A Baker’s Dozen Wild Plants to Forage Before Summer Ends
A bonus list for Wild, Weedy, and In Your Yard: Late Summer Foraging
Key Takeaways
Late August in Canada offers a unique overlap of summer abundance and early autumn harvests.
Indigenous and settler traditions both used this time for active foraging and preservation.
Each plant listed here has culinary and medicinal uses rooted in history.
Sustainable foraging means knowing the plant, respecting the habitat, and taking only what you need.
Table of Contents
→ Introduction
→ Wild Berries
→ Wild Greens
→ Edible Flowers
→ Roots and Seeds
→ Hawthorn Berries — The Baker’s Bonus
→ Conclusion
In much of Canada, late August is a turning point. The days are still long, the sun still warm, but the light shifts—less a blaze, more a burnished gold. Historically, this was a critical time for food gathering. For many Indigenous Nations, it marked the height of berry season and the beginning of autumn preservation. For settler homesteads, it was the month of cellars filling with jars, drying racks heavy with herbs, and baskets of fruit set out to ripen.
This overlap of peak growth and impending change is what makes late summer foraging so rich. The plants listed here—thirteen in total—are all widely found across the country. Many are still part of living food traditions; others are overlooked, growing in the margins of fields and woodlots, waiting to be noticed.
#1 Saskatoon Berries
The small, dusky-purple fruit of the Saskatoon shrub has been a staple food for Indigenous peoples on the Prairies for thousands of years. Sweet, nutty, and rich in antioxidants, they were a key ingredient in pemmican—a high-energy mixture of dried meat, berries, and fat that could last through winter. Settlers learned to bake them into pies and preserves, but the berry’s traditional role as a portable, nutrient-dense survival food remains unmatched.
#2 Wild Raspberries
Found in thickets, forest edges, and even roadside ditches, wild raspberries are one of the most forgiving plants to forage—easy to spot, easy to pick, and delicious straight from the cane. The berries are excellent in jams and desserts, but the leaves have an equally deep history, brewed into a medicinal tea for digestive health and women’s reproductive care by both Indigenous and European communities.
#3 Chokecherries
Astringent and almost inedible raw, chokecherries transform with processing. Many Indigenous Nations dried the fruit into cakes, mixing it with fat and meat for preservation. Early settlers followed suit, making thick, spiced jellies. The inner bark was also steeped into a tea for coughs and colds—a reminder that food and medicine often grow on the same branch.
#4 Elderberries
Glossy and dark when ripe, elderberries are best cooked before eating, as raw berries contain compounds that can cause stomach upset. Once simmered, their tart flavour shines in syrups, wines, and preserves. Across Canada, they have been valued as an immune booster, particularly during the transition into colder months.
#5 Lamb’s Quarters
Sometimes called wild spinach, lamb’s quarters is an adaptable green that thrives in disturbed soils—fields, gardens, even compost piles. High in vitamins A and C, it was a common leafy vegetable for both Indigenous and settler diets. Leaves can be eaten raw when young or cooked like spinach later in the season.
#6 Purslane
Low to the ground with fleshy, succulent leaves, purslane is one of the few plants naturally rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Indigenous communities valued its cooling properties in summer, and it remains a favourite in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking for salads and stews.
#7 Wild Sorrel
With its bright, lemony tang, wild sorrel has been used to flavour fish stews, soups, and sauces since early French settlement in Canada. Indigenous peoples also made use of its vitamin C content to prevent scurvy. Its refreshing taste and easy identification make it a rewarding late-summer find.
#8 Goldenrod
Often blamed (incorrectly) for hay fever, goldenrod is actually insect-pollinated and unlikely to cause allergies. Its sunny blooms have long been steeped into teas for urinary health and inflammation. In some settler traditions, it was brewed alongside other herbs to make a restorative tonic as autumn set in.
#9 Fireweed Blossoms
One of the first plants to colonize burned or disturbed ground, fireweed produces vivid magenta flowers that can be made into jellies or syrups. In northern Canada, the shoots and flowers are a seasonal treat, marking resilience and renewal in the boreal landscape.
#10 Wild Bergamot (Bee Balm)
Fragrant and striking, wild bergamot’s leaves and flowers were used by Indigenous peoples to treat colds, fevers, and digestive issues. European settlers adopted it as a tea herb, both for flavour and for its mild medicinal qualities.
#11 Cattail Roots
Sometimes called “nature’s supermarket,” cattails offer edible parts in every season. In late summer, the roots can be harvested, roasted, or pounded into a starchy flour. They were a critical wetland food for many Indigenous Nations and remain a valuable survival plant.
#12 Amaranth Seeds
Amaranth might seem like an exotic plant from warmer climates, but several species thrive across Canada — some as cultivated crops, others as wild “weeds” in fields and gardens.
The most familiar wild type is redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus), which has quietly naturalized from coast to coast, especially in sunny, disturbed soils.
Alongside it, Powell amaranth (Amaranthus powellii) appears in gardens and farmland, while cultivated grain amaranths like Amaranthus cruentus are increasingly grown in prairie gardens and small farms for their protein-rich seeds.
Although many Canadians don’t realize it, these plants are part of a global food heritage, connecting modern gardens in Manitoba or Ontario with the ancient terraces of the Andes and the fields of Mesoamerica where amaranth was once a staple alongside maize and beans.
#13 Hawthorne Berries
Small, bright red, and growing in clusters, hawthorn berries are often overlooked in favour of more familiar fruits. Across Canada, they appear along old fencelines, in hedgerows, and at the edges of woodlands. The berries have a tart-sweet taste, making them ideal for jellies, jams, and even country wines.
Medicinally, hawthorn has a long history: Mi’kmaq healers brewed the berries and leaves into teas for heart health, while European herbalists regarded it as a tonic for circulation and vitality. Though the fruit is edible, the seeds contain small amounts of cyanogenic compounds—so they should be strained out during processing.
As a late-summer find, hawthorn berries are both a delicious preserve ingredient and a living link to cross-cultural plant knowledge.
A baker’s dozen is a gesture of abundance, an acknowledgment that we can give more than we expect. Foraging at the tail end of summer is as much about awareness as it is about gathering. Every plant on this list carries a story. By learning their names and uses, we take part in a tradition that connects us to the land, to history, and to each other.
