Carmeuse, Beachville and Dundas: Planting a Pollinator Paradise

Pollinator Garden Construction: Carmeuse, Dundas.

Lime and Limestone company, Carmeuse has planted pollinator gardens at their Dundas and Beachville sites. Carmeuse’s management team looked to Ingrid Hengemuhle, Area Quality Control Manager for Canada, to develop the pollinator gardens. 
According to Hengemuhle, “With the support and encouragement of Carmeuse management, our employees and members of the community worked hard to create the pollinator garden that has become a functional beautification at our plant.”
The 600 square foot, two-tiered Dundas garden was created in the fall of 2018. The design was in-house: “We have the heavy equipment, the armor stone and the staff.  Staff volunteers will maintain the garden,” John Tennant, Carmeuse Site Operations Manager at Dundas, said. “This is a beautiful result of combined efforts to work together on something that has a sustainable impact.” 

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Pollinator Garden construction: Carmeuse, Beachville

A second 500 square foot garden was also created at Beachville.
Local nurseries worked with the teams in selecting a variety of native plant species that would be in bloom in the garden from early spring to late summer. This is necessary for hungry pollinators seeking food and shelter in addition to a place to reproduce across these seasons. 
“It’s incredible. I didn’t realize there were so many different native plants that were attractive to pollinators,” Hengemuhle remarks.
The entire process to assemble the gardens took a month.  The Carmeuse Dundas garden is now included on the Hamilton Pollinator Paradise Project map to help build a Pollinator Corridor across the city, and with this program’s “We are Feeding Pollinators” sign staked firmly in the ground at the site, Carmeuse employees are eagerly waiting for the warmth to bring out the flowers and attract wild bees, butterflies, small birds, and other little beneficial critters.

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