LETTERS:Re “Growing Native Plant Seeds, Weeds and a Boyfriend” ! Thank you for another edition of Wildflower news. And thank you Angelika for passing on a funny story and a practical way to increase my chances of pulling the right weeds! Gail I loved this entertaining story. Well done Angelika. Sandi Giesler We thought it was quite delightful too and will pass on your kind words to Angelika.

! * * * * * Exciting news about finding the suncup in Southern Saskatchewan. SylviaYes, and probably often overlooked when not in flower because the leaves look so much like dandelion leaves!

! * * * * * I want you to know how much we appreciate the work you do to keep us informed about gardening. We just picked up the Meadow Blazingstar seed you let us know about (pub. note: October Wildflower News) and are thrilled, as we live in a rural area that will support a lot of butterflies and would never have been aware otherwise we could have access to this seed. Thank you again for keeping us so well informed!Darlene and VinceWeʼre very happy to hear youʼre growing some Meadow Blazingstar and are sure you, the bees, and the butterflies will enjoy the new planting!

In This Issue:

Events• Saturday, December 6 - Seedy Tea • Monday, December 15 - Edmonton Plant Study Group Bringing Nature Back to

Natural Areas: The Microsite Seeding Project• February 2015 - Organic Master Gardener Program in Stony Plain, Alberta

News• Plant Guide to Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park • EALTʼs Planting for Pollinators

Articles • Wildflower of the Month - Wild Blue Clematis • Aster Family - Sunflower tribe• Butterflies of Edmonton - Satyr Anglewing

Websites of the Month• Conservation Stories - Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC's) blog • Gardening for Beginners - Vivienne Toddʼs blog

From your Publisher:Merry Christmas everyone and welcome to the Wildflower News for December. This recent dump of snow has been hard for us all to deal with, but at least the plants are very happy with their new, thick winter blanket.

WILDFLOWER NEWS‘Growing Nature’s Garden’ DECEMBER 2014

C.Clarke

Low Milkweed seeds Asclepias ovalifolia

EVENTS - if you would like to post an event that involves native flowers, please email us at engedmonton@gmail.com

Saturday, December 6 - Seedy Tea - ENPG's first of the winter/spring season will be at Diana's house. It's a great chance for people who want to get involved with our group to meet other volunteers in an informal setting. It's also a good way for volunteers to keep connected once the growing season is over. We clean seeds (no experience necessary), and do a lot of chatting, socializing, tea drinking and snacking.Time: 2pm to 4pmPlace: 6608 84 street. (The easiest way to come is by Argyll Rd turning north(ish) at the light onto 86 St. Then take the first right onto  64 Ave. Go to the park and you will have to turn left onto 84 St. There are two houses with front drives at the bend in the road.  We are the second one, hiding behind tall spruces. If you come to an alley you have gone two houses too far. There are no avenues until 84 St turns into 69 Ave. 780 469-5626)Email engedmonton@gmail.com to let us know you are coming, or for more information

Monday, December 15 - Edmonton Plant Study Group Bringing Nature Back to Natural Areas: The Microsite Seeding Project Presenter Tim Vinge, PhD, will speak about the importance of microsites for successful seed germination of boreal species in disturbed areas, as enshrined in the SEEDS (Seed Enhanced Delivery Systems) project. This project, borne out of Tim’s experience as a field ecologist, was launched at the Northern Forestry Centre in Edmonton in spring 2014 and involves what he calls “seed mobile homes.”Time: Doors at 7:00 pm; program starts at 7:30 pmLocation: Room 8, 3rd floor of the J. Percy Page Centre - 11759 Groat Road. Park on the south side, go in the south door and sign in.Admission: Free, but membership of the Edmonton Nature Club is encouraged.

February 2015 - Organic Master Gardener Program in Stony Plain, AlbertaThe Multicultural Heritage Centre of Stony Plain is once again offering its very successful Organic Master Gardener program, beginning February 4, 2015. Partnering with Gaia College of Victoria, B.C., the MHC has designed a certificate program for adult learners with instructors who are well-known and very well-respected in the organic and horticultural community across the province. More information is available on line on the MHC website at www.multicentre.org, or by contacting Judy Kesanko at judyk@multicentre.org.Registrations are being accepted right now.

NEWS... If you have a news item involving native plants that you would like posted, please email us at engedmonton@gmail.com

Plant Guide to Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park

The Big Lake Environment Support Society (BLESS) has created a new plant guide specifically for Big Lake in St. Albert listing the name, habitat and distinguishing characteristics of the various plants in the park along with several pictures. The St. Albert Gazette has an article about it: http://www.stalbertgazette.com/article/20141122/SAG0804/311229989/1039

The books are available for sale through the BLESS website and the price is $5.00:http://bless.ab.ca/plantguide.html

# # # # # # * * * * * ## # Planting for Pollinators

Edmonton and Area Land Trust is working with Leaf2Wing to plant Milkweed and save the Monarch! The project started when one of their dedicated volunteers suggested planting Milkweed on EALT conserved lands because of a personal interest in creating Monarch habitat.

Leaf2Wing donated Milkweed seeds and lots of Meadow Blazing Star seeds as well, which were planted at the Pipestone Creek property in late October. Both native flowers are important sources of food for Monarch butterflies. The Monarch is listed as a species of Special Concern in Canada. You can find out more about this beautiful butterfly in the EALTʼs Species at Risk in Alberta Guide (http://www.ealt.ca/media/uploads/Species_at_Risk_in_Alberta_-_Revised_2014.pdf). Your children can also learn more about this butterfly in EALTʼs Childrenʼs Activity Booklet (http://www.ealt.ca/media/uploads/Childrens_Activity_Booklet_Species_at_Risk_in_Alberta_Updated_Sept_2014.pdf) where they can colour the butterfly and solve the migration maze.

To receive free Milkweed seeds to plant in your garden, visit www.Leaf2Wing.org.

# # # # #

Wildflower of the Month - Wild Blue Clematis, Clematis occidentalis by Cherry Dodd

For me, one of the best surprises that can occur during a walk through the woods in June, is to suddenly come across a large, beautiful, delicate blue flower blooming in an evergreen tree. The first time it happened to me, I had just rounded a bend in the trail and suddenly, there I was, face to face with this lovely and very unexpected flower. I had to step back a bit before I could spot a couple more blooms, one a little higher in the tree and one off to the side, and only then did I see the twisting vine that supported them. I had discovered my first Blue Clematis vine. What a beautiful sight! 

Blue Clematis is still one of my favourite flowers. The four long pointed petals are not petals at all, but modified sepals. They are blue to purple with the veins a deeper colour. The centre of the flower is a collection of white to yellow stamens and styles. The leaves are typical of this genus, compound and arranged in three-stalked leaflets.The vine can grow up to five metres in length and if no support is handy, it will sprawl over the ground. Blue Clematis is not common, but I have seen it in several places such as Terwillegar Park, the riverside forest  at the very south end of 199 street, and in the woods below Saskatchewan Drive. If you are out walking later in the summer you might spot this vine when you see loose

clusters of fuzzy seed heads hanging in a tree.

Over the years I collected some of the seeds and tried growing Blue Clematis. It was several years before I was successful as these plants are a bit picky about where they will grow. Like all clematis species they like cool moist roots so they do well with some shade and lots of mulch. Add some compost to recreate a loamy forest soil. They are also picky about their support, they much prefer bare branches to evergreens but they will also happily climb on plastic netting secured to a tall fence.

If you do collect some seeds remember the 10% rule: Only take seeds from 10% of the population of plants and only take 10% of those seeds.

If you are wandering in the woods and you come across a yellow clematis with lots of flowers you have found some Clematis tangutica, a garden escapee that is such a successful invader it is now on the City's hit list of targeted weeds. Don't grow this one. River Valley - R.Feroe

Patricia Ravine - P.Cotterill

Botanical Meanings of Names

Clematis - klem-AT-iss or KLEM-uh-tiss - in Greek means "long, lithe branches" and is an ancient name for a climbing # # # # # # # plant

occidentalis - ok-sih-den-TAY-liss or ok-sih-DEN-tal-iss - of or from the west, western

Aster Family - Asteraceae; Sunflower tribe - Heliantheae by Patsy Cotterill

With 190 genera and 2500 species, the Heliantheae is the third largest tribe of the Aster family; most of its members are distributed in North America, Mexico and South America, i.e., in the New World. The tribe is named after the member genus Helianthus, the sunflowers (helios is Greek for sun, anthos Greek for flower).

Members of the tribe are herbs (all our Albertan species) or shrubs, and leaves are usually hairy and arranged in opposite pairs, especially towards the base. In most species the heads have both ray and disk florets (see October and November issues of WN), and the florets are often yellow or orange. Some species (e.g., in Ambrosia and Xanthium) lack ray florets. Anthers are often dark-coloured. The pappus, sitting atop the one-seeded fruit, or achene, is usually of scales, but consists of awns or bristles in some species. The receptacle, the base of the head to which the florets are attached, may or may not also support scales (paleae, in the plural), a distinguishing character used in keys. Some plants contain compounds that given them a noticeably resinous odour.

Given this large, and therefore variable, group, some taxonomists have split the tribe into a number of subtribes, anywhere from 10 to 35, 35 being recognized in the modern treatment followed by Flora of North America.

Helianthus contains the most commercially important plants: Helianthus annuus, the common sunflower, is grown for its edible oil, fruits (seeds), for livestock forage, bird food, and use in industry, as well as for ornament in the garden and flower bouquets; Jerusalem artichoke (H. tuberosus) is a vegetable. Heliantheae members also grown as ornamentals include plants from the genera Coreopsis, Cosmos, Echinacea, Rudbeckia and Zinnia.

Familiar Albertan genera include: Ambrosia, Xanthium and Iva (subtribe Ambrosiinae); Arnica (subtribe Chaneactidinae); Bidens, Cosmos and Coreopsis (subtribe Coreopsidinae); Balsamorhiza, Echinacea and Zinnia (subtribe Ecliptinae); Gaillardia and Helenium (subtribe Gaillardiinae); Helianthus (subtribe Helianthinae); Ratibida and Rudbeckia (subtribe Rudbeckiinae). Travellers who have identified plants in the southwestern states of the U.S. will no doubt be familiar with many more genera.

Canyon ragweed, Ambrosia ambrosioides, a shrub of southwestern deserts. Picture taken 5 April 2009 in southern Arizona. Note the raceme of male flowers (brownish) above, and the spiky green burs of the developing fruits below.

Alpine arnica, Arnica alpina, growing in rocky tundra, Cardinal Divide, AB, 27 July 2010. Note typical ray and central disk florets.

Nodding beggar-ticks, Bidens cernua. Shore of Long Lake, AB, 9 September 2007.

Coneflower, probably purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, native to eastern North America but here growing in a garden in Edmonton. Its Latin name derives from the Greek echinos, meaning spiny, a reference to the sharp, pointed tips of the receptacle bracts (paleae) in the flower head. This plant has been so extensively collected for medicinal purposes that it is now threatened in the wild.

Photo of coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, is by C. Dodd.

All photos are by P. Cotterill except where noted.

Sources of information: http://floranorthamerica.org/ Vol. 21# # Wikipedia # # Moss, E.H. 2d. rev. By J. G. Packer. 1983. Flora of Alberta. Toronto. University of Toronto Press

Arrow-leaved balsam-root, Balsamorrhiza sagittata, Red Rock Canyon, Waterton, 23 June 2014.

Sneezeweed, Helenium autumnale, shore of South Saskatchewan River at Medicine Hat,18 August 2007.

Annual sunflower, Helianthus annuus, roadside, Medicine Hat, 18 August 2007

Head of rhombic-leaved sunflower, Helianthus subrhomboideus, local garden, August 2010. The curly orange things in the middle are styles; the yellow blobs are anthers. Note the dark colour of the corollas of the disk florets.

Butterflies of Edmonton -  Satyr Anglewings Polygonia  satyrus By "Butterflieslovewildflowers" Trudy ! ! ! ! Photos by author

A common and long-lived butterfly, the Satyr Anglewing belongs to a group of butterflies called ʻCommas' for the actual comma on the back of the ventral wings. The Satyr Anglewing has one generation a year, laying its eggs on Stinging Nettles - the only confirmed host plant at present.The butterfly overwinters in woodpiles and under bark on trees and is one of the first out and about in Spring and still out in late fall.                     

Satyr Anglewing on Stinging # this one in my hand is waking up newly-emerged butterfly warming up Nettle# # # # to fly away; just drying on the# # on my hand# # # # chrysalis

Postscript:

EALT Seeking DonationsEdmonton Area Land Trust recently wrote to us about their donation drive. They say they are on the cusp of some great things. Within the next year, they will be conserving at least three more properties, maybe even five, nearly doubling their number of properties! This is exciting news for everyone in the Edmonton region as EALT continues to grow their network of protected natural areas.However, accepting a donation of land costs a lot of money – to the tune of $20,000 or more. And, securing the land is only the beginning of their work. They need to steward the land to protect its ecological value, by removing invasive plants, modifying fences to be wildlife-friendly, planting trees, and putting up nest boxes.Thatʼs why they are having a donation drive. To make the most of your donation, you can donate through ATB, who will match your donation by an additional 15%. You can also donate through the EALT website at www.ealt.ca

# # # P.Cotterill Bunchberry Cornus canadensis

Please send compliments, concerns and complaints to engedmonton@gmail.com.  To unsubscribe, or subscribe, email engedmonton@gmail.com

" " " Cherry Dodd, editor# # # Judith Golub, publisher# # # www.edmontonnativeplantgroup.org

Websites of the Month: a couple of blogs to while away a cold winterʼs afternoon...or evening...

Conservation Stories - Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC's) blog Staff and guest bloggers from coast to coast and even beyond, keen storytellers all, share a broad range of stories about nature, conservation, wilderness and everything in between.http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29522647

One of ENPGʼs volunteers, Vivianne Todd, has a blog called Gardening for Beginners. She posted this in response to a query on the Master Naturalistʼs blog about the difference between mosses and lichens: Kingdoms Protista and Plantae:http://viviannetoddblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/botany/Poke around in this blog - lots of interesting articles, and her latest is Prairie Rose Propagation from Seed:http://viviannetoddblog.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/prairie-rose-propagation-from-seed/