Cold hardy plants and seeds - Southern Manitoba

Oak Summit Nursery

Seeds for northern gardens, nursery grown plants in season, and field notes from the work behind them.

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Seeds ship year roundMail orders are packed and shipped from our Manitoba nursery.
Summer nursery workPropagation and seed collection are underway.
Plants are seasonalTrees and shrub orders reopen in September for fall shipping.

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Sour Cherry Seeds (Prunus x kerrasis) - Cold Hardy Cherry Tree - (Zone 3) - 15 SeedsFruit tree seedsCherries, plums, apples, pears, and rootstock Wild Sarsaparilla Seeds (Aralia nudicaulis) - Wild Native Perennial Plant Seeds - Hardiness Zone 3 - 50+ SeedsNative seedsPrairie and woodland species for northern gardens American Elm Seeds (Ulmus americana) - Tree Seeds - Hardiness Zone 3 - 100+ SeedsTree seedsShade, shelterbelt, and specimen trees Wild Raspberry Seeds (Rubus idaeus) - Native Perennial - Zone 3 - 150+ SeedsBerry bush seedsSaskatoons, raspberries, currants, and more Lemon Bergamot, Lemon Beebalm Seeds (Monarda citriodora) - Native Wildflower - 300+ seedsFlowers and perennialsPollinator plants and hardy perennial seed Sun Sugar Tomato Seeds - Cherry Tomato - Open Pollinated - 25+ SeedsTomato and pepper seedsA deep cultivar catalog for spring starting

Seasonal edit

Seeds for northern gardens

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From the nursery

Field Notes

Recent plants, propagation work, seed collection, and seasonal observations from Oak Summit.

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wild plums, by september they'll developed a red and yellow color and... - Rootstocks And Seedlings, July 2026, ASC-117Jul 13, 2026 · Rootstocks & Seedlingswild plums, by september they'll developed a red and yellow color and I'll collect them for seed. This tree is a 25-30 year old seedling plum, in a small town backyard. all that I can say about it is that the fruit and leaves are typical for prunus americana, and given that hybrid cultivar plums have little pollen, it's very likely pollenated every year by another wild plum in a nearby yard. Seedling plums in a residential setting, in cultivation just like crabapples surely have some mixed bag of genetics, it could have small percentages of P. salicina or P. nigra in it, one hint is that it doesn't sucker profusely like typical americana. But as far as usefulness as a pollinator, and a rootstock, this sort of seedling can basically be called american wild plum, there is the phenomenon of segregation toward the wild phenotype - when you cross some plum with a wild one, you often get seedlings that look just like the wild one.Read field note +2
nanking cherry just starting to ripen on this shaded bush. it's july 12... - Plum And Cherry Hybrids, July 2026, ASC-219Jul 12, 2026 · Plum & Cherry Hybridsnanking cherry just starting to ripen on this shaded bush. it's july 12, and we're in southern MB - the 35C this week should move things along, an other years I've picked ripe nanking right in this range about the middle of the month. the fruit will hang on for about two weeks, until it's so ripe that it drops or wildlife eat them. nanking is a drupe, not exactly a cherry or a plum, more of a cherry for sure, and the species is P. tomentosa which means fuzzy or hairy, and that's a quality in the leaves that can help identify the bush. they're a sour cherry, but when ripe not very tart i would rate them 2-3 out of 10, enough that it adds a nice balance if you make them into a preserve. you can pit them, but it's tricky because of the size. good to eat fresh for sure, picked off the bush when you walk by.Read field note +1
manor cherry plum, two batches of cuttings collected one week apart. the... - Plum And Cherry Hybrids, July 2026...Jul 12, 2026 · Plum & Cherry Hybridsmanor cherry plum, two batches of cuttings collected one week apart. the first set are a good stage to pot up and move along into the next zone, they're forming a fibrous root mass - this is all you need to support the plant. in the second photo they're not ready, my usual rule of thumb is at least one or two roots a half inch long. what I did was to put up about half of that set and restick the rest. the real complication for me is this is is creates two batches to keep track of.Read field note +1
red lake currants with heavy rooting after just over three weeks. these... - Propagation By Cuttings, July 2026, ASC-164Jul 9, 2026 · Propagation By Cuttingsred lake currants with heavy rooting after just over three weeks. these had some bottom heat for the last week, I have a few heat mats and move things around, it's tricky to bottom heat whole benches and still have good drainage, and most softwood doesn't need it, in fact it can be detrimental if your mist doesn't run for any reason. for anything that needs more than four weeks to root, bottom heat is a good addition. here I have several clumps of rooted cuttings about a dozen to each small pot, the spacing is fine to get them to start and then I carefully pull them apart and pot up into a better mix with far less perlite. this explodes the space required, and takes some planning. this year I may need to expand the shaded zone where these are hardened off for a week to solve a traffic jam.Read field note

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