#Walking the Edge of #Toronto

A Toronto man walked the perimeter of the city and reported on what he came across.

Water Energy Food Nexus video

I'm currently taking an online course offered by UBC through edX. The course is called Blue is the new Green: the Water Food Energy Land Nexus. I decided to participate in the course because I would like to gain a better understanding of how these systems are connected and I'd like to learn about various solutions for the global water crisis.

Each week we watch a series of videos and read some assigned readings. There is also an online discussion group that allows participants to communicate with each other and the course instructors. Last week, one of my coursemates posted this video. The video is a good explanation of what the word nexus means when we are discussing these systems. The video is produced by a large international company that brews beer and bottles pop. Some of that bias comes through in the video, of course, but it does give a good overview with interesting graphics, which I always appreciate.

They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds.

Each year I spend some time at the Latornell Conservation Symposium. I try to attend the day that the Young Conservation Professionals are graduating. The symposium organizers host the graduation during one of the lunch hours, followed by a keynote speaker.

Last year, we heard from Chris Hadfield about what it takes to be a resilient being and how to work through some of the most challenging situations we will face, such as going temporarily blind during a space walk.

This year, Ziya Tong from the Discovery Channel and the board of WWF spoke to us about transformations that are happening around the planet. She spoke about some of the greatest environmental challenges we have created, and are now facing, and presented facts that are difficult to hear. She completed her presentation on a hopeful note though, and quoted this proverb that caught my attention: They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds.

One of the reasons I like to attend conferences like Latornell is that I always leave feeling inspired to do good work. Lately, some aspects of my life have felt a little separate from my day-to-day living and I want to return to the state where all aspects of my life blend into good work. I'm much more comfortable when my job, responsibilities, hobbies aren't chores. Along those lines, I've been thinking about this blog a lot and I am going to start posting about more diverse topics. Most likely native plants will remain a strong theme, but every system is connected and I'd like to start thinking about that idea a little more.

A magical afternoon in #nature.

If there was ever a good reason to protect forest parks within city limits, this has got to be it.

"The Boys and Girls Club of West Scarborough went on surprise field trip with Nature Valley to the TRCA's Kortright Centre.

The outcome: a magical afternoon in nature."

Learn something new @TED_ED

TEDEd has all sorts of interesting videos about good topics. I like to think that my classes were pretty interesting, but I'm pretty sure that these videos deserved some of the credit. Now you can build a custom lesson plan right on the website.

I like the mouse, the snake, and the typewriter.

@DavidSuzukiFDN #bluedot tour. so good!

The David Suzuki Foundation released The Blue Dot Tour website this afternoon. This is the promotional website for David Suzuki's final tour of speaking events across Canada. The entire site is great and I am completely chuffed that they chose my picture to represent Canadians who believe in our inherent right to a healthy environment. Moments like this really remind you just how much all the hard work matters. Go to their website, quickly, and buy tickets for all these awesome events!

#vegetable gardening cheat sheet via @thisbigcity

A very cool chart that shows how to organize, plant, care for, and harvest your veggies. I really like the companion planting section. Some of those pairs would be great for maximizing container space on the balcony.

Thanks for sending this! From Anglian Home via This Big City.

A #balcony #garden update

It's been far too long since I posted photos of my balcony garden. This is my first full season trying to bring greenspace to the 10th floor of my building. Last year I had a half season, due to balcony renovations. I learned a lot in that half year. And I had ambitious plans for this season. I haven't planted as much as I wanted to plant this year, but what I have is doing quite well.

I visited the cottage on Canada Day and Dad bought me a hardy kiwi vine! I planted it in one of my large, square planters that has a water reservoir in the base. So far the vine loves it here. It's already reached out to latch on to the lime tree in the large blue planter, two planters away.

According to the card that came with the plant, the environmental conditions on my balcony are what this vine prefers. Apparently, it can grow 7.5 m to 9 m long. I think I am going to have to find it something other than the mini lime tree to climb on.  I hope I get some mini kiwis!

As usual, the lime tree is in full production mode. This is the 5th time this thing has bloomed and produced many, many little limes. The flowers are pretty little white blossoms that have a very nice floral scent. I've seen many pollinators on this tree. The limes start off in little clusters.

Then most of the little limes fall away, and get everywhere, until one dominant lime takes over that area. Only five have grown to full size, but those 5 have been delicious limes.

I really need to brush the moon dust off the leaves of the lime tree because even though the tree has had a lot of new growth this season, the dust is blocking the sunlight and preventing it from growing to its full potential.

These chives can back from last years plants. And I grew the basil from a few springs that I had in the fridge! I am amazed at how well it has taken off.

The native harebell (Campanula rotundifola) and pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) are doing well. Both came from our annual NANPS plant sale in early May. I water them with that upside down wine bottle. These two always do well in containers on balconies and both have very pretty, long-lasting blooms that attract a lot of pollinators.

This year, I also decided to try growing a few other natives. Ontario's native cactus, which can be seen in the wild at Point Pelee National Park, just happens to love it here. I give it full sunshine and almost no water. Since it came here in May, it has produced 5 new incredibly spikey pads while essentially being ignored. This is eastern prickly pear cactus (Opuntia humifusa). I'll bring it inside this winter and hopefully it will bloom next year. 

I've been reading about how to propagate this cactus. And I think that all I need to do is break off a pad, leave it sitting on the table, ignore it until it forms a callus over the scare where it was broken, and then stick it in the soil. I am actually wondering if that pad is going to get heavy enough that it will fall off and go through this process without my assistance. I assume that is what happens in nature, just the way one of my favourite garden succulents,  hens and chickens, reproduce. More reading to do.
 

The little blue-eyed grass has bloomed and gone to seed. It's flower was so pretty this year. I am letting the perfect little seeds dry out very thoroughly in their pod, then I will collect them and start some more plants indoors next February or March.

Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium). I would love to see this bloom and go to seed as well, but I think it needs a few seasons to develop. I had this in a container last year and left it out on the balcony over winter. It did not come back this spring. I think it was frozen through too long into the spring. This year I will have to see about insulating or storing the plants that I would like to come back next year.

And the wild ginger (Asarum canadense), with it's lovely fuzzy heart-shaped leaves. I purchased this to try as an indoor plant. However, I couldn't keep it indoors while it was doing so well outdoors. I might take it to my office in the fall, though I doubt that it will want to stay leafed out over the winter. We'll see what happens.

There are a few other plants on the balcony. And a few other empty planters. I know that sounds crazy. I really want to plant the lettuce and radish, but I haven't gotten around to it. Which has been the story of my life the past few months. Maybe today since there is still time for a crop and it will take about 15 minutes to get this done.

@xerces_society does it again. An awesome resource for learning about #milkweed and #monarch habitat.

The Xerces Society continually produces amazing resources about the invertebrates of North America and the native plants that sustain their populations. I have documents created by this group that I collected while I was in school that are still useful and relevant years later. I refer to several of their habitat guides on a regular basis.

Today I found this gem, Milkweeds A Conservation Practitioner's Guide, posted on the Tallgrass Prairie Supporters group. This guide is an incredibly detailed yet easy-to-follow guide to producing, harvesting, and planting milkweed species. The information is provided for people who will be producing milkweed on an agricultural scale to provide seed for large habitat restoration projects. However, the background information about the ecology and life cycle of milkweed is interesting and all of the techniques for seed production can be scaled down to be used by any gardener or stewardship group.

Milkweed has been a highly sought-after native plant the past couple years because it is the only source of food for the Monarch Butterfly caterpillar. With steadily decreasing populations across North America, the Monarch has been all over the news and, as its companion plant, milkweed has been making headlines as well. I am so glad to see that the Xerces Society is providing this type of high-quality and well-researched document so that restoring milkweed and monarch habitat can be a simple action for any one to try.

I always did want to be a conservation practitioner when I grew up.

#thanks #volunteers

Planting one of my favourite tallgrass prairie species, Coreopsis lanceolata, with community volunteers at the Scarborough Butterfly Trail in the Highland Creek watershed.

@davidsuzukiFDN #gotmilkweed campaign!

David Suzuki Foundation kicked off the Got Milkweed? campaign on April 1. Check out the video for information about how you can support Monarch butterfly habitat this year. And to see me on the internet.

This year the North American Native Plant Society will be holding two plant sales so that you can purchase native plants for your garden. The largest one day plant sale in Canada is on May 10 at the Markham Civic Centre. Our downtown plant sale will be on May 25 at Christie Pit Park alongside DSF's milkweed pick-up location for the Got Milkweed? campaign and the Bike with Mike event in Ward 19. For more details check out www.nanps.org.

Happy Centennial, @ROMtoronto!

Today the Royal Ontario Museum turned 100 years old.

Over the past few years, I've spent some quality time exploring the ROM.  Two highlights include the Grasslands in Crisis symposium and ROM Biodiversity month.

In 2012 I came all the way up to the city from Lambton County to attend the Grasslands in Crisis symposium. That was a roadtrip with my coworkers at Ontario Nativescape. Before I moved to the city, I helped to coordinate tallgrass prairie and wetland restoration projects throughout southwestern Ontario. The symposium was so interesting! We learned about all sorts of projects to conserve this endangered ecosystem and talked to a lot of interested people about our work.

Last year, I visited the ROM during Biodiversity month. I attended the public discussion associated with the Ontario Endangered Species Act conference. This was one of the first events I went out to, 2 weeks after moving to the city. There were some contentious issues debated that night. I was just happy to live in a place where I could go to interesting talks and events, for free, practically any night I wanted to.

Happy Birthday, ROM! Thanks for always reminding us that no matter how busy we are, it's important to remember, and learn from, the past. Here's to the next 100 years of teaching us about the natural and cultural history of Ontario.

Scarborough as an #urbanjungle

What the city would look like as an urban jungle. I read about this at blogTO.

Dorset Park neighbourhood is one of the industrial areas within the most urbanized watershed in Canada. This is what it would look like with a few plants.

Sparkly!

Once I read a book called The World Without Us. When we leave, plants move in. Yesterday I went for a long walk and talked a lot about the plant communities in cultural meadows, the ecosystems that grow up when we abandon agricultural fields or expansive lawns. This is exactly what happens.


I hope there will be no snakes!

@OIPC1 Garden Savers.

Speaking of wild ginger (Asarum canadense), the Ontario Invasive Plant Council (OIPC) has produced a series of videos about garden invaders and garden savers, including wild ginger.

Garden invaders are invasive species that are sold to gardeners as plants that will quickly fill in garden areas and flourish in our local gardens. The reason they fill in garden areas so quickly is because they have various invasive tendencies. They grow aggressively, take up resources quickly, and usually have a growth form that enables them to spread. This spreading quickly leads to  their escaping from our gardens and their takeover of native ecosystems, parks, and green spaces. They flourish in this environment because so few insects interact with them. They aren't a food source, they're biodiversity black holes and they're creating a break in the food chain.

These are the plants that we need to stop planting in the city. They include English ivy, goutweed, periwinkle, autumn olive, and many ornamental grasses to name a few.

Garden savers are native plants that we can plant instead of these typical garden invaders that are commonly sold in big box nurseries. They contribute to ecosystem function, local biodiversity, and provide habitat connectivity. They grow slowly because they put energy into deep root systems that improve soil conditions, help water infiltrate into the ground water system, and reduce erosion. They return organic material to the soil and they interact with native soil fungi and provide food and shelter for native beneficial insect population.

There are many sources of garden savers in the city, and in nearby rural areas. You just need to know where to look. The North American Native Plant Society has a list of commercial growers throughout North America who are ethically producing true local, native plants in their respective regions.

Wild ginger is a true garden saver. And it's one of the species that I am going to try to grow indoors this year. Here is the OIPC's wild ginger video presented by Colleen Cirillo, the original Healthy Yards coordinator:

#nativeplants as #houseplants

I'm part of the Eco Team at my work office. Each office in my organization has an Eco Team and we have guidelines that have been developed at the corporate level. We coordinate many different projects both outside and inside the office to create a more sustainable and healthy workplace.

I'm a member of the outdoor committee. Currently we're planning activities that we would like to work on at the office this year. We're lucky that our office is in the middle of a park and we have quite a bit of land to work with. Our main outdoor asset is a large vegetable garden plot that staff can use all season long. We're also talking about setting up an outdoor lunch or meeting space, coordinating workshops with the education committee so staff can learn more about gardening, and talking to our property managers about changing some of the outdoor maintenance practices, reducing the amount of salt used in the winter, reducing mowing, and using native plants in the flower gardens.

The indoor committee is currently working on an initiative to bring more houseplants (officeplants) into the office. Last week, I assisted one of the indoor committee members with a survey of all of current officeplants. This was a plant ID challenge because most of the plants are non-native species from tropical regions. We figured them all out and we have quite a few different species. They can all be propagated easily by taking clippings and encouraging them to root. We also found many pots of dry soil and dead plants. We're going to have to incorporate a watering schedule for some cubicles and help people learn how to take care of our new officeplants.

In my cubicle, I am going to plant an aloe vera plant. They have very useful antiseptic properties. My greatest work health and safety hazard is exposure to sharp paper edges, so the aloe vera might come in useful. I avoid paper cuts these days by avoiding printing all together. Lately I've been thinking about each piece of paper as a slice of a tree and that makes me not want to waste them at all. Also, I just had the two giant filing cabinets removed from my office and I intend to stop putting paper in storage. Files can be saved electronically just as easily and they are much easier to search. 

Other than the aloe vera, I am going to plant entirely native plants in my cubicle. I've been trying to do some research about using native plants as houseplants, but I haven't found many good sources of information. I've decided that I will choose plants that generally grow in forest areas. They require less direct sunlight. Maybe only indirect sunlight. A lot of them require moist soils, which might be a challenge at times, but I have been using upside down thin necked glass bottles of water to keep my balcony plants watered over long weekends in the summer and that has worked fine. I also usually plant native plants in native soils where their roots can interact with soil fungi. I think this is pretty important for native forest plants. I"m going to try planting some in a soilless potting mix, but I might also try some in some native soil mixed with something organic to reduce soil compaction in the pot.

The first two species I'm  going to start with are wild ginger and bloodroot. These are two of my favourite species. I also want to try a fern and maybe a grass or a sedge. I'm going to order all of these from the North American Native Plant Society annual plant sale. Members of NANPS can pre-order plants. Also, they'll be started and well-established. Giving them a better chance of survival in captivity. We'll see how this officeplant experiment goes.

The Urban Gardeners Republic @UrbGardenersRep

I've been following this great group via Twitter and Facebook for the past few weeks. The group is instagram-based, but I am not instagram connected. I don't think I'm missing anything, though.

They fill up my news feeds with inspiring, bright green garden photos, project ideas, and all sorts of awesome things that I really like. Mainly about food plants, but there have been a few native plants that I've noticed in there too.

New winter growth: #tenmetrediet

So, I've managed to protect my two fruit-bearing shrubs over the winter months. I feel like this has been a huge accomplishment considering my balcony was closed for the majority of the growing season last year, I purchased these two scrawny little sale plants at the end of the season, and I moved them from sunny Chatham, Ontario to the frigid north. It's stressful moving this many degrees of latitude. Trust me, I've been there.

First off, my blueberry plant.There are new leaves at the tip of each branch.

There are also many new axillary buds. I don't know much about the growth form of a blueberry bush, so I'm not quite sure how it will flower yet. Along with these little buds there are many new branches growing from the base. I forgot to take a good picture, but I'll try to remember to post one on the next sunny day.

Second, my lime tree. This little guy has already produced fruit twice! And now there are many new white flowers. Unfortunately, there aren't many pollinators inside at the moment. I noticed today that the flowers have bloomed. We'll see if any new little limes appear.

So far I have eaten one mini lime, two full-sized limes, and there are three more on the shrub. I'm just leaving them there until I want to eat them. They are ripe, but they change and grow very, very slowly. I think they should be fine for a while longer.

I have to say that I am pretty chuffed with my ability to produce citrus fruit on a balcony in Scarborough, Ontario. I think 2014 is going to be a big year for me in the field of urban agriculture because these little green gems are pretty inspiring.

@NatureCanada and how to be a #goodneighbour in your #naturehood

Just another great take on creating a healthy yard. Nature Canada has seven good ideas for helping species at risk in our own backyards. Hint: plant as many native plants as possibly you can.

#volunteer with @tnanps

I put my orange butterfly milkweed photo to good use:

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.