Hi,
We recently bought a south facing house in Leaside with a narrow boulevard garden that is full of weeds. I am wondering what to plant there in terms of it being resilient to being walked on, drought tolerant, winter salt tolerant and winter plowing survival. I was also considering small, spring bulbs but wondering whether they would survive. I welcome your advice.
Thank you for your help.
Hello and thank you for contacting Toronto Master Gardeners. You have done a really thorough job of summarizing the conditions of this boulevard patch.
Toronto Master Gardeners, first and foremost, recommends the use of native plants as they are ideally suited to our local climate. We have two Garden Guides which you might find helpful in making some native plant selections. These include: Native Plants for Habitat and Gardening with Native Shrubs. More and more, native plants are being sold at local nurseries in the city and many nurseries outside of Toronto will ship the plants to you. Specifically for dry, sunny locations, the following resources may be helpful: Grow Me Instead and Healthy Landscapes (published by the City of Guelph). Finally for some ideas about native and non-native perennials, please have a look at this Garden Guide, Drought Tolerant Perennials, again from Toronto Master Gardeners. You will notice that we did not include resources for annuals. Of course, you can go this route but that will require buying new plants and re-planting the area each spring (unless you grow them from seed which can be fun too!). I hope these resources help to get you started on this worthwhile project.