Bruce McEwen is replacing numerous invasive species and lawn with native wildflowers on his lakeside property. He writes: “We have 1.5 acres (0.6 ha) on Bob’s Lake. The land was cow pasture when my dad bought it in 1979. He turned it into a manicured lawn with some traditional gardens. The property includes shady lakefront, lawn, hills, woods, areas with shallow soil over Canadian Shield rock, and a sunny dry plateau – quite varying conditions to experiment with growing natives.
Over the last 3 years, I have winter sowed seeds of about 100 native species from the Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library, with varied success. Each spring, young native plants displace some more lawn. The property is large enough to accommodate additional trees. Five pawpaws winter-sowed in 2023 are planted on a hillside near two new hop trees and a struggling young tulip tree. There are also two young Kentucky coffee trees as well as numerous young oak and pine trees.
Half my gardening time is spent fighting invasives: dog strangling vine, dames rocket, ox eye daisy, lily of the valley, periwinkle, ditch lily, Chinese lantern, creeping bell flower and others. When an invasive is removed native seeds or young native plants go into the space.
