NatureNB

In the spring, when you start to think about what to plant in your garden, perhaps start to think about incorporating native plants. Aquilegia canadensis, more commonly known as the red columbine, is a flowering plant native to New Brunswick. Besides being a native plant, it has a variety of features that make it a great addition to your garden.  

The Iris versicolor, commonly known as the Blue Flag Iris, is a native plant found in New Brunswick and other provinces from Manitoba to the eastern Canada.

This guest blog is part of a series of articles written by Mount Allison students, as part of a partnership between Nature NB and the Applied Native Plants and Pollinator Conservation course. Thanks to Dr. Emily Austen and the students for this ongoing collaboration!

Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) is an excellent addition to any home garden. These attractive, low-maintenance plants encourage pollinators to visit your home, benefitting both your garden as a whole and the larger ecosystem. 

Native wildflowers are our environment’s naturally occurring flowering plants. These plants evolved and grew alongside other plants and animals, such as pollinators, perfecting a fragile balance with each other that helped the ecosystem run properly. Verbena hastata, or Blue Vervain, is one such native wildflower. You may be familiar with these spires topped by purple flowers from driving past them in roadside ditches or from evening walks in wetlands and meadows. Blue Vervain plays an important role in our ecosystem as a popular stop for pollinators like bees, and as a stopgap for methane emissions in wetlands.