![Bring Alaska Wildflowers into Your Home Landscape with These Tips! Bring Alaska Wildflowers into Your Home Landscape with These Tips!](https://i2.wp.com/www.adn.com/resizer//6uXU08YVr0BkVrbb-fxDx6QxGME=/1200x630/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/adn/I6PPVWKMGVAUXLQDCP5IIMUCAU.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1)
With free plant identification apps on all cell phones and a wonderful book by Verna Pratt titled “Field Guide to Alaska Wildflowers,” it is easy for Alaskans to identify Alaska wildflowers. However, perhaps even because they are called wildflowers, most gardeners have no idea that many of these beautiful and interesting plants can be integrated into the home landscape.
Growing wildflowers is somewhat beyond the scope of this column. Collecting them is too. That’s where Patricia Holloway and Virginia Gauss come into the story. Her book, “Wildflowers for Northern Gardens,” is the answer. Look for it at the Alaska Botanical Garden in Anchorage or the Georgeson Botanical Garden in Fairbanks before turning to Amazon.
If anyone can tell us how to grow native plants at home, it’s these two. Pat taught horticulture at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for about 30 years, and Virginia is probably more responsible than anyone for starting the Georgeson.
Let me say it again: If you want to grow any of our wonderful native wildflowers, whether they are found in a meadow, bog, hillside woodland, scree, or anywhere else, this is the book for you. Make no mistake either, this book is for growing Alaskan wildflowers, not wildflowers from Canada or the Great Plains or anywhere else, although it might be useful in those areas! About 100 Alaska Natives are covered.
Collecting wild plants can be difficult and, even worse, harmful. That means growing a lot of plants from seeds. However, there are no spring seed shelves for these. The team reveals how and when to collect seeds. Then they tell you how to clean and use the seed. Readers discover which seeds need to be “stratified” (exposed to cold temperatures) for a certain period of time or which seeds need to be “chopped” so that water can enter.
However, sometimes it’s perfectly fine to dig up a live plant instead of resorting to seed collection. When? And what plants can be propagated by a stem cutting and what time of year should a cutting be taken? Hey, the authors even discuss how to keep your cuttings alive while you finish your hike!
You can’t put most wildflowers in your garden beds and expect results. It is necessary to create the right habitat and introduce the right microbiome for the plants you want to grow. You need to know if the plants are perennials or self-seeding annuals. It would be a shame to add an invasive plant to your garden. Doing so gives a different meaning to wildflower.
Of course, “Wildflowers for Northern Gardens” contains the answers, as well as suggestions on the best native plants to grow and where to grow them. It’s all here in one place, grouped by habitat with collecting and propagation tips. It’s not much different than following the instructions on the back of a seed packet.
In short, “Wildflowers for Northern Gardens” gives you the products you need to be successful in growing native plants. This is truly a soup to dessert book. It has everything you need to add uniquely Alaskan elements to your garden.
Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar
Alaska Botanical Garden: Great gift shop and unique nursery. You don’t need to be a member to visit or purchase, but why not join? Visit now because there are great things in bloom. What better way to see what you would like to grow in your garden?
Composting: Be careful what you put in your pile! Be careful!
Dandelions: Cut them, do not spray them.
Unmowed May: We don’t have grass that needs much mowing in May. Instead, consider leaving part of your lawn fallow for pollinators and skip at least one mowing each month of the season.
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