Guerrilla gardening in Alberta

I live near a hill that is quite steep and faces south. It is wild land and a lawn mower never touches it for the most part, however it is mostly grasses growing in the area very few trees, very few flowers.

I thought it would be a cool gift to the community if I were to plant maybe an apple tree and possibly a raspberry bush. The biggest thing I would love to do though is to plant (Fukuoka seed ball style) medicinal and edible perennial flowers and plants that are native to Alberta and propagate well.

I fully understand the impact that an invasive species can have and I'm not going to do anything without considering the consequences and benefits first, and of course if doing nothing is the better course to follow, I'm willing to consider that. I just hope I'm not coming across as someone who's putting no thought into this. I'm here for suggestions, recommendations and advice.

On my list of flowers and plants are:

Yarrow
Burdock
Comfrey
Arnica ( I could be wrong about that one)
Camomile
Raspberry
Honey crisp apple
Mullein
Possibly sunflower
Borage
Buckwheat
Poppy
Nettles
Mustard
Sea buckthorn
Goji
Clover

I'm going to (I'm a passenger in a car right now) do research on all of these before planting anything to see if they're tested to be stable here , but I think you get the idea. I'm obviously not going to be able to plant all of these, but it's my list of plants that I would love to have handy.

Does anyone have thoughts on plant types I should use? I would also like to do this for as cheap as possible while still acquiring healthy strong seeds, so if anyone knows of a good source that would also be great. So far the cheapest I've found for native flower mix was $40 for 300 seeds. To me that seems pricy, but maybe I'm out of touch.

Thanks everyone! Much love from Calgary!

Did you research where you are going to get all these plants? I have a hard time finding stuff here in Calgary.

At least Arnica and Camomile are not perennial in our zone.
Buckwheat, Poppy and sunflower probably reseed themselves and might be invasive. Clover for sure. Some mustards are consider noxious weeds here. So careful!

Regarding the price of doing something. Buckwheat, Poppy etc. check the bulk section in a health food store. I found that the cheapest way of getting bulk amounts of seeds.
Goji, apple tree and sea buckthorn I have only seen as plants and they set you back quite a bit. I think the buckthorn we bought was $20 , goji probably around $40 and an apple tree $80-100? I don't think it would work from seed here with such a short season. You could start them indoors and grow them until next year though.

If you found some good sources for plants, let me know. As I said I am having a hard time finding a good variety of PC plants here.

Richters Herbs is near Toronto and has a huge selection of herb seeds and some plants also. I order from them for many herbs seeds. They have goji...I have several nice plants from a $3.00 packet of seed...I started seabuckthorn also but had a problem with damping off. Their seeds are very good I think and in Canada.

I like your idea and seed list but I am familiar with a much warmer climate and have never tried seed balls. I am interested in what others have to say here though:)

Josey Hains wrote:Did you research where you are going to get all these plants? I have a hard time finding stuff here in Calgary.

At least Arnica and Camomile are not perennial in our zone.
Buckwheat, Poppy and sunflower probably reseed themselves and might be invasive. Clover for sure. Some mustards are consider noxious weeds here. So careful!

Regarding the price of doing something. Buckwheat, Poppy etc. check the bulk section in a health food store. I found that the cheapest way of getting bulk amounts of seeds.
Goji, apple tree and sea buckthorn I have only seen as plants and they set you back quite a bit. I think the buckthorn we bought was $20 , goji probably around $40 and an apple tree $80-100? I don't think it would work from seed here with such a short season. You could start them indoors and grow them until next year though.

If you found some good sources for plants, let me know. As I said I am having a hard time finding a good variety of PC plants here.

Thanks for your reply. I hadn't considered using health food stores for seed banks!

I did find this site which has decent prices on seeds and they're local which I like so their seeds will be climatized.

Judith Browning wrote:Richters Herbs is near Toronto and has a huge selection of herb seeds and some plants also. I order from them for many herbs seeds. They have goji...I have several nice plants from a $3.00 packet of seed...I started seabuckthorn also but had a problem with damping off. Their seeds are very good I think and in Canada.

I like your idea and seed list but I am familiar with a much warmer climate and have never tried seed balls. I am interested in what others have to say here though:)

Thanks for your advice.

What do you mean by the sea buckthorn damping off? I'm not familiar with that term.

Cal Skins wrote:

Judith Browning wrote:Richters Herbs is near Toronto and has a huge selection of herb seeds and some plants also. I order from them for many herbs seeds. They have goji...I have several nice plants from a $3.00 packet of seed...I started seabuckthorn also but had a problem with damping off. Their seeds are very good I think and in Canada.

I like your idea and seed list but I am familiar with a much warmer climate and have never tried seed balls. I am interested in what others have to say here though:)

Thanks for your advice.

What do you mean by the sea buckthorn damping off? I'm not familiar with that term.

I think it is a soil fungus...it happens when the soil is too damp and the plants very young...the stem dies right at soil level killing the plant. Seabuckthorn seedlings are particularly sensitive.

Cal,this sounds like a great project.
I'd add Egyptian walking onion/chives
rugosa rose
lettuce
parsley
spinach
johnny jump ups
some sort of root veggie
Hmm...I'll think of some more later and share further.
I'm currently in Lethbridge
All the best
Kate