Can’t tell if that attractive plant purchase from the greenhouse is a threat to Jasper’s local flowers and grasses? Don’t despair. A Parks Canada-sponsored session during Environment Week promises to make native gardening experts out of participants.

Native plants are easier to care for and don’t threaten the survival of the species found in Jasper’s green spaces and throughout the park, said Jennifer McPhee, the coordinator of Parks Canada’s non-native vegetation and reclamation program.

“The first thing we want to get across is what is a native plant,” she said. “Native plants are adapted to conditions in Jasper, so they don’t require as much watering and they can grow in the soil we have.”

While there is an active control program in place hunting down non-native plants on public land, when it comes to private gardens, Parks can only educate and hope for voluntary compliance.  

“We’re looking for people to be good environmental stewards,” McPhee said.

It’s easy to be drawn in by weeds and plants that are a concern for ecosystem health in the Park, she added.

“Sometimes people just don’t know. Most weeds are beautiful and a lot of these non-native plants are sold in garden stores and people assume they’re alright.”

McPhee recently saw caragana for sale at Wal-Mart in Hinton, for example. This short, prickly hedge may seem a perfect addition to a local landscaping project, but it will quickly invade native plant locations and crowd these more sensitive species out.

The native gardening workshop, which will take place next Saturday (June 10) at Centennial Park from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., will be led by Pat Fedkenheuer, a native plant specialist from Calgary.

“She’s going to talk about watering, locations for the plants, which ones compliment one another and which ones do well in this environment,” McPhee said. At the end of the session, participants will take home the seeds and skills to create their own native plant gardens.

In the Municipality and Parks controlled gardens and green spaces around Jasper, there is a push towards promoting native plant life, McPhee said.

“We’re working towards that. Right now the non-native plants that are used aren’t invasive, they’re not planting toadflax (an aggressive species) or anything like that.” 

The application of the Communities in Bloom criteria in landscaping will help in this effort, McPhee added, since one of the goals of the program is to incorporate native grasses, flowers and plants.

As for backyard planters and home garden enthusiasts, McPhee and her crew are offering “Garden Audits”, where they will visit your garden and point out any invasive non-native species that ought to be removed. There has been a good response to the service so far, she said.

“We’ve had people who are really interested, especially people who are starting gardens from scratch.”

For more information and to register for the native gardening workshop, or if you’re wanting to get your garden audited, call McPhee at 852-6143. Registration for the Saturday session will also be available at the Environment Week Ecofair.