Carleton Landscaping

This summer come look at Plants Plants Plants 🌱 with us. Lecture and field trips to look at trees shrubs grasses native plants through out the summer April-June. All levels welcome. Starting April 7, link in bio.

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul. Alfred Austin. Artist, Marjolein Bastin. What does gardening do for you?

"Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers - and never succeeding."
-Gian Carlo Menotti
Some of the flowers: Eevergreen Huckleberry, Shrubby Penstemon, Coral Bells, Common Camas, Kinnikinnick, Lupin. Pencil Point Juniper in containers.
Carleton Landscaping specializes in reimagining the urban landscape to be present with past and future values. Our background as naturalists sees the disconnect between the other living organisms that exist with us and the ecological emptiness that traditional horticulture has imposed upon this place. Gardens and landscapes of today must evolve beyond just aesthetic placeholders to be admired and then ignored. But the fine balance is that they must also fit into traditional conventions of beauty that is valued by our society today. Connecting our modern architecture with plants that have existed here before is an act of decolonization towards a landscape that benefits more than just one species.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/insecticide-found-in-same-b-c-hummingbirds-that-are-in-decline-1.4196876

Insecticide found in same B.C. hummingbirds that are in decline | CBC News Some species of hummingbirds are in severe decline and a B.C. research scientist says one possible cause might be the same insecticide affecting honey bees.

The Genus Penstemon is endemic to North America. They rapidly colonized the continent after the last ice age (in the Pleistocene epoch) with species development and flower type linked primarily to ecological niches left by the retreating glaciers and selective pressure by pollinators. Penstemon species that are pollinated by bees restrict their pollen in small quantities over a long time period whereas hummingbird pollinated species dispense pollen in larger quantities over a short time period. The center of diversity for Penstemon species occurs in the western cordillera (Rocky Mountain and Cascades).

An example of one of the Penstemon species that occurs in our area is the Coast Penstemon. The Coast or Cascade Penstemon (Penstemon serrulatus) is a native shrubby Penstemon that occurs west (and east) of the Cascade Mountain Range. In the Fraser Valley it can be found in open spots and along creeks on the hillsides from Abbotsford to Hope, Chilliwack River Valley and in the Harrison area. It also occurs on the coast and the islands.

Coast Penstemon is one of the few Penstemons that will grow in 'moist' soils in full sun to part shade or in rocky soils that retain moisture. It grows in a mound form, 20-25 cm in height and width, and its stems can be pruned back in spring to keep it compact and bushy. Coast Penstemon can be used on the sunny margins of ponds and streams, in the pollinator garden or woodland edge.

Coast Penstemon is a critical forage plant for a native specialist bee, the Short Mason Bee (Osmia brevis) that depends on its flowers to feed its offspring. Preserving these age-old plant-pollinator relationships is up to all of us now and is a major reason that native plants should be found in all gardens – private and public.
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