ALCLA Native Plants

09/04/2026

Fall Sale: Save Up to 60%

20% off all live plants, with deeper savings on select plants through September 30.

Our annual fall sale begins September 4!

Save 20% on all live plants, including plugs and pots. The 20% discount also applies to plants that are already marked down, bringing savings on some select plants to approximately 50–60% off.

Use coupon code FALL20 at checkout.

Sale ends September 30, 2026, while quantities last.

Alberta native plant nursery. Source identified wildflowers, shrubs, and grasses. Seeds and live plants for pick-up or shipping in Canada.

08/28/2026

Things are getting prickly 🌵

Our Plains Prickly Pear (Opuntia polyacantha) is now in stock, and yes, we can ship it across Canada.

This native prairie cactus loves full sun, handles dry conditions beautifully, and slowly spreads into a low patch over time. It is also incredibly cold hardy and stays above ground through winter, simply shrivelling up until spring returns.

Even better, our stock comes from source-identified, genetically diverse parent plants grown from wild-collected seed.

A great choice for hot, dry, water-wise gardens.

08/14/2026

While we’re all waiting for the first prairie crocuses next spring, there’s another native worth watching for.

Canada Buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis) can flower in April, often before its leaves even emerge, providing flowers right at the beginning of the growing season.

And underground, something equally interesting is happening: its roots partner with nitrogen-fixing Frankia bacteria.

In our dry prairie gardens, it often stays surprisingly compact, around 1–2 feet tall, while plants in moister parkland and foothills conditions can grow considerably larger.

And eventually, female plants can produce those famous berries that whip into a remarkable pink foam.

A tiny plug with a lot going on.

Be patient with this one. We start seedlings in January or February and they can take until August just to reach saleable size.

08/13/2026

One plant. Almost every garden condition.

We think Twining Honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica) might be one of the most underappreciated native plants we grow.

☀️ Full sun? Yes.
🌲 Deep shade under spruce? Yes.
💧 Moist soil? Yes.
🌾 Hot, dry south exposure? Once established, absolutely.

And its growth form changes with its surroundings. Give it something to climb and it will twine and scramble upward. Give it open space and it can grow as a sprawling, beautiful shrub.

The funny part? A plant this tough is incredibly delicate when it is young. We keep seedlings under a humidity dome for one to two months just to get them established.

Delicate beginnings. Very tough adulthood.

Where would you grow yours: climbing or sprawling?

08/11/2026

Some native plants simply can’t be rushed.

Our Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) is finally ready 🌿

Every plant starts with seed we hand-collect in Kananaskis and sow fresh. Then we wait. Some seeds take two to three years, or even longer, to germinate. Once they finally emerge, the seedlings still need months to grow into a plug we’re happy to sell.

This year, all that patience has paid off. We have close to 200 plants available.

Bunchberry makes a beautiful, slow-growing woodland groundcover with white flowers and bright red berries. It thrives in part shade to shade and average to moist soils. In Alberta’s drier grassland regions, we recommend supplemental irrigation.

One of our top sellers, and absolutely worth the wait.

08/10/2026

Come see the prairie with us during Alberta Open Farm Days! 🌿

On August 15 & 16, we’re opening the nursery for two days of FREE tours, native plants, and prizes.

Come explore the nursery, learn how we grow native plants from locally collected seed, hear about the work behind conserving and propagating Alberta’s native species, and ask us your gardening and native plant questions.

We were also recently featured by Alberta Open Farm Days in “The Prairie at Night: How ALCLA Native Plants Is Keeping Alberta’s Grasslands Alive, One Seed at a Time.” It’s a beautiful introduction to some of the work and stories you’ll encounter when you visit us.

📅 Saturday, August 15 & Sunday, August 16
🌱 FREE admission and guided tours
🎁 Prizes and giveaways
📍 ALCLA Native Plants, east of Carstairs

Read the article here:
https://albertaopenfarmdays.ca/open-farm-days-2026/alcla-native-plants-keeping-albertas-grasslands-alive/

We’d love to see you there.

08/09/2026

🌿 LAST CHANCE: 50% OFF

Our Mid-Summer Plug Sale ends August 8!

Save 50% on select native plant plugs while supplies last.

Use code ALCLASUMMER at checkout.

A great chance to add a few more native plants to the garden before fall planting season.

08/06/2026

Sacred To***co, Nicotiana quadrivalvis, is a fascinating plant that blooms at night, we recently discovered.

This species has been cultivated by the Niitsitapi for millennia but is not recognized as native to Alberta or Canada. You can check out a pressing on the Niitsitapi website galileo.org/kainai/

Thanks to the incredible work of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians in Southern Oregon this plant is making a come back from near extinction. The story is fascinating and worth looking up, including a rematriation of seeds from Poland that were descended from seeds stolen without permission by botanist, explorer David Douglas.

Unlike other species of To***co this one has evolved with humans for so long that the capsules no longer open on their own. This trait allows seed and capsules to be carried over long distances.

This is the first time we have the joy of seeing Sacred To***co flower from seeds sourced from Southern Oregon. Currently we are not planning to sell seeds or plants, but will gift them to Indigenous community members. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to receive seeds in the future.

07/31/2026

Until August 10, 2026, save 50% on select native plants using the coupon code:

ALCLASUMMER

Summer is also a great time to establish native plants, as there is still plenty of time before winter, though they will need extra watering initially when it is very hot and dry, 2 deep waterings a week is usually sufficient. Tip: set a gentle sprinkler stream in the early morning or evening for 15 minutes.

Included in the Sale

Fringed Sage, Artemisia frigida
Silver Sagebrush, Artemisia cana
Blue Grama Grass, Bouteloua gracilis
Cut-leaved Fleabane, Erigeron compositus
Alpine Forget-me-not, Myosotis asiatica
Stiff Goldenrod, Solidago rigida
Prairie Goldenrod, Solidago missouriensis
Gumweed, Grindelia squarrosa
Boreal Yarrow, Achillea borealis
Leafy Arnica, Arnica chamissonis
Yellow Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis