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 (Infographics)
- In the Zone. Certify your garden with Carolinian Canada as they track and measure the growth of habitat in Ontario. Many great resources on this site: https://inthezonegardens.ca/#in-the-zone
- “Becoming an Ecological Gardener” article by Kim Eierman in Connecticut Gardener magazine. Readable and comprehensive.
- Hamilton Naturalists Club “What’s Alive” checklists.
- Hamilton Pollinator Paradise Project (the PPP toolkit is a top-notch resource) https://www.hamiltonpollinatorparadise.org/
- If you haven’t already done so, read “Bringing Nature Home” by Doug Tallamy http://www.bringingnaturehome.net
- Creating Pollinator Gardens: the Role of Plant Choice and Design with PSU’s Harland Patch. Video on YouTube.
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 (check the Royal Botanical Gardens for dates/times of courses): Soil https://landscapeforife.org/soil
- Soil Health ABCs — info on USDA site: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/education-and-teaching-materials/soil-health-abcs
- Soil, Carbon, and Microbes. A ‘lab’ format for students but very readable and comprehensive https://serc.carleton.edu/eslabs/carbon/5a.html
Water
- Water Use: Landscape for Life https://landscapeforlife.colostate.edu/water/
- City of Hamilton Info for Downspout Disconnection (opens pdf)
- How water moves through soil: https://youtu.be/Ph-7tQuIbz4
Plants
- Michael Oldham’s List of the Vascular Plants of Ontario’s Carolinian Zone (Ecoregion 7E)
- Learn about Ecosystems and native plants (Forest Gene Conservation Assoc. https://fgca.net/species-conservation/native-species-learn/
- Native Plant list for garden planning (from April 17, 2018 seminar- Hamilton) http://monarchawardshamilton.org/native-plant-spreadsheet
- Pollination Guelph’s comprehensive resource pages: https://www.pollinationguelph.ca/resources
- North American Native Plant Society (NANPS) database: https://nanps.org/pc/native-plant-database/
- City of Guelph list of Native Plants and Drought-Tolerant Non-Native Plants https://guelph.ca/wp-content/uploads/droughtTolerant-NativePlants.pdf
- “Is It Native?” article on Halton Master Gardener site https://haltonmastergardeners.com/2021/05/07/is-it-native/
- Ontario Invasive Plant Council’s “Grow Me Instead” resources: https://www.ontarioinvasiveplants.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/GMI-Booklet_FINAL-FOR-WEB_May132016.pdf
- Credit Valley Conservation’s Priority List of invasive plants (more current than the list produced by the Society for Ecological Restoration, but essentially they’re the same) This is another must-read for Monarch Award applicants: https://files.cvc.ca/cvc/uploads/2021/06/InvasivePlantsList.pdf
- Winter Sowing Resources (on this site) http://monarchawardshamilton.org/winter-sowing-resources/
Materials and Hardscaping
- Landscape for Life: Materials
- Articles from the Ecological Landscape Alliance
Cultural Practices
- Pollinator Gardens (Seeds of Diversity)
- Resources list from Pollinator Partnership (links) Most US-based, but still useful.
Aesthetics
- 9 Principles Of Natural Garden Design (on “In Our Nature” web site)
- Garden Design Best Practices (The Ecology Center)
- Articles by Benjamin Vogt