Plant it and they will come
Now that my seeds are organized, I know what I've got and what I need to do with them. It's time to get to work. Planting seeds indoors Even though the ground is still frozen outside, I can plant seeds inside. The Pussy Willows in our backyard are also impatient waiting for warm spring weather … Continue reading Getting my act together, part 2: stratifying and planting
I've been growing pollinator plants from seed for four years now. I'm embarrassed to admit that my seeds and planting process are always a disorganized mess. Now that I have some unexpected, extra time on my hands, I've resolved to sort this out once and for all. A small selection of the native seed packets … Continue reading Getting my act together, part 1: organizing seeds
This week, you can read my guest blog post on the Wild Pollinator Partners blog, called Down to the Nitty Gritty: creating the Churchill Alternative School butterfly garden. This garden was planted in the spring of 2019, and already had butterfly caterpillars and a variety of bee visitors within a couple of months. It proves … Continue reading School butterfly garden guest post
This summer, I took a lot of photos of pollinators on flowers. I am now sorting through them trying to identify the different insects. To my surprise, some of the pollinators were actually flies. And they're actually quite beautiful, some mimicking bees and wasps with similar striping and hair. Is it a fly? Once you … Continue reading Flower flies: surprise pollinators
March 15, 2020: please verify that presentations are still running due to Coronavirus social distancing measures. I will update this page as I receive information. Would you like to attend one of my upcoming pollinator gardening presentations? Join me in gardening for bees, butterflies, beneficial insects, and birds. CANCELLED Thursday, March 19, 7:30 pm - … Continue reading 2020 presentations and tours
With flowers, bees and butterflies gone for the winter, I appreciate the birds that visit our yard even more. In a recent email newsletter from the Ottawa Wild Bird Care Centre, I was reminded that birds need food, shelter and water to survive until spring. Here's how we try to help birds in our yard … Continue reading Helping birds through winter
"What's that bird?!" I called out as I ran into the house, desperately trying to get my son's attention. We both enjoy watching birds, but he is much better at identifying them. It was mid-August, 2018 and I wasn't expecting to see any unusual visitors at our new stream. It was a Chestnut-sided Warbler! We … Continue reading Migrating bird magnet: unusual guests at our stream
