm using this technology, and we're so excited to share more with you all!

06/20/2025

Today we celebrate the summer solstice — the longest day of the year! 🌞🌸

We encourage you to spend today outside, feeling the power of the sunshine. Take in the beauty of blooming flowers, thriving plants, and nature in full swing. 🌿

Astronomically, it’s the moment when the Earth’s tilt is most inclined toward the sun, giving us the most daylight of any day in the year. It marks the official start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. 🌍☀️

Whether you spend part of the day in the garden, go for a long walk, or get crafty with a homemade flower crown, this is the perfect time to celebrate nature's cycles and embrace your whimsical side. 🌼🌻 End the day watching the latest sunset of the year or with a campfire! 🌅

06/19/2025

🌼🐝A Week of Pollination Celebration 🦋🌾

Bumblebees – Fuzzy, Tough, and Charismatic

Canada is home to over 40 species of native bumblebees, each playing a critical role in pollinating wildflowers, crops, and native shrubs. From alpine meadows to urban gardens, these resilient bees are cold-hardy and built for the north — often the first to emerge in spring and the last to fly in fall. And they're fun to observe! Since bumblebees are large enough to spot and identify with the naked eye, they're an excellent gateway into learning more about native bees and noticing when they're visiting your garden.

Bumblebees also have one of the most unique life cycles among native pollinators. While most of our native bees are solitary, bumblebees form small colonies and nests, most commonly in the ground, in large tree cavities, and in chipmunk burrows. Each spring, a single queen emerges from hibernation and starts a new colony from scratch — foraging, building a nest, and laying the first generation of workers herself. By mid-summer, colonies are buzzing with hundreds of workers who takeover feeding the larva and stashing pollen, and by fall, new queens and males are produced to start the cycle anew.

That's right, only the queen hibernates and emerges the following spring! The rest of the colony must be reared again each year and will die by winter. Social insects are so fascinating.

Some are super specialized to thrive in harsh conditions like the high altitudes of the rockies or in the cold tundras of the territories. Others are generalists feeding on just about any flowers they find, and can thrive in many different landscapes.

These bees are also capable of flying great distances to forage when floral resources are scarce. One study found bumblebees can fly as far as 10km and still return to find their nest!

Bumblebees are a cornerstone of pollination in Canada. Protecting them means protecting the plants and ecosystems that depend on their incredible diversity and seasonal rhythms.

Some species, like the Rusty-patched Bumblebee (Bombus affinis) and Gypsy Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus bohemicus), are now listed as at-risk in Canada due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change. Monitoring including community science like Pollinator Partnership's Bee Blitz is important for studying changes in population and distribution of native bumblebees. If you learn to identify the common Bombus species in your area, you can help contribute to this research and conservation work!

Here's some resources for if you're as passionate about bumblebees as we are:
The best identification guide for the Bumblebees of North America https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691152226/bumble-bees-of-north-america
An E-Guide to Creating Habitat Gardens for Native Pollinators in the Greater Toronto Area https://foecanada.org/the-bee-cause/bee-garden-guide/
Lot's more resources from the Colla Conservation Science Lab https://www.savethebumblebees.ca/

This week we have a special offer of free wildflower seeds with every order. Visit our online store this week to pick your free packet of wildflower seeds!

06/18/2025

🌼🐝A Week of Pollination Celebration 🦋🌾

You're probably aware that native wildflowers are important for supporting pollinators, but we're here to spread the word that native grasses support pollinators too! Including native grasses in the landscape supports the caterpillars of many butterfly species, including Common Wood Nymph.

The Common Wood Nymph lays its eggs on Big Bluestem. Big Bluestem is a graceful, tall prairie grass and an important host plant for several butterflies and moths.

This is part of the reason we've been working to expand our offerings of native grasses, we currently have 10 species of native grasses available in our online store. They provide shelter, overwintering sites, and food for larval stages of our native pollinators.

Reminder that this week we have a special offer of free wildflower seeds with every order over $10. Visit our online store this week to pick your free packet of wildflower seeds! https://northernwildflowers.ca/collections/native-grasses-and-nurse-crops/grass



Caterpillar photo credit to Sara Bright.

06/17/2025

🐝A Week of Pollination Celebration 🦋

MOTHS!

Moths are more than just lamp lovers — they're beautifully adapted, essential pieces of our ecosystems. When you're choosing plants for a pollinator garden and looking at host plants for butterflies - don't forget their close cousins who also rely on native host plants to complete their life cycle. Pollination doesn’t stop when the sun goes down. Native moths take both night and day shifts, quietly supporting ecosystems in ways we’re only beginning to appreciate.

While often overlooked, these three moths show just how diverse and specialized our native pollinators can be:

Primrose Moth (Schinia florida)
With its soft pink and yellow coloring, the Primrose Moth is a perfect match for its host, the evening primrose. By day, it rests hidden inside the flower’s petals. By night, it helps pollinate while feeding—an elegant example of plant-insect coevolution. One plant, Common Evening Primrose, is the main food source for both larval and adult stages of this species. It's flowers open in the evening and close again by late morning, in sync with the schedule of this moth.

Clearwing Moths (Genus Hemaris)
Often mistaken for hummingbirds, these day-flying moths are agile, fast, and hover as they feed. Their long proboscis allows them to reach nectar in deep flowers that many bees can’t access like a straw, making them efficient pollinators for a range of native plants with tubular flowers.

Virginia Ctenucha (Ctenucha virginica)
A common sight on our farm in daytime, this species is active during the day and at dusk. With its metallic blue body and bright orange head, it's hard to miss. While it visits a wide range of flowers, its preference for open, meadow-like habitats makes it a great ambassador for grassland restoration efforts.

Psst... Don't forget every order over $10 placed this week includes a FREE pack of wildflower seeds to plant for the pollinators.

06/16/2025

🌼🐝 A Week of Pollination Celebration is here! 🦋🌾

We’re buzzing with excitement to give back to the pollinators that keep our world blooming this Pollinator Week. All week long, every order over $10 comes with a free packet of native wildflower seeds—you pick from 5 easy to grow wildflower varieties! 🌸🌿

Plant them for the bees, butterflies, and all the little garden guests that make life sweeter.

Let’s grow something beautiful—together. 💛

https://northernwildflowers.ca/collections/shop-seeds

Native wildflower seeds, seed mixes and bulk seeds for Northern gardens and restoration projects. We are a family owned business supplied by small Canadian farms including our farm in Northern Ontario.

06/15/2025

To the fathers and grandfathers who taught us to get our hands dirty, follow the sun, and grow wild — Happy Father’s Day 🌻🌿

06/14/2025

Spot the difference 🔎

These two varieties of Brassicas are close cousins so they share a lot of resemblance. The first photo is a northern classic - Red Russian Kale. Our most reliable and hardy kale variety. The second photo with darker plants is Purple Peacock Sprouting Broccoli, a gross between two colourful kales and Goliath Broccoli.

Of course you can eat the "broccoli" florets that shoot up out of both of these varieties just before they open and bloom. But Kales are bred to hold off from flowering or "bolting" to prolong the harvest of tender tasty leaves. Sprouting broccoli on the other hand, is bred to produce multiple sideshoots of sprouts to be enjoyed like broccolini.

All parts of these plants are delicious at different stages and they serve very similar purposes in the garden. But, we love these varieties so much we can never pick just one of them to include in the garden so we end up growing both.

Red Russian Kale: https://northernwildflowers.ca/products/kale-red-russian?_pos=1&_sid=6530c8ec2&_ss=r
Purple Peacock Sprouting Broccoli: https://northernwildflowers.ca/products/broccoli-purple-peacock?_pos=1&_sid=7d664d6d8&_ss=r