The following short article appeared in the October 3, 2025 newsletter of the Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition (ERVCC) ( http://eepurl.com/joInYE) : Blackfoot knowledge-keeper Ryan First Diver has posted many videos on YouTube as part of his phenology course in Lethbridge. This past summer one of the videos he posted deals with " combative stewardship ."  This is the term he has given to land conservation that labels plant or animal species “invasive” or “noxious

By Patsy Cotterill Our profiled shrub for this issue is twining honeysuckle ( Lonicera dioica ), chosen because it is the subject of some excellent photos by Patrick Kyle and Manna Parseyan, the colours of which will serve to brighten up our winter days.  It is a member of the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, which is characterized by having everything in pairs: paired opposite leaves, flowers and fruits. In Alberta the family is represented by two genera of shrubs: Lonice

By Patsy Cotterill Persicaria  (smartweeds) and Polygonum (knotweeds) are the other two genera in the buckwheat or dock family whose representatives we commonly encounter in the Parkland, apart from Rumex,  the docks. ( See Part 1 ) Persicaria – the smartweeds Originally species of Persicaria  and Polygonum  were included in the single genus Polygonum , and the key characters used to separate the two are not distinctly different. However, the smartweeds tend to bear their flo

By Liz Deleeuw My inner-city upbringing in 1960s Edmonton was punctuated with trips to a hobby farm where my friends and I played in ditches complete with shrubs and wildflowers. This was a time before the systematic selective spraying of ditches to wipe out all broadleaf plants. Back then I did not know what a native plant was, and for many, many years I still would not know.  A simple explanation of what a native plant is could have saved years of learning it the hard way.