Published August, 2017
Check out this beautiful piece by Monarch Awards' entrant, Calla Shea-Pelletier.
Chance is one important component in our garden. The beauty of it, entirely the collaboration of pollinators and humans. The placement and shape of a deck last year builds upon years of cultivating a theme of sanctuary. The gothic boat deck is suggestive of a human conveyance slowly moving through. It is an echo of the windows of the porch and the shape of the gardens. A subtle emphasis of the gothic theme, found in the choice of (almost) black and white plants, both native and non-native, punctuated with feature colours.

The lawn has been entirely replaced over the years, with the intention of cultivating pollinator gardens, pathways and rest stops.  Each year more opportunity for imaginative interactions unfold. The beauty we aspire to, embrace whimsy, multiple histories, and locations for foraging or refuge.

There is an abundance of inhospitable urban environments out there. If beauty is also compassion, our efforts bring together communities of plants, creatures and human built environments for gentle collisions to contemplate the pollinator universe.

Poem inspired by a seven year old, who volunteered this information:

“I want to be a pollinator,
I will carry small brushes with me”
she said making the motions
of pollinating with tiny instruments.
In the moment I understand,
she is compassion itself,
“I hope you won’t have to live in a world
where such a job is necessary”, I say
fearing that she already did.
June 24th, 2017, Calla Shea-Pelletier

Published ​August, 2017.
​Winners have just been announced. There's a profile article on the Monarch Awards web site as well as the media release. Congratulations to all the finalists, the Buzzin' Dozen, and all the entrants!

The 2017 Monarch Award winner is Amy Taylor!!
Amy, a 2016 finalist who lives on Edgemont Street North in Crown Point, is a herbalist and tea-reader who has an eclectic and broad knowledge of plants. An experienced gardener, Amy made some changes to her garden over the past year, removing some most of the aggressive non-natives (despite their herbalism usefulness) and ramping up the native plant content. Amy’s garden showcases the potential for blending unusual native plants into a traditional—and small—garden setting.
One judge remarked on the overwhelming “interestingness” of the space. There’s a huge diversity of species to guarantee blooms right from April through November, along with personal whimsical decor, several amenities for wildlife (bird baths, bug bath, bee boxes, nesting spots), a shed made entirely of recycled materials, and a pergola with natural shade provided by hop vines that are harvested for beer making.

There is always a “mess” potential in gardens designed with ecosystem benefits in mind but Amy has cleverly and discretely sited the composters, brush piles, and all three water barrels. The front yard is completely planted and, although the needs of the plants have trumped the aesthetics somewhat, the effect is respectful of the streetscape and neighbours.

This year the judges chose to award four finalist prizes.

ere they are, in no particular order.
Matthew Mills’ garden is on Dunning Court in Dundas, on his parent’s property. Matt’s interest in growing native plants started young. His mother, indulging his youthful enthusiasm for ecology, nature, and birds, allowed the high-schooler to establish native plants over the entire front yard. Matt, who’s post-secondary education and career path have followed his passion for landscape and habitat restoration, has an encyclopedic knowledge of native plants, and his space includes unusual species, such as the Canada Tick-Trefoil, that are seldom found in city gardens. It’s clear that Matt did some spiffing up when he learned he was a Monarch Award finalist–the front yard looked quite “garden like”. It’s a fascinating and “out there” example of a naturalized space–and creates a habitat that is definitely a hot spot for wildlife. Matt believes in tough love. Holes get watered at planting time but after that, plants get no supplemental water. A mature conifer came down last year and the shade-adapted plants that surrounded it are now languishing in full sun, to survive—or not. This space works with virtually no human intervention and indeed it’s not a human-friendly space, with no paths or easy points of entry. It’s truly a nature refuge, and it’s all about the plants.

The garden of Katie West, also in Dundas, is on a very steep slope that drains into Lake JoJo and eventually Cootes Paradise. Katie absolutely loves gardening and she’s clearly meeting the challenge of the site. Her gardens are created in a series of wooden terraces and landings that tame the slope and minimize runoff. With a fair amount of diversity and a growing number of native plants, Katie has kept her old favourite daylilies and bulletproof ground covers. All downspouts have water barrels that are used to hand water in times of need. Katie, a volunteer with TurtleWatch, has deliberately created turtle habitat and nesting areas. She continues to work on the garlic mustard and looks to expand the native plantings into the ravine.

Nadia Coakley’s garden on Yarmouth Drive in West Hamilton was a delightful work-in-progress. Judge Charlie couldn’t help photographing the full-clover front yard– a rare achievement. The front gardens included all of the most popular native plants, which were in full glorious bloom. Nadia, a self-taught gardening novice, has become an enthusiast, thirsty for knowledge and, even with a full time job and young family, is keen to do the work, especially around water capture and soil improvement. We are looking forward to seeing her enthusiasm come to life for the Monarch Awards next year.

The garden of Kelly Jamieson on Grosvenor Avenue South in Crown Point had our tongues lolling. The tiny front garden was packed with an all-native assortment, including some unusual delights such as Pearly Everlastings and Prickly Pears. Kelly, who does conservation and restoration work for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, has achieved a nice balance between the needs of Nature and her growing family (lawn, kiddie pool, vegetable gardens). The sloped backyard, in past years, has used a gravity powered drip irrigation system from the rain barrels. They have plans for a downspout-fed watercourse “stream”. We liked the way Virginia Creeper had been established on the back fence. Kelly has not expanded the rather narrow borders but the plants have been chosen wisely, according to the sun and moisture conditions. At the childrens’ insistence, the milkweed has been allowed to spread like trees into the lawn. This is one of the few gardens that featured a diversity of shrubs as well as herbaceous perennials.
Adrian Hodgson’s property in south Kirkendall wasn’t a finalist this year, but his work with permaculture-based water capture techniques was impressive. Every drop of rain, runoff, and household graywater is being redirected into a garden or a cistern.
Congratulations to the 50 entrants for taking the time to do the questionnaire. Over the next few weeks as volunteers and EH staff deliver your “We’re Feeding Pollinators” sign. If you don’t already have a sign, we’ll put one in your garden. If you already have a sign, check your mailbox for a “Monarch Awards 2017” sticker to put on it, showing that your garden is not only certified, it’s a Monarch Award entrant. 

Posted Nov, 2016
What makes a pollinator-friendly garden acceptable? That is, what will keep the bylaw officer away and the neighbours happy?
Recently, people have emailed us to say that their gardens are drawing unwanted attention--the grass is too long, there are weeds. One lady says that an order was left by a by-law officer claiming that under the By-law Section 3(1)(a)(c)(i) she had to remove all long grass and weeds from the entire property and maintain to a maximum height not to exceed 21 cm (8 1/4 inches). The bylaw officer wrote that this should include the entire property, "Front, rear and side of the property."
As far as this local Dundas resident is concerned, her garden is flowers and grasses, but there were a few weeds that might have been on the bad weed list and she removed them. Apparently, the officer even took issue with Goldenrod!

We chatted with Tamara Reid, Supervisor for Municipal Law Enforcement at the City of Hamilton.
How do we make naturalized, pollinator-friendly gardens fit into a neighbourhood? That is, according to by-law, what constitutes a native plant/natural garden and what is just a garden that has been let go, of which the neighbours are justifiably upset about?

Demonstrating intention is key. "It is helpful to have even a hand-drawn image of what you are aiming for--what your garden is intended to look like," says Tamara. "You can show that to a by-law officer and that helps."

Tamara suggests having some visual demarcations like logs or rocks, different heights of grasses or plants just helps guide the eye and looks more like a planned garden. "The idea is to have boarders, again so the garden looks planned."

We contacted the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Agricultural Information Contact Centre. We were told that in fact, the Weed Control Act is in place to protect agricultural and horticultural operations from weeds. It does not apply to noxious weeds or weed seeds that are far enough away from any land used for agricultural or horticultural purposes so it wouldn’t apply in an urban area like the City of Hamilton. "It would be bylaws that need to change if bylaw officers are asking residents to remove goldenrod," the correspondent said.

We were also told that in 2015, nine weed species were removed from the noxious weed schedule of the Weed Control Act. Some of these species are considered a food source for pollinators, such as bees (e.g., wild carrot, goat's-beard, scotch thistle, nodding thistle, yellow rocket, and tuberous vetchling). These and other species that are being removed are no longer considered significant threats to agricultural or horticultural production and can be managed through modern management practices.

Goldenrod is not on the noxious weed list but can be a weed if it gets into cultivated fields and that is why we see it in the Ontario weeds gallery.
Now it's time to think about what action we can do as a community to change the bylaw and make it easier for people to plant native gardens!
​​
Signs like our "We're Feeding Pollinators" do wonders. Many residents have told us that putting up our sign as part of our certification program has really helped in deterring complaints from neighbours who don't get it.

Published March, 2015
“There is so much we can do to bolster the bio-diversity of our cities and towns,” Paul O’Hara of Blue Oak Native Landscapes told a well-filled room of community members last Saturday, at the Church of the Nazarene (Ottawa Street).
Building a connected network of pollinator friendly habitat is one such way. O'Hara's workshop offered participants ideas and tips on planting and maintaining a pollinator garden at home: from elements of design, structure to what to grow where, O'Hara covered the basics in under two hours.
O’Hara impressed the room by his expertise, artful garden designs and reach of his work -- including an extensive corporate naturalization/meadow project in Mississauga.

O'Hara emphasized three main things we should be thinking about when managing our properties:

1.Invasive species are a real problem.
Species like white mulberry, buckthorn, non native honey suckles, garlic mustard, tree of heaven etc as well as invasive insects are challenges that we face. “We should be concerned about the native red mulberry whose genetics are being compromised,” O'Hara said. The Norway maple is in vicious competition with our native maples.

2. Plant asters, goldenrods and milkweeds. 
Participants learned that there were well over 35 species of goldenrods and asters: smooth aster, flat top aster, swamp aster, New England for attracting bees, beetles and butterflies. Grey goldenrod will grow on gravel and zigzag goldenrod in shady areas.
"Blue stem goldenrod is in almost every garden I plant," O'Hara pointed out.
O'Hara showed us photos of his garden in October, where bumblebees and other insects are feeding  on blue stem goldenrod as a back up as they prepare for winter: "Even into December, my garden is very much alive," O'Hara told the audience.

3.Plant native trees and shrubs.
"We have filled our city with Norway maple," O'Hara lamented. That we have. What do we do about it?
O'Hara reported having spotted many original, heritage trees (which are getting rare) all across the city that have survived development, backyards, highway corners etc. We should be collecting seeds from these native trees when we see them--trees like the red oaks, oak savannah, black oak, sugar maples, back cherry and so on. "Start a group with your neighbours. Seek out the original trees, plant the acorns, plant them in your backyards," O'Hara said.

TIPS
Match garden elements to the size of your property.
Put in structure first. Plant little plants, American hazel, red ciders, conifers, dogwood for structure. These are you foundation plants. Shrubs and trees will tolerate pruning: “Best time to prune when you have a pair of prunners in your hands," O'Hara said.
Evergreens are nice on corners to soften them, purple flower raspberry to fill out the spaces.
When you plant, it needs to look a little empty. You need to know how big the plant grows.
Use sedges (over 100 species) and ferns.
Water features are great for attracting wildlife; just a birdbath or puddling area (muddy depression for moths and butterflies).

​

Published on April, 2017.
So you missed the workshop on creating your Monarch award-winning garden (for gardens nature loves, by gardeners who love nature?). No problem, we've got you covered. Here's what happened.
Soil
After an introduction about what we're looking for in a Monarch award-winning garden, Charlie Briggs, gardener at RBG went on to advice about the importance of a healthy soil and what that looks like.

"It's the start of a whole system," Charlie explained, "and it should provides the necessities for plants and animals to live. As well, it should allow water penetration for proper water table recycling."
For these, you'll be checking out the following: Texture, pH (potential of Hydrogen), nutrient content, and water retention and drainage.
With soil texture, you have to decide what type you have, that is, sand, silt or clay. Note that the soil texture could differ by depth of soil and also by location in the garden. For the pH, you can use a soil test kit. For more information, Charlies suggests doing a of “OMAFRA Soil Testing Laboratories.”

Having to amend soil can be a big hassle, but if needed, Charlie recommends that you can do so with organic matter. You can start your own compost, or purchase or receive compost/organic matter from trusted sources (e.g. City of Hamilton). Equally important is to mulch your garden with leaf and other plant litter. This will break down into a fine organic layer as well as provide other benefits to your garden.Charlie advises that you add organic matter by tilling into a large area or garden, not by amending single holes for trees or shrubs! Be sure to select plants for your soil type, and choose the right plant for the right place! Carolinian Canada has a selection of plants for almost every soil type.

We'll be looking for those gardens that provides for our native plants and animals, and allows as much rainwater to fulfill its cycle on site. The garden can have different types of soil showcasing proper plant selection.

Water
For the water component of a garden that supports nature, we were fortunate to have both Kestrel Wraggett, Stewardship Technician with Cootes to Escarpment and Jeff Stock, Stewardship Technician, Hamilton Conservation Authority to explain Low Impact Development (LID) towards more natural water infiltration levels. Do you have a rain barrel? And is it being maintained properly (that is, is the downspout disconnected)?  Some ways that you can preserve water and keep it out of the sewer is to disconnect your downspout and lead direct the water to create a soakaway or a rain garden! Is your lawn naturalized? Driveway permeable?
Native Plants
Claudette Sims and Janet Hughes-Mackey with Halton Master Gardeners talked about the rewards that flowers receive (the pollinators come), making sure you plant the flowers en masse, make sure you use native species, and that you plant for shelter in mind and host plants. For example, plant so that you extend the nectar sources for different times of years, from May to November.
Check out Claudette's awesome blog post on what to plant in your garden.

Abiotic Components
Master gardener, Joanne Tunnicliffe explained that the biotics can't be as successful in your garden if you don't have the abiotic (the non living parts of an ecosystem). They need the warmth, shelter, food and spaces to reproduce.Without the right amount of sunlight or moisture, for example, some plants are unable to survive. Success happens when the biotic moves in the abiotic. Joanne showcased examples of recycled toys that can be used for shelter and nesting grounds.

Following these brief presentations, the experts each took a corner of the room and participants were invited to head over with their questions pertaining to their topic of interest.

As Bev Wagar (the brains behind the Monarch Awards) reminded us, "remember that you are doing right by the neighbourhood. Your gardening style is diversity." Change the old ways of doing things, look for functional things that make a huge difference.

Thanks to Elizabeth Seidl for gathering these quotes from some of the attendees as to what they expected to get out of the workshop:

“I’m hoping to start a pollinator garden at home. My goal is to create a garden that will attract wildlife and is low maintenance and I would like to use a rain barrel. I’m also considering an herb garden that is aesthetically pleasing with a variety of useful edibles which can also be used for educational purposes. Learning about abiotic habitat has made me consider what else I can incorporate in my garden like bee boxes and water sources.” Erin Mallon:

“I’m here today to augment my knowledge. I have a pollinator garden at home – I feel it’s important to have a naturalized garden at home; my home borders a park on three sides. I have experience with the usual native plants, but my favourite is Joe Pye Weed, I just love the story behind the name, its height and that it’s easy to grow.” Joanne Ballarano

 “I’m hoping to learn more about how to eliminate invasives and for knowledge of shade plants, I have a tulip tree that has grown up and my garden is transitioning. My garden has won a North American Native Plant Society award. With native plants it’s all about the arrangement – some of my favourites are Joe Pye, Bee Balm (for its tea), Bloodroot, Pearly Everlasting, the Paw Paw tree.”Angelique-Marie Mori 

“I would like to get an idea of what to do in my backyard – it’s a blank slate and has more sun than before. I would like to try more rain barrels and the idea of a rain garden is very appealing. Food producing shrubs with berries and vertical gardens are also interesting to me.” Anne Vallentin

 “I’m looking for inspiration and ideas for plantings – I have some issues with sight lines in my front yard but there are utility boxes that I would like to minimize with a garden of low maintenance perennials or some low shrubs.”Dianne 
We hope you all got what you wanted out of the workshop! Remember to get your application in by the June 18th deadline. Go to http://monarchawardshamilton.org/ for details.

The awards are now open to wards 1-10 and 13. Good luck!

 Published October 5, 2017
​Building Hamilton's Pollinator Corridor requires all hands on shovels. We need the participation of people from across the diverse sectors of the community. That's why we are thrilled to put two local corporate partners on the map: Terrapure Environmental and the Hamilton Port Authority have joined us in planting critically needed habitat on their properties.
The last few days, we've been digging in the dirt together and planting native plant species in anticipation of drawing pollinators to these sites.
The largest pollinator "patch" within our corridor, Terrapure is transforming a closed landfill into a paradise by planting three acres of  habitat at the Heritage Green Passive Park in upper Stoney Creek.
 “We saw this initiative as a wonderful opportunity to provide much-need pollinator habitat and educate the public about the importance of pollinators to our ecosystem," said Michael Jovanovic, VP of Environmental Affairs at Terrapure. "We hope our actions will encourage residents and businesses to consider starting their own pollinator paradise at home or work.

While Terrapure invites the neighbourhood, the local school and the broader public to join in planting habitat and help with maintaining the site, the Hamilton Port Authority is planting paradise within the seclusion of its gates. 
Last week, staff from the Pollinator Paradise Project assisted Port Authority staff in getting plants into the soil. 
"We had a great experience with the Pollinators Paradise Project, and appreciated the team’s expertise and guidance along the way," says Sharon Clark, Manager, Community Relations.
There are plans to expand the pollinator garden beyond the current site. 
"This garden is the first pollinator garden at the Port of Hamilton,' Sharon says. "We are now scoping out more spaces where the port lands can contribute to a pollinator corridor in Hamilton."
Sharon describes the planting as serving as an educational opportunity for their staff, as well as "a demonstration site to encourage some of our tenant partners to come on board."
​
With the desire to strengthen connection with community, the Port Authority opened its doors to the public twice in the past week for a tour of Pier 15 site. 
We understand that going forward, there will more opportunities made available for more tours open to the public. 

Published November, 2016
The key message we took away from our latest forum on helping native bees and other pollinators? Diversity is what matters: we need habitat diversity as well as maintaining bee diversity. 
A trio of experts in their individual field of work informed the audience on exactly what the issues are and how we, as every day folk, can make a difference. We kicked off the evening with Dr. Peter Kevan, Professor Emeritus at Guelph University. Kevan went into detail about why we need to be taking care of our native bee populations in the first place. According to Kevan, in Canada, we don’t have a decline in honeybee population--or at least, not like what the US is experiencing! Instead, honeybees are essential because wild bees are being eliminated. Native bees are getting cut out of the picture for obvious reasons, including habitat lose. But we need pollinators in agriculture, so we buy honeybees.

What's more, wild bees increase production yield. “Botanically, this relationship is not fully understood,” Kevan said, about the benefits of bee diversity to crop yield. But it's a very important one. Delicious fruits like blueberries are better serviced by wild bees—they can take on 70 species of pollinating bees. The orchard bee is cold tolerant, forages widely and doesn’t sting. Bumblebees pollinate greenhouse tomatoes. (Kevan pointed out that Canadians can be proud that we were one of the countries putting forward this bee technology).

What can we do to protect bees from the point of view of agriculture?

Kevan suggests we consider fields with windbreaks. In the field, practice low tillage and rotation, "everything that we can do to diversify the habitat." Make use of berms and hedges, conservation strips in fields and floral resources across the seasons. Remember that weeds are important resources.
In our city gardens, Kevan suggests that we can do our part for solitary bees by making sure to leave habitat such as twigs and bare ground for hole and ground nesters.

​Next up was the captivating Dr. Scott MacIvor, a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the University of Toronto (Department of Biological Science and the Faculty of Landscape Architecture).
MacIvor shared with the audience that so much has been learned in the past 6 years; at least 6 papers are published daily on bees.
It was fascinating to hear that wild bees are generally happy, they can count to 4, and they are much more diverse that we thought. “Every female is her own queen,” MacIvor said.

And with over 364 kinds of wild bees in our region, “Bees are important, bees are diverse and we know more about wild bees than anywhere else in the world.” That’s something to be proud of! 

Benefits of pollinators, native plants: green space, green city.
MacIvor works with designers who are tasked with creating habitat for bees. “There’s something about bees that make them so suited to our urban landscape,” MacIvor said. But while some adapt, others don’t—that is, some are winners and some lose out. And make no mistake, we are losing species. The extirpated “rusty patched bumblebee” is one such example.
When it comes to the impact honeybees have on wild bees, "it is negative," according to MacIvor. There’s competition for food and other resources as well as competition for research dollars. As well, honey bees spread disease.

Bee-haviour
There is so much to learn about the habits of bees. "75% of bees are ground nesting, but we don’t know where they are nesting," said MacIvor.  In Toronto, where MacIvor lives and researches, public parks have sandy soils that are very accommodating to bee species.
"Honeybees are willing to die to safe their queen. Rarely, if ever are we stung by the wild bees that permeate our city," MacIvor said.
When we have more different bee species visiting a particular flower, we have more yields. "That is, it’s not the frequency of visits, it’s the diversity of visits, the buzz, the time of day," MacIvor explained.

Changing Public Opinion: Tickle bees (Miner bees).
MacIvor shared a story about an elementary school in Portland that changed public perception of bees as being dangerous when the kids noticed a large population of bees in the adjacent ball field. Rather than calling in exterminators, they called the Xerces Society, a non-profit organization that works to preserve invertebrates and their habitats. Now the bees are not only the subject of science classes at the school, but they've been named the school's official mascots, the Tickle Bees, since they don’t sting, but simply tickle. There is now a fence around bee aggregation with a sign to let people know not to disturb the bees.

Wrapping up the evening was beekeeper, Michelle Ordyniec. Ordyniec explained how humans have created an artificial man-made environment and put bees in it, “So beekeeping involves a high amount of responsibility. There are diseases, pests, ants, wasps, skunks. The location is important,” Ordyniec pointed out the many concerns that this livestock involves.
Further more, you have to know your hive, is it going to swarm, when and should you split your hive?
“It’s not something you can sit and leave and it’s going to be okay.” Urban beekeeping involves constant monitoring inside of a beehive.  “Bees have different personalities, some are nicer, others meaner.”

This talented beekeeper said it plainly: There needs to be less sensationalizing and more realism. “Honey bees should not be the celebrities.”
What you can do:
• Plant a bee friendly garden.
• Plant raspberries. These plants provide nutrients and bees will nest in them.
• Buy local and organic food.
• Support local beekeepers.

Did you know?

• The hoary squash bee is a specialized bee, dealing in squash. Squash flowers open up for one day, early in the morning and pollination is complete by mid morning.
• If you see a wild bee in April, you will not see its offspring until next April.

Great Resources They Mentioned:

Managing Alternative Pollinators. A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers and Conservationists.
This is a free, downloadable resource. It is a first-of-its-kind, step-by-step, full-color guide for rearing and managing bumble bees, mason bees, leafcutter bees and other bee species that provide pollination alternatives to the rapidly declining honey bee. Written by Eric Mader of the Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation Program; Professor of Entomology Marla Spivak; and Elaine Evans, author of “Befriending Bumble Bees,” the book includes expert information on the business and biology of pollination and how-to guidance on raising the alternative bee species.

Can you help?
Check out Status of Pollination in Canada, Peter Kevan's GoFundMe project. Chapters will be on wild pollinators (bees, butterflies, beetles, flies and birds) to managed honeybees, bumblebees and leafcutting bees, explain the importance of wind pollination in Canada, provide scientifically accurate explanations of why plants, crops and wild plants, need pollination, discuss the ecology of pollination inter-relationships in Canada's hugely diverse environments  (arctic to Carolinian forests), how pollination effects the national economy, what policy and law have to do with pollination, what the future may hold for pollination, food and fibre production and environmental sustainability, and how the public is now contributing.  Everything you want to know about pollination!

​Posted 1/15/15
When ecologist Stefan Weber describes his work collecting native plant seeds, it brings to mind a rescue mission of sorts.
“We see these tiny wonderful remnant populations that you know are destined to be killed because you’re in the site of a future highway,” Weber says. “Chainsaws are buzzing in the background as you hurry to gather seeds to save before it’s too late.”
Weber works for St. Williams Nursery and Ecology Centre, the biggest for-profit nursery in Ontario, so in spite of the ‘do-good’ thrust, Weber reminds me it’s a business that sells bulk seeds: “We make money doing this.”
With his team, Weber goes into the wild, collects a small amount of seed to be scaled up for agricultural practices on the farm and greenhouses, and then propagates the plants.
Source identifying all of their seeds, the nursery grows over 500 different species ranging from native wildflowers, trees and shrubs to grasses, and even aquatics.
As a seed specialist, Weber is in charge of “everything seed.”
This includes timing when a crop is ready to be harvested, collection of that crop, the drying, the processing, the cleaning.
This large-scale restoration work involves growing every single seed into a plant.
It takes one or two generations to get a room full of plants –like a substantial field of plants. In years, that’s like two years to scale up from ‘wild’ to ‘field restoration status.’
It’s a rewarding occupation. Weber, who’s been with the nursery for two years, describes how they get to go everywhere: “We find things that conservation authorities don’t know are there. We see  territory that they don’t get a chance to see.”

​Securing the future of seeds.

The government runs a seed nursery in Angus, Ont. that mostly grows trees and around twenty different plant species.
“We are doing a more intensive, thorough job at plant restoration then they are, but everyone is playing a part, we are not the only ones.”
Indeed. We all have a part to play. But the challenge is getting more people involved in planting native species: people don’t find them appealing to the eye.
“Everybody needs to work on how to sell native plants,” Weber recommends. “These are beautiful when they are mature. They have to be in a large enough format at the time of sale.”
There are other problems.  Most people have a narrow idea of what constitutes native plants, Weber points out. “When you say native plants, people think “finicky” as in trillium or “messy” as in golden rod.”
(For the record, I have trilliums growing at the front of my house, with no thanks to me. They just popped up there, one fine morning in summer).
“There are so many other choices. We need to market them.”
Not only do we need to do a better job of marketing native plants, Weber suggests we need more bio-literacy: “We take plants for granted—like a backdrop, the stage of which drama unfolds. We rely on plants, yet the average people couldn’t identify a walnut or coffee plant but they can enjoy consuming them. I think we really need to be aware of our surroundings.”
​
Why seed diversity?

Diversity it like an insurance policy: we don't know what is going to happen in the future. Bio-diversity is like hedging your bet. In Southwestern Ontario, we have the highest bio-diversity of anywhere else in the country.
As well, with most of Canada’s population living in this region, there is pressure to develop further, “but we are displacing a lot of species in doing so,” Weber comments.
He’s thinking about the missed opportunities for restoration that happen when highways are built, as native species grow well in disruptive situations. “Invasive species get in instead,” Weber says. “We are taking these places away and we are not being smart with our land use. There are a lot of abandoned fields, empty corridors, along railways that are being left to harbour weeds and pests.”

Diversity in plants offer ecological services: clean water, food for pollinators (which are pollinating our cherry crops), pest control such as for herbivores that would otherwise damage crops, and it’s great for halting garlic mustards--an invasive species. “You build these ecosystems, these chains, and the services start coming back.” 

Show me!
We need show cases. People need exposure to these types of gardens. Enter the Pollinator Paradise Project. With its ‘Adopt a park’ strategy, its work with schools and community gardens, Hamilton will have no shortage of examples to offer anyone who is keen to get planting.  Please continue to check our updates and events listing to learn how you can get involved.

TIPS

Weber suggests the following to make the potential gardener’s foray into gardening for pollinators a success:
If you want to go native in an urban setting, less is more. Have one focal plant and build everything around that with repetition (such as a hedge fence): “That’s how you win over your neighbours.”
Plants are instant gratification but seeds are great because you get hundreds of thousands of plants and they are so cheap. Plant in groups; research your groups.
What makes for good seed?
Look for as local as possible, collect your own seed in your own backyard.
“You want to see more rare butterflies or plants, plant more rare plants.” Stefan Weber.
There you have it. Go out and pollinate!

Posted 11/11/2017
​Still feeling tempted to tidy up your  garden for the winter time? Think again. Xerces Society says that one of the best things a gardener can do in the fall and winter for pollinators is LEAVE THE LEAVES ALONE: let it be messy.

The reason why moths, butterflies, native bumblebees and solitary bees, beetles, snails, spiders etc are begging you to control your OCD this fall and leave "dead" matter alone (there is nothing dead about pesticide-free garden), is because leaves and such, provide shelter from the cold and food for these little critters. Leave "litter" provides protection from predators. So why would you rack them away?
At the very least, leave some leave and twig piles.


In fact, as Xerces Society points out, the vast majority of butterflies and moths overwinter in the landscape as an egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, or adult: "Red-banded hairstreaks lay their eggs on fallen oak leaves, which become the first food of the caterpillars when they emerge.
Luna moths and swallowtail butterflies disguise their cocoons and chrysalis as dried leaves, blending in with the “real” leaves. There are many such examples."
Remember too, that these critters are food for birds, chipmunks and other wildlife.
Solitary bees will take winter refuge under a pile of bark or dried leaves, or nest in cavities in hollowed out stems and decomposing logs.

Posted 10/24/17
So this is some sobering, sobering news. A report came out last week in the journal Plos One, talking about a study tracking the devastating decline in flying insect populations over the last 27 years on nature reserves in Germany. More than a 75% decline in total flying insect biomass (the total mass of organisms in a given area or volume) in protected areas. An excerpt from the abstract reads,
Loss of insect diversity and abundance is expected to provoke cascading effects on food webs and to jeopardize ecosystem services. Our understanding of the extent and underlying causes of this decline is based on the abundance of single species or taxonomic groups only, rather than changes in insect biomass which is more relevant for ecological functioning. Here, we used a standardized protocol to measure total insect biomass using Malaise traps, deployed over 27 years in 63 nature protection areas in Germany (96 unique location-year combinations) to infer on the status and trend of local entomofauna. Our analysis estimates a seasonal decline of 76%, and mid-summer decline of 82% in flying insect biomass over the 27 years of study. We show that this decline is apparent regardless of habitat type, while changes in weather, land use, and habitat characteristics cannot explain this overall decline. This yet unrecognized loss of insect biomass must be taken into account in evaluating declines in abundance of species depending on insects as a food source, and ecosystem functioning in the European landscape.

The paper ends with the following:
The widespread insect biomass decline is alarming, ever more so as all traps were placed in protected areas that are meant to preserve ecosystem functions and biodiversity. While the gradual decline of rare insect species has been known for quite some time (e.g. specialized butterflies [9, 66]), our results illustrate an ongoing and rapid decline in total amount of airborne insects active in space and time. Agricultural intensification, including the disappearance of field margins and new crop protection methods has been associated with an overall decline of biodiversity in plants, insects, birds and other species in the current landscape [20, 27, 67]. The major and hitherto unrecognized loss of insect biomass that we report here for protected areas, adds a new dimension to this discussion, because it must have cascading effects across trophic levels and numerous other ecosystem effects. There is an urgent need to uncover the causes of this decline, its geographical extent, and to understand the ramifications of the decline for ecosystems and ecosystem services.

There's been a tonne of media coverage. The Guardian's George Monbiot argues that this erasure of non-human life from the land by farming (industrial fishing being the other huge issue which, all over the blue planet, is now causing systemic ecological collapse) is even worse than climate breakdown!!!! Monbiot writes, 'the most likely cause of this Insectageddon is that the land surrounding those reserves has become hostile to them: the volume of pesticides and the destruction of habitat have turned farmland into a wildlife desert." 

​We all need to do our part. Again, urban environments can support flying insects and other pollinators. Everybody can do something about this critical conservation issue and plant for nature. Do it at your residence, do it at your place of worship, or in your parks, or businesses, or places of work, but plant something for the bees and other critters, and for us, poor humans that we are.
Please check out these links to learn how urban centres can support pollinators and go plant a native species!
The city as a refuge for insect pollinators
Toronto's Draft Pollinator Protection Strategy (Hamilton, we need one).
Bees in the city: urban environments could help support pollinators
Can cities save bees? How can urban habitats be made to serve pollinator conservation? How can that story be better told?