In this encore episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing wrap up their month-long discussion about shrubs with a look at nativars.

Here are some of the topics covered in this episode:

• What is a nativar?
• How are nativars produced?
• Substantial differences between cultivars and nativars and what to avoid:
  • Some attract and sustain the same populations as their native parent
  • Others do not attract as many pollinators as their native parent.
  • Some nativars do not have the same quantity or quality of pollen and nectar resources.
  • Avoid nativars whose leaf colour is different than its parent.
• Reasons for planting as close to the native species as possible.
• Some popular North American nativars you might find in your local garden center.

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.