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By Kate Wilson Silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea) in fruit. Note the grey stems and thorns. Sandy Point Park, Alberta, 2007-08-19. Photo: P. Cotterill. Do buffaloberries elude notice by gardeners and native plant growers? A 2002 bulletin by the Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada may offer a clue, with its title Poorly Known Economic Plants of Canada (1). Yet buffaloberries are excellent nitrogen fixers, an important food source for wildlife, and can...

By Kathleen Mpulubusi Photos by K. Mpulubusi and P. Cotterill What are Catkins? When the Spring Equinox arrived in Edmonton on March 21, winter still held its grip on the land. The first signs of spring are fleeting but slowly new life does start to re-appear. One of the first signs is the appearance of catkins on the branches of some deciduous trees and shrubs. From the soft, fuzzy catkins of “pussy willows" to the long, often woolly strings hanging from branches of poplars, catkins are the...

By Patsy Cotterill Prairie crocus ( Pulsatilla nuttalliana ) and three-flowered avens ( Geum triflorum ) are both spring-flowering grassland plants with a number of features that make them welcome in the native plant garden. Although they belong in different families, prairie crocus in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) and three-flowered avens in the rose family (Rosacea), they have similar flowers with a simple, radially symmetrical arrangement of sepals and petals. They both also have a...