Looking for help on making a naturalized, sustainable garden? We recommend the following sites and organizations.
Don’t forget to check out the Monarch Awards garden scoring rubric. Each of these links opens in a new tab. View the rubric as a web page or as a PDF.
General Info
- Monarch Award Gardening At-A-Glance (Infographic)
- In the Zone Garden–register and track your native-plant garden online. Help the Carolinian Canada Network measure the growth of habitat in Ontario https://inthezonegardens.ca/
- “Becoming an Ecological Gardener” article by Kim Eierman in Connecticut Gardener magazine. Readable and comprehensive. View or download pdf: Becoming An Ecological Gardener
- Hamilton Naturalists’ Club – What’s Alive http://hamiltonnature.org/whats-alive/
- Hamilton Pollinator Paradise Project (the toolkit is a top-notch resource) https://www.hamiltonpollinatorparadise.org/
- Doug Tallamy’s site. This is a must-read. http://www.bringingnaturehome.net/
Soil
- Invasive pheretimoid worms (“Jumping Worms” “Snake Worms”)
– Plant sale best practices along with ID and control information: https://haltonmastergardeners.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/plant-sale-best-practices-stop-the-spread-of-jumping-worms.pdf
– comprehensive article from Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES/DOCUMENTS/Publications/Fact_Sheets/Entomology/Jumping-worms-in-Connecticut.pdf
– article on reports of JWs in Ontario / Dundas https://haltonmastergardeners.com/2021/10/07/jumping-worms-are-here/ - Landscape for Life course: Soil https://landscapeforife.org/soil
- Soil food web info on USDA site: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/soils/health/biology/
- Managing organic soil / Canadian Organic Growers https://www.cog.ca/home/about-organics/what-is-organic/
Water
- Water Use: Landscape for Life https://landscapeforlife.colostate.edu/water/
- City of Hamilton Info for Downspout Disconnection (opens pdf)
Plants
- Oldham’s List of the Vascular Plants of the Carolinian Region
- Learn about native plants (Forest Gene Conservation Assoc.https://fgca.net/species-conservation/native-species-learn
- Native Plant list for garden planning (from April 17 seminar- Hamilton) http://monarchawardshamilton.org/native-plant-spreadsheet
- Pollination Guelph — comprehensive resource pages
- North American Native Plants Society Plant Database
- Can-Plant native plant database (formerly evergreen.ca) https://can-plant.ca/
- City of Guelph list of Native and Drought-Tolerant Plants
- Is it Native? Article on Halton Master Gardeners site
- Ontario Invasive Plant Council “Grow me Instead” Beautiful Non-Invasive Plants for your Garden
- Winter Sowing resource page (on this site) http://monarchawardshamilton.org/winter-sowing-resources/
- Credit Valley Conservations Priority List of Invasive Plants (more current than Society for Ecological Restoration’s list but essentially the same) This is an other must-read item for Monarch Award applicants CVC List of Priority Invasives
Materials and Hardscaping
- Landscape for Life: Materials
- Articles from the Ecological Landscape Alliance
Cultural Practices
- Pollinator Gardens (Seeds of Diversity)
- Article “Give Your Garden Time, Not Money”
- Pollinator Partnership (links)