About the Garden

Pine Ridge is a wild garden located on close to 30 acres in the Ottawa Valley in Ontario, Canada. The property has never been cleared, but it was burnt over in the great fires of the 1870's and some pines and cedars have been harvested over the years since. The White Pines that grew up after the fires are now getting aged themselves.

My goal is to collect as many as possible of the native plants that might reasonably be expected to grow here. For those that are truly indigenous, I hope to establish them to be self-sustaining. The others I am trying to grow in my gardens near the house.

The property is rocky, with granite and limestone outcroppings, and has a marsh on one side and a beaver pond on the other. Along the marsh the soil is sandy and acidic while on the ridge the soil is gravelly and slightly alkaline.

It's considered zone 4 here, although the last two winters have been very mild. It gets very hot in the summer, and the humidity can be very high.

The Ottawa Valley is geologically and botanically rich. Heaven for a native plant enthusiast!