Laurie Brady, Caterpillar Award Winner, 2019 . The Caterpillar Awards are a subset of the Hamilton Monarch Awards, awards of excellence for gardeners who garden in support of nature.  To apply for either award in 2020, click here. Deadline is June 21.
Laurie Brady moved to Hamilton three years ago from Ottawa. With her dogs ​Harry and Teddy, she enjoys exploring her new Kirkendall neighbourhood for historical heritage buildings (her background is in this field) which is how she first spotted our Pollinator Paradise “We are Feeding Pollinators” signs in the various gardens and at the Unitarian Church on Dundurn.
“I thought that was pretty cool. I decided to learn more about the project, and subsequently, the Monarch and Caterpillar Awards” she recalls.
As a renter, Laurie says she wanted to garden with minimal expense, water usage, and upkeep. “I've been cultivating a native garden in an economical way, taking advantage of local plants, rain barrel and compost sales, or transplants from my parents' pollinator garden.”

Alex Stewart and James Honey: Hamilton Monarch Awards' Winners 2019.
​Alex Stewart attributes his current self-employment, and that of his partner, James Honey as local gardeners to thespec.com reporter, Kathy Reinwald who wrote about their Wellington Street garden four years ago. Their corner street urban garden has brought colour and vibrancy to this busy arterial road, on a truck-route, that has very little tree canopy and other greenery. 
“There was not a single flower in sight,” Alex recalls, at the time of moving to the neighbourhood. The property itself was full of rubble. 
​“We dove in headfirst and replaced 200 species in the garden, swapping them out for native species; every plant had to have a pollinator attached to it, for example, Spicebush for Swallowtail butterflies.”