Karen Abrahams

 
Well its finally arrived, the May 24 weekend. After a cold spring we are finally getting warmth and the gardening season is now in full swing. But before you rush out to purchase your plants from the local mega store I want to suggest that you head out to beautiful Claremont Ontario to Native Plants Claremont (www.nativeplants.ca).
Karen Abrahams has been on the leading edge of reintroducing native plants into our gardens for the last ten years.
For Abrahams bringing native plants into your garden is about "loving Ontario, loving local fauna and having an appreciation for what we have right here." She started the business out of her kitchen on her 15 acre property in Claremont in 2006. Just this year she has made it a full time business and supplies organizations like the David Suzuki Foundation, The Toronto Regional Conservation Authority and the Town of Richmond Hill with badly needed Milk Weed.
Abrahams sees the increasing interest in native plants as part of a growing environmental movement and urges us to reassess our gardens. "We need to re examine what a beautiful garden is" she told me in an interview. "its not just tons of colours".

One of the green houses

Shade kit

As a gardener I want to contribute to the food web. These plants have evolved over thousands of years to coexist with the insects and other fauna found in our wild places. Plants and tree's imported from places like Asia, do not always provide food for the insects that are native to Ontario, which can mean not enough food for the birds that are already under stress. The question is do we want a  living integrated eco system in our garden, or a food desert for the birds who depend on these insects? 

 I bought the "Sunny Pollinator Butterfly kit and the Shade kit. Both are now in my garden and I am excited to see how they do over the next few years. I also bought two wood poppies, an endangered Ontario species that they are trying to propagate and get off the endangered list. If you go there, be aware that Google maps will mislead you due to the closure of Westney Rd for HWY 407 construction. I went north on Salem and then headed west and reconnected to Westney Rd. But don't let that deter you, its worth the drive to Claremont!

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny pollinator butterfly kit