SHIFTING ROOTS

home, garden, food, and prairie lifestyle

25 Drought Tolerant Native Plants for the Prairies

Gardening in a drought is no fun. Sure, if you have access to city or well water, you can keep everything living. But nothing will really thrive. As gardeners, we like to be conscious of our footprint on the environment and save water where we can.

One of the best ways to do this is to plant native plants. Once established, these perennial flowers and bushes will help beautify your yard and be able to withstand a drought year. Plus, they are generally very low maintenance–win win!

Be Responsible, Don’t Remove Native Plants From Their Habitat

When I say native plants, I am going to be talking about mostly domesticated varieties that are available in garden centres. Please DO NOT scour country side ditches and transplant native plants to your home. It may seem like you’re helping an endangered species by giving it a controlled environment, but you’re actually hurting it.

Native plants need the specific ecosystem they are in to thrive. Your garden is not that ecosystem. Plus, you’ve just taken away a future source of seeds for that plant from the area.

Finally, removing native plants is illegal and there are steep fines. Ladyslippers and Prairie lilies are gorgeous, but are really best enjoyed in their native Prairie habitat.

Finally you can have a drought tolerant, low maintenance landscape in your yard...if you plant these native perennial flowers and shrubs. Help save water and have a beautiful yard at the same time. #nativeplants #zone3 #perennials #flowers

Where Do I Buy Native Plants?

The varieties I’m suggesting today should be available for purchase at most local greenhouses, or by mail order. However, if you’d like to go further into the world of native plants, your local Native Plant Society will likely have a list of places you can responsibly order seeds from. Here are links to the native plant groups in the three Prairie Provinces.

Do Drought Tolerant Plants Need To Be Watered?

In short, yes. Like any other bush or perennial, your plants need to be watered every day (unless it’s raining or the ground is saturated) the first year until they are more established. I personally would water them in the second year as well, especially if the weather is abnormally dry or hot.

After the third year, your native plants should require very little care.

Easy to Grow, Low Maintenance Native Plants for the Prairies

One last disclaimer–this list is intended for a beginner gardener in the Prairie Provinces or even the Mid-West of the United States. I garden in zone 3 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and my list is best suited for this area.

I’ve strived to pick plants that are readily available and drought tolerant. This means, they may not be the exact native variety, but a naturalized one. I hope you find this list with pictures helpful!

If you would like to go further in your native plants journey, I urge you to see the sites I’ve suggested above. Is there a plant you feel should be on this list? Let me know in the comments!

Edible Fruit Trees

Saskatoon Berry

Chokecherry

Buffalo Berry

Sand Cherry

Highbush Cranberry

Hazlenut

Shrubs

Dogwood

Prickly Rose

Showy Mountain Ash

There are lots of beautiful native shrubs, but unfortunately, it is not so easy to find stock photography of them. Please see this website for plenty of shrub options with pictures. I think the Mountain Maple and Smooth Sumac would also be beautiful options.

Flowering Perennials

Sage

Wild Blue Flax

Coneflower

Crocus

Gaillardia

Wild Columbine

Related: 5 Reasons to landscape with native plants

Aster

Goldenrod

Yarrow

Hyssop

Liatrus

Black Eyed Susan

Scarlet Mallow

Grasses

There are many beautiful grasses you can grow to add winter interest and movement to your garden. It is suggested that you grow at least one cool season and one warm season variety. Click here to read more and discover different varieties.

Vines

Wild Hops

Virginia Creeper

Virginia creeper can become invasive, so plant with caution!

Which one of these resilient plants will you plant? Or will you create a whole flower garden with them?

A Few Wins Along The Way: June 2019 Garden Tour

Last time I wrote about the state of my garden, almost everything seemed like a huge struggle. We were experiencing the driest Spring on record, and all the plants were struggling big time. Now that we’ve finally gotten some rain, things are turning around and hopefully the rest of the season will go much smoother!

For today’s garden tour, I want to share with you some of my successes, as I’ve conquered growing two vegetables that previously alluded me. And our yard is really starting to take shape!! After four years of working on it, it’s exciting to see it finally come together. So grab a coffee, sit back, and come and see my garden. . .

Vegetables Of Success

Broccoli

Two years ago I grew one (yes only one) successful head of broccoli. And I forgot to take a picture of it!! This year, my broccoli game is looking strong. I started these from seed, and made this cover with hoola hoops to keep the bugs and the birds away. For once I’ve also gotten my act together and put mulch around my vegetables. It seems to be making a difference.

Broccoli with mulch under a row cover. This actually keeps out the birds and the bugs so you can grow the best broccoli in your vegetable garden. #vegetablegarden #broccoli #bugs #birds #pests

Row covers are one of those simple, but impossible-seeming gardening tasks. Where do you get row covers? What if they don’t exactly fit my plants? My row cover DIY fixes all that. Here’s how to make it.

A DIY row cover made from hoola hoops and white cloth to keep out the birds, in a raised bed garden.

Radishes

I have never been able to grow a successful radish. They always bolted, or I would pick them and there would be just a tiny root. Here are my radishes this year:

My first crop of radishes!

They’re not crazy big, but they look like an actual radish and I’ll call it a win. I have a few more that I didn’t pick yet, so hopefully those will be bigger.

Watermelon

This watermelon was a serious struggle-melon. My Mother-in-law gave me a pack of seeds that a friend of hers had saved. She trusted me to start some for us and be successful with them.

I started 12, only 3 came up, one died immediately, and it was down to 2. With much trepidation I started hardening them off. Only this one made it.

Yellow watermelon seedling in a zone 3 garden in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Hopefully I’ve kept all the squash far enough away from it so it doesn’t cross. Last year I accidentally crossed a watermelon and a butternut squash. It’s still in my kitchen, but I don’t have the heart to eat it.

Spinach

Spinach is another crop that I’ve grown, maybe gotten a few leaves off of, and then it bolted. I never had enough for a salad. Not this year!!

Spinach with marigolds.

The trick? Covering it.

I had to cover it with white garden fabric because the birds would have eaten everything. But that plus a cool spring made for a successful harvest.

Peppers

I can not get over these peppers. I will probably be bragging about these peppers for seasons to come (unless something horrible happens before they ripen). I’ve never had peppers this big in June ever. They’re actually so loaded that they’re falling over and I have to stake them.

A huge pepper grown in zone 3 in Saskatoon Saskatchewan in the middle of June! #peppers #vegetablegarden

Square Foot Gardening & Companion Planting

Last year I made the switch to square foot gardening and I haven’t looked back. I’m particularly proud of how this bed turned out.

A square foot gardening plan that actually works in real life! Cosmos, peppers, marigolds, beets, spinach, and nasturtiums make a lovely pairing in this raised bed vegetable garden in zone 3. #raisedbed #squarefootgarden #vegetables

One of my goals this year was to incorporate more flowers with my vegetables and it’s been really successful. I love how it looks and hopefully the plants are being helped too. I’ve definitely noticed an uptick in the amount of bees in our yard. Here’s a list of flowers to plant to help encourage the bees in your yard.

Tomatoes and basil are good companion plants, and I’ve finally managed to grow some nice tomatoes, mulch them, and add a layer of basil around the edge. I started some herbs from seed and planted them outdoors, and I’m pleased to say they are actually working!!

Tomatoes grown with mulch and basil around them. Good companion planting! #tomatoes #vegetable #garden

Finally, a Beautiful Backyard

Folks, my backyard is finally looking like a place you want to hang out in. First, there’s the patio container vegetable garden. . .

A patio container vegetable garden decorated with blue and white accents. #backyard #patio

Find out how to get the look here.

Then there’s this perennial bed that is finally looking like something that isn’t completely weed riddled and is actually intentional (and with mulch!!). . .

This more established perennial garden is full of fuchsia peonies, delphiniums, lilies, liatris, and annual cosmos for added colour. #flowers #perennials

Then there’s, dare I say it, and actual vignette?!?

Struggling with birds eating all your strawberries? Putting them in a bird cage is both beautiful and practical. #strawberries #whimsical #gardenart

Don’t laugh too hard at that one. My gardens have always been pretty utilitarian, so doing something decorative, like my Mom, or Joanna from Gingham Gardens would do, feels a bit foreign.

But I really like it. And I can not wait to share this strawberry growing hack with you. So far it’s working well and I’m starting to win the constant war with the birds.

Also, can we talk about these yellow irises!?!?

Gorgeous yellow irises grown in my backyard perennial bed in zone 3. #iris #perennials #flowers

I got these irises in exchange for some ferns, and I feel like I got the better end of the deal. I don’t remember the name of the reader who traded me, but I hope your ferns are doing as well as these irises, and I absolutely love them!!

Finally, the Hermit has built me a trellis and it really adds to the main garden space. I still have to paint it blue, but I think it will be beautiful–especially when the scarlet runner beans come up and take over!

A raised bed garden with a trellis for beans.

What was your favourite part of the tour? How are your vegetables doing this year?

The Dollar Store Hack to Keep Birds Away From Your Garden

Do you struggle with birds constantly eating your vegetables and seedlings? Me too! I love planting lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, beets, broccoli, peas, cabbage, and cauliflower, but the birds eat them as soon as they sprout.

It’s so bad, that last year I didn’t get any beets, spinach, peas or swiss chard because they ate everything the second it sprouted from the ground. I tried those bright whirligigs, pie plates, CD’s, and just plain old yelling at them every time I walk by, but none of it worked.

Are birds eating all of your leafy vegetables? Here's a simple dollar store solution you can DIY in the vegetable garden to keep them out! #vegetablegarden #diy #birds #pests
This is Scrappy. He is the ruler of my front yard vegetable garden and you don’t want to mess with him. I yell at him and he just stares back at me and eats my broccoli.

I even removed half of their habitat–some old cedars against the house that were very much past their prime. I hoped that would encourage the birds to move elsewhere, but Scrappy (the ringleader who looks like he fought with a cat and won) and his little band of hungry birds live on another year to feast upon my vegetables.

I wish the birds would stay out of my vegetable garden and eat my weeds instead!!

Related: How to Keep Animals Out of Your Garden

But this year I got smarter. I figured out a DIY solution using dollar store supplies that you can easily make in 10 minutes or less. Here’s the video to see exactly how to do it, and I’ll give supplies and directions below.

P.S. Youtube always gets me at the worst possible spots for the covers. Someday I will have enough subscribers to get the thumbnail feature. Until then, enjoy unflattering pictures of my face. 🙂

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read more about it in my privacy policy. Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

Are birds eating all of your leafy vegetables? Here's a simple dollar store solution you can DIY in the vegetable garden to keep them out! This cover protects your plants and is so easy to make! #vegetablegarden #diy #birds #pests

How to Make a Cover to Protect Your Garden From Birds

You’ll need the following supplies, most of which can easily be picked up at the dollar store, Amazon, or a big box store. In the video and pictures, I used a white cloth designed to keep bugs out, because I needed to use that cloth anyway for my broccoli. If you are planting something else or don’t struggle with flea beetles and moths, you could use bird netting instead. I will list both options and you can choose.

Cut the Hoola Hoops

In my set up, I used two hoola hoops and crossed them over each other. If you need to cover rows, you could would not cross them, and could even cut the hoop in half to get two pieces, instead of using one hoop as the whole piece. Do what makes sense for your space.

Hoola hoops can be tricky to cut, and they may be filled with water or pebbles of some kind. I found it easier if I bent the spot I wanted to cut first, then cut it.

Once the hoola hoops are cut, you can stick them 4-6 inches deep into the ground.

Cut and Arrange the Fabric

Cut your pieces of fabric so the hoola hoop is fully covered. In this case, I cut four pieces slightly longer than I needed them, and tucked the ends in at the top as I clipped them.

If you are making more of a traditional row cover, you would just cut one long piece the length of your row, plus enough at each end to read the ground to be tied or held down. The fabric on mine in this configuration is held down with a brick. If the hoola hoops are wider than your fabric, you’ll need two pieces of fabric the same size and clip one to each side of the hoola hoop.

Related: Easy Ways to Prevent Pests in The Garden

Learn the Basics of Gardening in Just a Few Minutes

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Gardening doesn't have to be complicated. Learn the basics in minutes, get started with your first garden in a day or less, and start your lifetime gardening adventure.

Enter your name and email address to download the Quick Start Garden Guide. You'll also get a mini-email course and weekly gardening tips and advice.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

Clip with Binder Clips and Enjoy Your Bird-Free Vegetable Garden

The binder clips make setting up your hoop house so simple. No sewing, no fussing, and it can all be taken apart and reused as need year after year.

No matter what your project is, you’ll probably need more binder clips than you think, and once you see how easy this method is you’ll probably do it in other spots in your garden. Order at least a 24 pack.

Are birds eating all of your leafy vegetables? Here's a simple dollar store solution you can DIY in the vegetable garden to keep them out! This cover protects your plants and is so easy to make! #vegetablegarden #diy #birds #pests

Click here for more ideas for keeping bugs off your broccoli.

Will you make this protective cover? I’d love to know if you do!

How to Get Your Kids in the Garden–and Like it!

Every Mom who likes to garden dreams of getting their children into gardening. Wouldn’t it be nice to have your mini-me help you plant and tend the garden, and even pick the odd weed or two?

Unfortunately, trying to garden with children often turns into a power struggle, or it’s impossible to keep them interested and entertained. Or if you’re me, your toddler ends up rolling around in the dirt more than anything. Super cute, but not what I imagined.

So how do you teach gardening basics to kids, without losing your mind?

I’ve asked experienced gardening Moms and members of the Warman Collective Garden to share their secrets.

All photos are courtesy of Kids in the Garden Camp run by Warman Collective Garden.

Make Gardening Real for Children

We know where vegetables in the grocery store come from, but do our kids? Gardening is a great way to teach children about where our food comes from, and how just a few decades ago many families relied heavily on their garden as a main source of food.

Erin says, “Kids love to see the plants that they put in the garden get big.  I encourage smelling flowers and tasting herbs.  I also get excited when I see a bee or butterfly gathering nectar and pollen.”

“I like to point out vegetables and fruit in the grocery store and ask if they know what sort of plant they grow on, and if they’ve seen them in the garden before.”

Encourage Their Growing Love of Gardening with Books & Craft Projects

I’ve compiled this list of gardening books for babies, toddlers, school age children, and the teachers (and homeschooling mamas!) who teach them. There’s a range of books. Some are more garden project intensive, others are full of fun craft projects, and others are geared for younger children to teach them what a garden is, and help them understand why it takes so long for food to grow!!

Read the list here.

Give Kids the Fun Jobs

I know, in a perfect world, our kids would help us with all the weeding as well as the harvesting. When you feel your child is old enough, you can give them their own garden space to plant whatever they want–and make them responsible for weeding and watering.

When your kids are younger, it’s best to involve them in the fun stuff. Most kids love to help with seeding, watering, and picking the harvest.

If you have a child that really loves to water, make them in charge of watering the family watermelon or pumpkin. Those two plants love water and can stand up to all the water your child gives it.

Plant Vegetables Kids Want to Eat

Your kid may not like vegetables, but growing their own is a great way to encourage them to start expanding their palate. For example, my good friend started planting purple beans because her daughter is obsessed with the colour purple. Now her toddler requests beans for supper instead of refusing them.

Erin of Kids in the Garden suggests rainbow carrots. “The tops are green, but the colour of the carrot is a surprise until you pick it.”

Learn the Basics of Gardening in Just a Few Minutes

Screen shot 2018 04 19 at 4.23.58 pm

Gardening doesn't have to be complicated. Learn the basics in minutes, get started with your first garden in a day or less, and start your lifetime gardening adventure.

Enter your name and email address to download the Quick Start Garden Guide. You'll also get a mini-email course and weekly gardening tips and advice.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

Side note: if anyone is reading this and you have a kid with Autism, this advice will probably not work for you. My son has Autism and when he was younger, advice like this would not work for him in the slightest. Now that he’s older and we’ve made progress with food textures and combinations, it might. I just wanted to include this, because as a parent of a non-neurotypical child, I find it really frustrating that advice for picky eaters never includes our children, or even acknowledges that it probably won’t work for our children–which is especially frustrating because our children are typically the most picky eaters you will ever meet. *gets off soapbox*

With that said, I’m going to share with you some of my favourite neurotypical-kid-friendly vegetables and flowers.

A List of My Favourite Kid-Friendly Vegetables and Flowers

  • Easter Egg Radishes
  • Rainbow Mix Carrots
  • Flambo Beans
  • Any purple or yellow variety of beans
  • Snap peas
  • Sunflowers
  • Watermelon–perfect for toddlers who love to help water!!
  • Bachelor’s Buttons–my Mom always planted them for me.
  • Baby Boo Pumpkins
  • Jack Be Little Pumpkins
  • Atlantic Giant Pumpkins
  • Zucchini–there’s always something to harvest once it gets going!

When You Get Frustrated, Remember Why You Want Them To Garden in the First Place

Erin says, “Nurturing something even as simple as a plant grows empathy for living things.  Seeing a beautiful healthy garden is also calming for the spirit and brain. Growing your own food develops a habit of healthy eating and self sufficiency. I have a passion for gardening and plants.  Encouraging them gives them an activity for us to do together.”

Don’t give up when your kids don’t seem interested. I complained a lot about gardening when I was a kid, and I’m pretty sure I told my parents every year that I would not have a garden when I grew up. And yet here I am, obsessed with gardening and writing a gardening blog.

Enrol Your Kids in Gardening Camp

Gardening camps for kids are becoming more and more popular than ever. They have fun hands-on experiences like planting seeds, making jam, picking produce, and even running a market garden! If you’re local to Saskatoon, SK, the Kids in the Garden Camp is a fun day camp to send your budding gardener to.

They’re still accepting registrations, you can enrol your child here.

If you’re not local, try searching “Gardening Camp” or “Kids Gardening Program” as well as your City, State or Province. Still nothing? Pick up one of these Gardening Books (the ones for teachers) and consider starting your own.

Do you wish your child would like to garden with you? It doesn't have to be impossible. Even if you're a beginner, you can grow a vegetable or flower garden with your kid and have them like it! Here's my best tips and activity ideas to get you started. #gardening #kids #ideas #tips #activities

The Foolproof Way to Grow the Best Tomatoes–Even if You’re a Beginner Gardener

Every new gardener wonders how to grow the best tomatoes–with the least amount of effort possible. You want beautiful tomatoes, but you don’t want to be throwing weird things into the hole with tomatoes (I’m looking at you, fish heads!!). You just want the easiest way to grow big tomatoes.

I’m sharing the 6 easy things I do to grow great tomatoes. No crazy secret tips, just a couple of simple things even a beginner gardener can do.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you purchase something, at no extra cost to you. You can read more about it in my privacy policy. Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

Add Powdered Milk to the Hole When Planting

Tomatoes love calcium, and powdered milk is a cheap and easy way to give it to them. You can also use bonemeal, but powdered milk is probably already in your kitchen. I also use it as a way to fix blossom end rot if I’ve gotten inconsistent with my watering during the summer.

Use a Cozy Coat Over Tomato Seedlings

Cozy coats make a huge difference and 100% worth the investment. Actually, they’re pretty cheap, so it’s not even that much of an investment. Next year, every single tomato I plant will have a cozy coat around it.

Here’s a video I made to show how much of a difference Cozy Coats make.

P.S.–Are Cozy Coats not sold in the US? I couldn’t find them on Amazon.com, but I’ve linked to the closest possible thing.

I also used them for my peppers, and my peppers are leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else I know in my area.

Check out this photo from the beginning of June. In my zone 3b area in Saskatchewan, peppers usually don’t start looking like this until the end of July.

Stake the Tomato Plant & Add Mulch

Once the tomato has outgrown the cozy coat, remove it and put a tomato cage around it instead. Bonus points if you can put some mulch around the base of the tomato as well. This will help keep in the moisture and prevent blossom end rot later in the summer.

Water, Water, and Water Some More

Water your tomato plants everyday, and twice a day when the temperature is above 25 degrees celsius. Inconsistent watering is the biggest cause of blossom end rot. If you do happen to forget to water and blossom end rot happens to your tomatoes, it can be fixed in the plant in two weeks with this simple process.

Grow the Best Tomatoes

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Subscribe and get your free 10 page guide to Tomatoes. I'll show you how to start them from seed, the best care practices, and how to harvest them. Plus, you'll get 4 tomato recipes delivered straight to your inbox.

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Remove Suckers

Tomato suckers are the little shoots that grow at a 45 degree angle from the stem. Cutting these suckers off in an indeterminate variety will help the fruit of the tomato grow larger, because it doesn’t have to compete for as many of the nutrients.

If removing the suckers seems too intimidating and you don’t do it, you’ll still get tomatoes–they just might be smaller.

Add Fertilizer Every Week

I add a water soluble fertilizer every week to my tomatoes to give them a little boost. Tomatoes are heavy feeders (they require lots of nutrients), so they really benefit from it. You can use any general purpose garden fertilizer or compost tea–whatever is readily available and easy. I personal use the Rapid Grow fertilizer and love the results.

To make your own compost tea as easily as possible, just add water to worm castings (which you can buy here if you don’t use worms) and water your tomatoes with that water.

The fertilizer I use doesn’t seem to be readily available in the US, so this one seems to be the most similar.

Hey there beginner vegetable gardener--did you know there's a way you can grow the best and biggest tomatoes without a ton of effort? Just follow these easy 6 tips and tricks for your tomato harvest yet! Step #2 is key! #tomato #growing #plant #beginner #best

So that’s it! Six easy steps to easily and simply grow the best tomatoes you’ve ever had when you’re a beginner gardener. Try these out this year, then you can get fancy with your tomato growing strategies as you gain confidence in years to come.

Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Connect with Shifting Roots On. . .

Learn the Basics of Gardening in Just a Few Minutes

Screen shot 2018 04 19 at 4.23.58 pm

Gardening doesn't have to be complicated. Learn the basics in minutes, get started with your first garden in a day or less, and start your lifetime gardening adventure.

Enter your name and email address to download the Quick Start Garden Guide. You'll also get a mini-email course and weekly gardening tips and advice.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit