Location: Scarborough Junction Community Farm, 3595 St. Clair Ave E, M1K 1L8
I am delighted to share the heart-warming story of how one of our members collaborated with multiple groups to realize her project. Catherine is passionate about creating equitable opportunity and when she was thinking of her project, she decided to combine resources from our Project Swallowtail Underhill Seedsitters group as well as Cliffcrest Butterflyway to introduce people to growing native plants in containers.
Holding the talk in the community garden outside the Scarborough Food Security Initiative (SFSI) Warehouse provided an excellent backdrop. That garden had been created from scratch in 2022 by Daniela and volunteers from the SFSI with plants that Dorte from Cliffcrest Butterflyway grew in the spring of the same year.
On July 25th, Catherine and Dorte gave a talk on container gardening with native plants noting that even without a yard, we can enjoy beautiful pollinator-friendly flowers from a balcony or patio. They discussed native plants, wildlife, pollination, and tips to help plants in containers survive the winter.
When they answered questions about specific plants, it was helpful to show fully grown examples from the pollinator garden area. This garden bed was full of life. Participants were able to choose among container-friendly seedlings: woodland strawberry, golden alexander, wild nodding onion, wild columbine, hairy beardtongue, foxglove beardtongue, anise hyssop, pale purple coneflower, spotted bee balm, great blue lobelia, blue vervain, and smooth aster. The hottest item was woodland strawberry!
Catherine was so happy that she had been able to grow many of the seedlings herself thanks to a fruitful round of winter sowing which in turn has blossomed to new friendships, more visits from monarch butterflies to her garden, and rewarding community work. Catherine is a new volunteer Butterflyway Ranger with the David Suzuki Foundation, and is on her way to building a Bendale Butterflyway to support pollinators passing through her neighbourhood.
You can learn more about the two great groups that Catherine collaborated with at the links below:
Cliffcrest Butterflyway https://www.cliffcrestbutterflyway.com/
Scarborough Food Security Initiative https://scarboroughfoodsecurityinitiative.com/
