Thursday, January 30, 2014
the orangest #nativeplant
My best butterfly milkweed photo from the Archetype House demonstration rain garden at Kortright Conservation Area in Vaughan. This is what monarch caterpillars eat. Don't let anyone tell you that milkweeds are bad garden plants. Butterfly milkweed is the best. It's small and compact, can handle the drought, fills the space at a reasonable rate, and has this insanely gorgeous bloom.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Last summer I saw five #monarchs.
Today the monarchs are in the news. I've seen news about the state of the migratory eastern North American monarch population from WWF, David Suzuki Foundation, and the Globe and Mail.
None of this news is good news. It's hard to imagine that any species can bounce back from such a hard hit to its genetic pool.
I've been thinking about the monarch's population quite a bit over the past year and what we can actually do to help.
The fragile connection between native insect populations and native plant communities is the number one reason why I like to talk so much about planting native plants. Plants convert sunlight energy into leafy green material and insects convert most of that plant material into protein. Both crucial links in the food chain and energy cycle. The rest of us can't survive without those links.
This summer I am going to try really hard to get my butterfly milkweed to grow and take over my balcony. I'll give it anything it wants. Then I will make sure to distribute the seed through the North American Native Plant Society Seed Exchange. Butterfly milkweed is one of the most beautiful garden plants. Nothing else is quite that orange. And sharing local seed is a great way to ensure that local plant genetics are maintained.
And this weekend I am going to go see Flight of the Butterflies at the Ontario Science Centre. I heard about this film last August when I was at the annual Butterfly Festival at Tommy Thompson Park. I really feel like I need to know more about this story.
None of this news is good news. It's hard to imagine that any species can bounce back from such a hard hit to its genetic pool.
I've been thinking about the monarch's population quite a bit over the past year and what we can actually do to help.
The fragile connection between native insect populations and native plant communities is the number one reason why I like to talk so much about planting native plants. Plants convert sunlight energy into leafy green material and insects convert most of that plant material into protein. Both crucial links in the food chain and energy cycle. The rest of us can't survive without those links.
This summer I am going to try really hard to get my butterfly milkweed to grow and take over my balcony. I'll give it anything it wants. Then I will make sure to distribute the seed through the North American Native Plant Society Seed Exchange. Butterfly milkweed is one of the most beautiful garden plants. Nothing else is quite that orange. And sharing local seed is a great way to ensure that local plant genetics are maintained.
And this weekend I am going to go see Flight of the Butterflies at the Ontario Science Centre. I heard about this film last August when I was at the annual Butterfly Festival at Tommy Thompson Park. I really feel like I need to know more about this story.
A #homegrownnationalpark year in review.
The Homegrown National Park has been one of my favourite projects since moving to this city. Every one of their projects included planting native plants along the lost Garrison Creek. I learned a lot from participating in this project and meeting the rangers.
- I learned about the lost rivers under Toronto. To be honest, not a concept that I had really connected with in an urban setting before. I knew about rivers lost to agricultural drainage and the rerouting of southwestern Ontario's river systems. We do things a little differently here in the city, but with pretty similar consequences.
- I learned a lot about creating alvar ecosystem analogues in repurposed canoes. Canoes gardens are great big container gardens. It requires a deceivingly large amount of soil to fill them.
- I learned a lot about how to encourage more people to participate in community-based volunteer-led projects and events. I'll sum it up by saying: make everything about the projects and events fun. Even make the planning meetings fun. Make the signs fun. I still have a Homegrown National Park card posted on my wall because I actually like to look at it. Even when you think that the content is far more important than the fun because why doesn't everyone just care about this project, don't fall back on your old ways. Fun first, content second. People will learn what you're trying to tell them when they want to spend their free time listening.
- Also, I learned about the importance of presenting events and projects in a simple and accessible way. Even if the logistics are complicated and an entire team of people and organizations are running the show, make sure that it is easy for people to participate. Make maps that are really clear and easy to follow and tell people when to show up. Then tell them a few of the exciting parts of the event to keep them interested. Then don't bog them down with anything else. Work really hard to remove the barriers that could keep people from taking part in a massive, moving event full of food, music, ecology, nature and more than 1000 people will come.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
First @freshcityfarms week
Last week I joined Fresh City Farms. Just another one of the girls, I suppose. Though I've been a member of a CSA before when I lived in Guelph. I'm really looking forward to picking up my box tomorrow. I like being a member of a CSA because I find that I eat a greater diversity of fresh fruit and vegetables and I waste less. I also live in a bit of a local food desert, so it's great to be able to access Toronto grown produce during the growing season. Plus, It's so great when someone else figures out my groceries for me.
I live a couple blocks outside of Fresh City Farm's delivery boundaries, but I can pick up at one of their group locations. This year, I am going to try to get a group delivery set up at my workplace. They only require 3 members and everyone will receive a discount on their weekly box.
I live a couple blocks outside of Fresh City Farm's delivery boundaries, but I can pick up at one of their group locations. This year, I am going to try to get a group delivery set up at my workplace. They only require 3 members and everyone will receive a discount on their weekly box.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Happy #Australia Day!
It's already January 26 on the other side of the world. For you, an infographic about planting native plants in your garden downunder. The concepts apply to our backyards, but don't plant any of these plants in Scarborough!
And, a selection of my favourite native plant photos from my travels in Australia in 2009. I had a great time searching for strange little orchids in the Porongurup mountains and admiring these completely unfamiliar growth forms in the ancient Australian forests and outback ecosystems. Hopefully I'll return for another visit in 2015.
Friday, January 24, 2014
#biodiversity in the #urbanlandscape
This week the North American Native Plant Society hosted the first lecture in our annual Dr. Barbara Fallis Memorial Lecture Series at the Toronto Botanical Garden.
Scott Torrance, a landscape architect, was the guest speaker. Scott has designed several landmark gardens throughout the city and he is dedicated to connecting Torontonians to nature through his green space designs. Scott's focus for this most recent presentation was one of his recently published works, the City of Toronto Guidelines for Biodiverse Green Roofs.
Toronto is the first city in North American to have a by-law that requires green roofs be installed on certain sizes of new buildings. Green roofs keep buildings cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and reduce the albedo of the city landscape, meaning less sunlight is reflected back into the atmosphere. Green roofs that are planted with native plants also contribute habitat for wildlife and help to increase the biodiversity of the city.
Green roof technology has been used in building design throughout Europe for many centuries. Much of the knowledge we have about designing green roofs has come from the Scandinavian countries and Germany. Unfortunately, when we adopted these European green roof designs we also started to import plants native to these European countries. We knew that these plants would do well in the harsh environmental conditions found on green roofs such as thin soil, intense flood and drought cycles, high wind, and full sun. While this may be true, these plants contribute little to local ecosystem functioning.
Fortunately, there are also many native plants in southern Ontario that can tolerate these environmental conditions and contribute to a working ecosystem. The Guidelines for Biodiverse Green Roofs contain lists of native plant species that grow well in Toronto's green roofs.
The guide also includes great information about other strategies that can be used to create biodiverse green roofs. These include designing the roof with greater than 150 mm of soil, varying the composition of the growing medium, creating variable soil depths that will form microclimates, providing perching and nesting habitat for birds, bees and other insects, and providing water sources.
The best thing about these guidelines is that all of these strategies can be used in container gardens and balcony gardens to create more biodiverse habitats in small tower living spaces. I would definitely recommend taking a look through the guidelines while planning a balcony garden. The pictures of successful green roof projects are inspiring and the ecological knowledge included in the guidelines is impressive.
Prairie smoke is a native plant that would do well in a green roof. it
grows in full sun conditions and requires little soil. It is on the list
of native plants in the City of Toronto Guidelines for Biodiverse Green
Roofs and it is currently dormant in my balcony container garden.
Scott Torrance, a landscape architect, was the guest speaker. Scott has designed several landmark gardens throughout the city and he is dedicated to connecting Torontonians to nature through his green space designs. Scott's focus for this most recent presentation was one of his recently published works, the City of Toronto Guidelines for Biodiverse Green Roofs.
Toronto is the first city in North American to have a by-law that requires green roofs be installed on certain sizes of new buildings. Green roofs keep buildings cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and reduce the albedo of the city landscape, meaning less sunlight is reflected back into the atmosphere. Green roofs that are planted with native plants also contribute habitat for wildlife and help to increase the biodiversity of the city.
Green roof technology has been used in building design throughout Europe for many centuries. Much of the knowledge we have about designing green roofs has come from the Scandinavian countries and Germany. Unfortunately, when we adopted these European green roof designs we also started to import plants native to these European countries. We knew that these plants would do well in the harsh environmental conditions found on green roofs such as thin soil, intense flood and drought cycles, high wind, and full sun. While this may be true, these plants contribute little to local ecosystem functioning.
Fortunately, there are also many native plants in southern Ontario that can tolerate these environmental conditions and contribute to a working ecosystem. The Guidelines for Biodiverse Green Roofs contain lists of native plant species that grow well in Toronto's green roofs.
The guide also includes great information about other strategies that can be used to create biodiverse green roofs. These include designing the roof with greater than 150 mm of soil, varying the composition of the growing medium, creating variable soil depths that will form microclimates, providing perching and nesting habitat for birds, bees and other insects, and providing water sources.
The best thing about these guidelines is that all of these strategies can be used in container gardens and balcony gardens to create more biodiverse habitats in small tower living spaces. I would definitely recommend taking a look through the guidelines while planning a balcony garden. The pictures of successful green roof projects are inspiring and the ecological knowledge included in the guidelines is impressive.
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Thursday, January 23, 2014
Return the Landscape
A long time ago in a far away city (Sarnia, Ontario), I had the pleasure of meeting Larry Cornelis and Shawn McKnight, founders of Return the Landscape. Larry and Shawn are two people who came up with a really great idea that they believed in and went out and put that idea to work.
Return the Landscape is a native plant rescue and restoration project that Shawn and Larry started in Lambton County in 2010. First, they would find natural areas throughout the county that were scheduled for development. Then, they would search through the vegetation for native plants, dig up chunks of earth, and replant them in parks were the plants would be saved from demolition. Transplanting the entire chunk of earth along with the plants meant that they were saving not only the plants, but the well developed organic topsoil, the native mycorrhizae (fungi that live in the soil and are very important for ecosystem function), and the plant community structure.
To give these rescued plants the best chance for survival following transplant, and to ensure that this work was having a positive impact on the local environment, Larry and Shawn would carefully search out transplant locations that had similar soil types and environmental conditions to the areas where the plants were being rescued from. Many times these plants ended up in Canatara Park, a wonderful park in the heart of Sarnia located right where the turquoise blue water of Lake Huron empties into the mighty St. Clair River. This has to be one of my favourite places in true southwestern Ontario.
I remember reading the Return the Landscape Feasibility Study several years ago. The project idea was novel and inspiring and the document itself was fun to read. The design, use of pictures, and the style in which the study was written, was, and is, captivating and interesting. It's a great example of how we can communicate what may seem to be a complex science-based idea clearly and effectively using plain language and compelling images.
In the spring of 2012 I asked Shawn and Larry to speak to my class at Ridgetown Campus. They brought along a local filmmaker and filmed their presentation in the class. This footage would possibly be incorporated into Return the Landscape the film. They have released a trailer and I am looking forward to the full-length version.
The last time I spoke with Larry and Shawn, they were working on a way to have their Return the Landscape methods incorporated into official planning documents for Lambton County. The overarching goal of the project is to have native plant rescue and restoration be a required step when developing an area of land. Hopefully, if they could demonstrate the value of this work, this requirement would be adopted by other cities.
I haven't spoken with Larry or Shawn for quite some time, but I'm certain that their good work continues and I hope that we'll hear about the film release one of these days.
Return the Landscape is a native plant rescue and restoration project that Shawn and Larry started in Lambton County in 2010. First, they would find natural areas throughout the county that were scheduled for development. Then, they would search through the vegetation for native plants, dig up chunks of earth, and replant them in parks were the plants would be saved from demolition. Transplanting the entire chunk of earth along with the plants meant that they were saving not only the plants, but the well developed organic topsoil, the native mycorrhizae (fungi that live in the soil and are very important for ecosystem function), and the plant community structure.
To give these rescued plants the best chance for survival following transplant, and to ensure that this work was having a positive impact on the local environment, Larry and Shawn would carefully search out transplant locations that had similar soil types and environmental conditions to the areas where the plants were being rescued from. Many times these plants ended up in Canatara Park, a wonderful park in the heart of Sarnia located right where the turquoise blue water of Lake Huron empties into the mighty St. Clair River. This has to be one of my favourite places in true southwestern Ontario.
I remember reading the Return the Landscape Feasibility Study several years ago. The project idea was novel and inspiring and the document itself was fun to read. The design, use of pictures, and the style in which the study was written, was, and is, captivating and interesting. It's a great example of how we can communicate what may seem to be a complex science-based idea clearly and effectively using plain language and compelling images.
In the spring of 2012 I asked Shawn and Larry to speak to my class at Ridgetown Campus. They brought along a local filmmaker and filmed their presentation in the class. This footage would possibly be incorporated into Return the Landscape the film. They have released a trailer and I am looking forward to the full-length version.
The last time I spoke with Larry and Shawn, they were working on a way to have their Return the Landscape methods incorporated into official planning documents for Lambton County. The overarching goal of the project is to have native plant rescue and restoration be a required step when developing an area of land. Hopefully, if they could demonstrate the value of this work, this requirement would be adopted by other cities.
I haven't spoken with Larry or Shawn for quite some time, but I'm certain that their good work continues and I hope that we'll hear about the film release one of these days.
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