Deciduous Trees
Ivory Silk Japanese Tree Lilac
Syringa reticulata ‘Ivory Silk’
Landscape Architects & Designers
Specify with confidence. Hundreds of prairie-hardy varieties with Latin and common names, sizes, hardiness and features in our Plant Info Guide, and a team that can advise on availability and substitutions before the plant list is final.
Design With Plants That Are Actually Growing Here
A plant list is a set of decisions made on paper, often months before anyone puts a spade in the ground. The risk is that the data behind it comes from somewhere else: a reference written for a warmer zone, a photo of a cultivar that will never look like that in Calgary, or a species that was quietly taken off a municipal list last year.
Grown and Tested for Prairie Conditions
Eagle Lake Nurseries grows the plants you are specifying, on four farm sites near Strathmore, and has since 1970. Our Plant Info Guide is written from what we see in our own fields: mature size, hardiness, exposure, salt and drought tolerance, and the features that matter to a site. We would rather you call us while the list is still a draft than after the tender closes.
Specify From What We Grow
A sample of the range. Every plant in the guide carries Latin and common names, height and spread, hardiness zone and features, so you can filter by what the site needs.
How We Work With Architects and Designers
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Plant Lists & Availability
You do not need an account to work with us, and you do not need to be the buyer. Send us a draft plant list and we will tell you what we have, in what sizes, and what we would suggest where a species is short or not suited to the site. We can confirm availability for a future season so you can specify with some confidence.
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Nursery Tours & Site Visits
Come and see the plants. We host nursery tours for firms and their junior staff, and we will walk the fields with you to tag trees for a project. We also visit offices with the printed guide and whatever else is useful.
From Specifications to Order
When the project goes to a contractor, they will order through their own wholesale account, and we will already know the list.
What Stands Behind the Specification
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Sized to the Canadian Nursery Stock Standard
Our grades follow the Standard, so a 60mm caliper or a #5 container on our list means what it means in your specification.
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Clean Plants Certified Since 2009
The phytosanitary certification that appears on specifications for good reason: it limits the risk of pests and disease travelling with nursery stock into a new landscape.
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Involved in the Industry
We are active members of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association and Landscape Alberta, and we take part in grower trials that test which varieties will hold up on Prairie sites. We do it because the whole chain, from grower to designer to installer to the people who live with the landscape, does better when it talks.
Questions Architects and Designers Ask
Can you send availability and pricing for a plant list?
Yes. Send the list and we will mark what is available, in what sizes, and suggest substitutes where needed. Pricing goes to the account that will order, usually the contractor.
Do your sizes follow the Canadian Nursery Stock Standard?
Yes, for our grades and container sizes. If a specification needs something outside our standard sizes, ask early and we will tell you what is possible.
What native plants do you grow?
Dozens, across trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials. Use the Native Plant filter in the guide to see them all.
Can we visit the nursery?
Yes, and we would like you to. We host tours for firms and are glad to include junior staff who have not spent time in a nursery before. Contact us to arrange a date.
What is the height and spread at maturity?
Every plant page in the guide lists it, along with hardiness zone and features. If you need it in a spec-sheet format, ask us.
Will you help with substitutions if a specified plant is not available?
Yes. We will suggest alternatives that match the design intent and the site, and we will say plainly if something specified is unlikely to do well here.
