Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia cover a massive and diverse geographic area with many ecoregions and subregions, sometimes called ecodistricts. These areas undergo unimaginable changes on both yearly and multidecade timescales. When designing products for naturalization or reclamation, we always use nature as our guide and select specific species based on their various adaptations. One of these adaptations is drought tolerance.
Recently, the City of Calgary has enacted a man-made drought due to critical repairs needed for a feeder water main. The resulting bylaw completely restricts outdoor water usage. We thought this would be a good time to discuss where Calgary is situated and how, by leveraging native species or adapted non-native species, we can support the region's flora to align more closely with its natural drought cycle, thereby minimizing the impact of man-made droughts on vegetation.
Calgary is located in a very diverse triangle of subregions, being at the crossroads of two rivers and near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. These areas include the Foothills Fescue subregion to the east, the Central Parkland subregion to the northwest, and the Foothills Parkland subregion to the west. Overall, Calgary lies right in the middle of prairie grassland.
Native grasses that thrive in these subregions are naturally drought-tolerant. Over thousands of years, they have adapted to the area's precipitation cycle. They turn green in early spring when the snow melts and spring rains pour in, go dormant in mid-summer with the heat and long days, and then begin to green up again in late summer and early fall before the snow covers them for another season.
As residents of the same region, we can observe places like Nose Hill Park, which exemplifies this critical cycle. By incorporating species like Blue Grama, Tickle Grass, June Grass, and Foothills Rough Fescue into our landscape designs—whether for large-scale commercial projects or our individual gardens—we can embrace this natural cycle. It all starts with adjusting our expectations. What if you could maintain plant material that would never require manual watering once established? Is that worth accepting a dormancy cycle? We firmly believe that society needs to shift its perception of what is valuable in our ecology. We can strike a balance—enjoying a lush green lawn in one part of our yard while incorporating drought-tolerant species in another. Even the lush green lawn can go through a normal dormancy cycle and survive quite well with less 1.7cm of water per month.
We can also incorporate supportive non-native species that won’t become overly dominant. One such species is the humble sedum. Sedum plants come in dozens of varieties and use air roots to gather most of their moisture directly from the atmosphere, so their need for additional watering is virtually zero. They thrive in full sun, which is especially beneficial in Canada’s sunniest city, and they can tolerate our frigid winters. To top it off, since they propagate much less from their seeds and instead propagate from cuttings or established clumps, they are ideal partners for our native species since they can be easily contained.
The choices are clear and readily available, but can we shift our expectations and approach at every level of society and help drive government response in support of balance in our ecology?
We LOVE talking plants. Contact us anytime for a free consultation on how native plants, seed blends, sedum, or our specialty products such as NaturesTurf™ can help naturalize urban environments or aid in the reclamation of disturbed sites.
