What native perennial plants have you had luck with growing by seed starting in the fall?

Hi! Is anyone planning a fall garden? I haven’t done any fall planting before but thinking of maybe planting some chard. Our garden is pretty sad so far this year so I’d like to try and get something in the ground that’ll boost my confidence 😂 Anything else I should consider that would do well in N.E. Calgary? Thanks!

I have 2 pots of tomatoes and both of them seem to be stricken with some disease that is turning the leaves purple/iridescent blue. I can barely find any info online for it (other than a post on reddit 7 years ago)

A Delphinium stalk grew in the front yard all by itself two years ago. Due to its location (it grew from a spot under the fence to the backyard and it was bending horribly to reach sunlight) I truly didn't expect it to return this year but it did and it grew taller and stronger. The first year it barely had a couple of flowers but this year it flowered very well and for a long time.

Now it's full of seeds in the pods. I'm wondering if I want to propagate it, should I save the seeds and plant the next spring or plant them now and let them go through the freezing process?

This summer has been weird for gardening… My tomato plants finally started producing tomatoes the last few weeks. Is there anything I can do to speed up the fruit growing/ripening process? I normally harvest when they get/seem close to first blush but they’re all super green and lots are very tiny. I don’t want to push it too long since nights are already getting chilly.

2026-08-30. Update from this post from 6 months ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Albertagardening/comments/1rts6gk/wild_rose_seedlings_so_far/

I am very happy with them. I planted one clutch of seedlings outside in late June of 2026 and two clutches in terracotta pots. I'll keep the potted ones outside in a sheltered area until they go dormant and then into an unheated garage overwinter. Hopefully they all survive the winter of 2026-2027.

Just purchased our first home, taking possession in a month, and the backyard has a lot going on, but this plant is my biggest concern. I've done image searches with a couple different apps, and get results saying it's either a field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) or hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium), but based on how it's taking over the yard I suspect it's the noxious field bindweed.

I am planning on cutting it back as soon as we get possession, but my understanding is disturbing the soil will make the problem worse, and the yard needs grading, so disturbing the soil will be unavoidable.

I would really appreciate confirmation of what I'll be dealing with and any advice of how to handle it.

First full harvest of the season. This is a "small" start. And yes, that's a Costco flat.

*Container garden on a cement pad. Small urban space. Calgary, AB

Good morning everyone — I'm the developer behind EdenVatika, a garden planner and journal I've been building for gardeners.

I made it because I wanted one place to plan beds, keep track of plantings, record harvests and garden observations, and look back at what happened during the season.

I put together a demo that doesn't require an account, so you can actually explore it before deciding whether it's useful.

What I'm especially curious about is whether the way I've approached garden planning makes sense to an actual gardener. Is there something you'd expect a garden planner to do that this doesn't? Or something that feels unnecessary?

I'm not looking for compliments — I'd genuinely like to know what feels confusing, missing, or just not useful.

If anyone wants to poke around, here's the demo:
https://apps.edenvatika.com/demo.php

I'm the developer, so feel free to be blunt. 🙂

HELP!!

Does anyone in Calgary area see or know this plant?? I need to find established plants to take some cuttings or suckers.

Its a staghorn sumac. Outside of how beautiful this plant is. The berries are so tasty. Used in sumac-aide drinks or even as spices similar to the Middle Eastern varieties.

It's a dioecious plant (male or female). Which is needed to produce the berries. I purchased 2 but I won't know sex until its already established and have strong roots which is then harder to get rid of. My plan is to strategically grow both in my yard.

Hi guys!
I found this plant in my garden that I’m not sure of. I’m in in Edmonton.

The ID from the Apple plant id is Doubtful Knight’s spur.
Is that correct?

Thanks so much!
doubtful knight's spur

We bought a six pack of strawberries from CT this spring. Even planted the 3 weeks before may long which you just dont do. These things are out of control sending out runners all over the place. They are in a raised planter that is about a foot wide, one and a half deep and 8 feet long. They are producing about a dozen berries a week and they are so good.

A few questions. Should I trim back the runners? Or should I try and get them to root in other pots? Also im worried about them over winter. I would really like if they will grow back in spring. I've never had strawberries actually survive and bare fruit.

Hi, we just bought and moved into a new home in High River. With it came an established apple tree, though we don't know what variety. We have been pretty excited for the apples, but last week they started turning odd on the tree. They are getting huge watery blotches in them, that are still somewhat firm. Does anyone know what is going on, and what we can do? I have also included a picture of what the apples look like when cut open.

Cheers!

I'm new to gardening in zone 3 and have a small perenial garden. Half of last year's perenials died and I am assuming it's because I didn't follow the proper prep for winter.

When should I trim/deadhead the plants and what should I do to ensure survival? I'm in 3B but bordering 3A.

Too much rain for too long, mosquitoes everywhere, garden looking sad, weeds taking over, only a couple tomatoes so far... yes, I really didn't like this gardening season.

At least, berry bushes yielded a very good harvest!

Piggybacking off the terrible gardening season post…. I thought I was losing my mind with the weeds this year. I gave up trying to keep the gardens etc clean. Thistle is EVERYWHERE, among every other weed imaginable. This year I gardened weeds basically with a few sparse veggies in between.

Can anyone tell me what’s wrong with my one cedar. Both were planted at the same time (3 years ago). The one on the right looks great but the one on the left is full of ‘buds’. Anyone know what’s happening to it?

First time ever growing onions, and I'm happy with the result!

Better late than never here in Edmonton!

I have a columnar Saskatoon that did not fruit this year and has been ravaged by disease. Is there any point in saving this plant? I was thinking about transplanting to a different spot where it might get more sun and airflow. I got it from the nursery last fall, so it’s been in the ground about a year. Roughly three feet tall. Thanks!

Home grown Bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, parsley and rosemary 😊

Hey folks, I tried asking this over on the main gardening sub and got crickets. Any help would be great!

I have what I'm pretty sure are two Nanking Cherry (prunus tomentosa) bushes in my yard. Both are looking pretty stressed and I'd really like to propagate more plants before I lose these ones.

• 1st bush is in the front yard (north-facing) in the lee of the house but not directly next to the house. It got absolutely brutalized by the contractor I had replace my siding and windows two years ago and I'm afraid it's on its last legs.
• 2nd bush is in the backyard (south-facing) and has always looked a little stressed but is now ironically the healthier of the two. It's sandwiched between some lilac bushes and has horseradish growing next to it. That whole edge of the yard has a low cement retaining wall that most of the plants are growing right next to.

I've collected the few fruits they produced this year and would like to attempt to propagate new seedlings for next year, but I'm coming at this cold with very little knowledge or even people to ask directly. Ideally I'd like to hedge my bets and try growing some indoors immediately while saving other seeds to try either planting directly in the ground later in the Fall, or try the whole cold stratification/keep the seeds in a damp paper towel in the fridge over the winter and then try to start the seedlings in early spring indoors. They produced so little this year that I only have a small bowl full of fruit, nothing like the multiple buckets I used to get.

Any suggestions or guidance would be incredibly helpful!

My precious snowball viburnum got absolutely annihilated by aphids two years ago. Last year it looked rough, but this year she’s looking doomed. Will a big chop encourage new growth?

I think I already know the answer but thought I'd ask and see if people with more experience would have any advice. Im in Saskatchewan but thought I'd ask here since Alberta is close to our weather. I'm wanting to plant a perennial strawberry garden but was wondering if I could get away with doing a tiered raised bed type planter for them. I got a bunch of old tires and was thinking of trying one of those tiered tire pyramid planters for the strawberries but I have a feeling that it being above the ground that my strawberries won't survive the winter cold like they would directly in the ground but thought I'd ask and see if anyone has any experience with this kind of thing or if anyone has any suggestions to make this viable ?