Past Projects

Location: 2 locations in Dovercourt Park; near Bartlett and Fernbank, and Salem and Fernbank.

A heartfelt thank you to The Horticultural Societies of Parkdale & Toronto for their generous grant, which has helped make our local pollinator garden even more vibrant and thriving!

Thanks to this support, we were able to plant 5 Sumac bushes, one Nannyberry and 3 New Jersey tea bushes at the Bartlett Garden on the northwest side of Dovercourt Park. In the northeast end of the park garden we added 2 Grey Dogwoods, 1 Nannyberry and 4 New Jersey Tea shrubs. All established well, thanks to generous rainfall this summer. 

Nannyberry planted beside the alliums.

Unfortunately, it appears 2 of the New Jersey Tea shrubs were stolen from one of the gardens. We hope that a third one in that area will have managed to survive, likely because it was planted among taller plants. Fortunately that was our only loss. As for theft prevention, we don’t have concrete solutions yet beyond staying as vigilant as possible.

New Jersey Tea plants freshly planted... but not for long.

This challenge has also reminded us of another ongoing issue: protecting young seedlings from curious (and trampling!) pups. These hurdles bring us to exciting news—we’ve applied for another grant from PollinateTO!

If successful, we hope to use it for much-needed signage and perhaps a fence to deter both theft and dog-related disruptions.

Signage is a top priority for us, as we’d love to educate the community about the incredible pollinator plants we’re growing, the vital role they play, and the invasive species that need addressing (many of which can be found in neighboring gardens).

If you’ve discovered any creative ways to address garden theft, trampling, or other challenges, we’d love to hear your insights! Thank you again for your continued support—it means the world to us and the pollinators we’re working so hard to nurture.

- Gabrielle Bonneau, Karen Carrillo, Skai Leja

Places for Learning About the Importance of Pollinators in Edible Gardens

Project Overview

Our project, Places for Learning About the Importance of Pollinators in Edible Gardens, was driven by a commitment to promote climate action and ecological awareness within our Parkdale community. The focus was on enhancing biodiversity in existing gardens by introducing and nurturing native pollinator species in our edible gardens. Our initial plan included work in both the Milky Way Garden and the HOPE Garden.

As committed in the application, we planted a portion of pollinator plants along the perimeter of the H.O.P.E Garden. However, we shifted much of our efforts to the Dunn Indigenous Garden (DIG), in response to energy with Indigenous groups we partnered with, which is about 100 meters from the HOPE garden.

This contributed meaningfully to the revitalization of the Dunn Indigenous Garden, which holds significant cultural and ecological importance.

Background and Rationale

Research underscores the importance of planting native species to increase pollinator activity, which is a priority of this project (Fukase & Simons, 2016). Urban areas such as Toronto offer a unique opportunity to support pollinator populations by creating green spaces like community gardens (Daniels et al., 2020). Pollinators are essential for food production and the health of ecosystems, and urban areas have been particularly impacted by declines in pollinator populations due to habitat loss (Olsson et al., 2021). Our project aimed to address these declines by increasing the presence of native pollinators and promoting ecological awareness in urban spaces.

Garden Design and Implementation

Our two gardens are affiliated with the West Neighborhood House through the Greenest City Program, which focuses on building resilient, healthy, and inclusive neighborhoods through climate action. This affiliation is rooted in the Thriving Earth, Thriving People approach, which emphasizes collective care for the earth and each other, with a particular focus on communities that are most impacted by climate change. These priorities include food sovereignty, land stewardship, and righting relations with Indigenous peoples, with the goal of ensuring communities can respond to climate change and enhance resilience.

The Milky Way Garden and Dunn Indigenous Garden were carefully chosen for their suitability to support native pollinator species. Both gardens feature optimal conditions for planting, including full sunlight, well-drained soil, and the ability to support a variety of plant species. By selecting plants suited to these environments, we ensured that pollinators would thrive, providing long-term ecological benefits to the community.

The Dunn Indigenous Garden, in particular, has been enhanced with pollinator species integral to Indigenous land stewardship and ecological practices. In addition to planting six pollinator areas with more than 30 species inside of the garden, we installed educational signage to reflect Indigenous knowledge and ecological relationships. This holistic approach promotes both environmental restoration and cultural renewal.

Educational Component

One of the core aspects of this project was the Pollinator Education workshop series, which sought to educate community members on the importance of pollinators in supporting biodiversity, food production, and local ecosystems.

From June until the end of November, we were fortunate to receive support from South of Parkdale Pollinator Gardens, Allyson Lyske, who helped facilitate biweekly educational components. Additionally, we partnered with Canada Nos Une, Monarch Butterfly Project to offer eco arts workshops that focused on creating educational signage in both Anishinaabe and English. These signs were installed in the gardens to highlight the significance of pollinators and plants, reflecting Indigenous ecological knowledge and fostering cultural connections.

A key highlight of the project was the workshops for our Growing the Future, Kids Gardening Program, and the West NH Youth Newcomer Program, held at the Milky Way Garden. This workshop was designed to engage, children, (6 to 12) and young newcomers (16-25) in hands-on activities, emphasizing the interconnections between edible gardens and pollinator gardens. Participants learned about how pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, are essential for food production. They gained an understanding of the role pollinators play in growing food and supporting local ecosystems.

Furthermore, we worked with Milky Way Garden gardeners to deepen their knowledge of the relationship between edible and pollinator gardens. We  highlighted the importance of attracting pollinators to enhance food production and improve garden health. Activities included planting pollinator species alongside edible plants and learning garden management techniques that supported both food-growing efforts and biodiversity.

Over the course of the project, around 100 local residents and supporters participated in the educational hands-on activities. These involved a range of actions, such as planting pollinator species, spreading seeds, and learning sustainable gardening practices. The workshops engaged people of all ages, including children, youth, families, and seniors, fostering a sense of community and environmental stewardship.

Volunteer Support

The project benefitted greatly from the involvement of approximately 40 volunteers from both corporate and community members & organizations. Volunteers contributed significantly by helping with planting, watering, weeding, mulching, and other essential tasks needed to maintain the gardens throughout the growing season. Their support played a crucial role in the success and sustainability of the gardens, ensuring that the project met its objectives.

Conclusion

This project has made significant strides in enhancing urban biodiversity,  promoting ecological awareness, and supporting Indigenous reconciliation efforts. The shift to the Dunn Indigenous Garden was an important step in our commitment to respecting and building relationships with Indigenous communities, while also contributing to environmental sustainability.

The involvement of 100 community members, 40 volunteers, and numerous educational partners has created a lasting legacy of knowledge and action.

The project has not only contributed to the revitalization of the Dunn Indigenous Garden but has also empowered local residents with the knowledge to foster pollinator-friendly practices in their own gardens, contributing to a sustainable, resilient community in the face of climate change. We are proud of the outcomes of this project and look forward to continuing to support ecological stewardship and community engagement in the future.

- By West Neighbourhoods House - Greenest City Program

Location: Roncesvalles United Church - NW corner Roncesvalles & Wright Avenue – across from High Park library.

There are 6 garden areas: Three on Roncesvalles Avenue and three on Wright Avenue.

The gardens are well established now so this year there was basically some changes because of site conditions, soil improvement, continued naturalizing spring bulbs and a new native shrub planting.

Bulbs

The spring garden bulbs are naturalizing nicely. The additional winter aconite and snowdrops that were planted helped carry your eye across the two Roncy gardens. The only bulb disappointment was the new Tulipa Persian pearl which were fuchsia on the package but bloomed more red which isn’t the colour palette for the main Roncy garden. A neighbourhood walk inspired planting some blue camassia bulbs in the fall and I’m looking forward to them come spring.

Design

The Roncy right stair garden has always been challenging as it’s competing with the large city “diva” tree. The existing variegated honeysuckle shrub brightens the area on the left side so two Hadspen cream brunnera were added to the right to balance the variegation and also provide a little bonus with its’ blue spring blooms. The Wright/Roncy corner garden with its city tree getting bigger each year meant more shade and some changes were due. The variegated sedum were grouped together. Another Johnson’s blue geranium with its super looooooong bloom time was added for more mass planting/visual impact for this mostly purple garden.

Unexpected Challenges

An unexpected challenge this year was some necessary building repair work at the front of the church where the most established garden is. Scaffolding with its full wood board protection meant the large yellow dogwood didn’t see sunlight for about a month. Fortunately much damage didn’t occur once it finally saw sunshine again and it continued to flourish throughout the rest of the season.

Joy

One big joy and “start the car, start the car” moment occurred when I went to purchase a native serviceberry shrub for the Wright Avenue grassy area. I wanted a native shrub that would provide both spring flowers, beautiful fall foliage and tasty berries – so serviceberry fit the bill. Fiesta gardens had the particular type I wanted at a cheaper price than last year and I was able to use our Hort member discount as well – so win win. I installed a small wooden lattice to protect it against dogs etc. Although we did get a fair share of rain it was monitored closely during dry spells. I read a FB post recently that due to the climate changes shrubs need monitoring not only the first year but the second as well.

Best in show

The winner of the longest blooming award went to the Nepeta in the main Roncy garden. It grew so large and bloomed so profusely into the fall that it was sad to cut it back hard for the winter. Unfortunately gardening for a community is very different than a personal garden so accommodations have to be made otherwise a messy looking garden encourages garbage.

Maintenance

Although the gardens are well established some compost and mulch were added to several areas. There was a huge proliferation of allium babies that had to be dug up so the perennials in the main Roncy garden wouldn’t be overshadowed. Creeping bellflower was also addressed in several gardens and as any gardener knows it will be a constant battle to deal with them for many years to come.

Many thanks for Hort’s support to help continue brightening our little part of the world.

- Anne Karpynczyk

Location: Roncesvalles Avenue (East Side of Roncesvalles, North of High Park Boulevard) Approx. 82 feet long x 4 feet wide. The long rock top border means people like to sit/stand with their coffee and the children like to walk along this “upper” sidewalk.

The new perennials, shrubs and bulbs that were planted over the past several years are getting well established. So as is always expected when gardening there were several new additions and some tweeking in the gardens.

Several new perennials were planned to go into the small front garden containing the statue of St. Mary. Unfortunately some vandalism occurred in the spring and with the statue damaged and some plants destroyed we held off with any planting until the church has time to do some rethinking with the area.

There was a bit of a truffle hunt or treasure hunt er I mean baby seedling hunt as various cleome, euphorbia marginata and verbena bonariensis surprised us when they started popping up in the early summer. Some cleome had already been purchased for the area but the additional freebies made the planting more dense which was a wonderful surprise. Some of the verbena were left “en situ” while some were relocated near the aster frikartii monsch near the middle of the garden. The verbena seedlings, if more keep popping up in the future, will be relocated to the back of other areas as their airy nature and lilac colour can compliment many of the other plants. This south garden section with the cleome, verbena, euphorbia, geranium Johnson’s blue, white David phlox and miscanthus morning light really highlighted the Monet inspired colour palette and made for some beautiful photos.

It was year 2 for the native Virgin’s bower clematis both along the back fence and at the street front and it was definitely the “creep” year for them so we will be looking for them to “leap” in 2025.

We “Chelsea chopped” most of the Helianthus near the blue spruce but since it still grew pretty tall and leaned so much towards the sidewalk it will be relocated next year. The helianthus near the south end was relocated behind the chokeberry. The Karl Foerster grasses were also relocated behind the chokeberry and they were replaced with a variegated feather reed grass which should be shorter and hopefully not lean as much toward the sidewalk as the Karl Forster grasses did. The relocated Helianthus with its yellow flowers and the grasses put on a long colourful fall display behind the chokeberry with its orange fall leaf colour.

The native prairie smoke, inspired by a Hort talk years ago, finally lived up to its common name of grandpa’s whiskers. It was a loooong time coming to reach its full potential and provide the payoff we were waiting for.

The three caryopertis shrubs in front of the crèche grew well enough but bloomed very late in the season so they may get relocated next year. Part of gardening is choosing a plant to tick off many boxes but ultimately Mother Nature keeps us humble with how plantings really turn out in their location.

Many many many hours were spent weeding the never ending creeping bellflower or hellflower as it’s often referred to by gardeners. After weeding out a bunch near the caryopteris bushes several low white campanula were planted in pots and then put into the ground. This is an experiment that hopefully if the bellflower weeds don’t return in the area next year we can plant the white campanula into the ground.

Several moonbeam coreopsis were replanted as they were over run by the dreaded creeping bellflower and were hard to separate during weeding. While at the garden center – several plants just managed to jump into the shopping cart – a low double pink dianthus, a fall rose coloured Japanese anemone, and those white campanulas – so they just had to come home with us.

The native chokeberry had beautiful white spring blooms and then a bright orange fall leaf colour. A neighbour’s renovation meant we could repurpose their stone pavers and place them around the base to help keep the grass and weeds out. Various naturalizing bulbs (winter aconite & snowdrops) were planted underneath and we look forward with anticipation to see them come up in the spring.

The public continues to stop by and comment on how it makes their day, how they appreciate the floral changes throughout the season and generally how beautiful the garden looks. The love they share for the garden makes the planning, planting, continued maintenance and hard work worthwhile. We thank the Horticultural Societies of Parkdale Toronto for their support in brightening up our little part of the world.

- Anne Karpynczyk, Cathy Martell & Anne Gudino

Location:  Redeemer Lutheran Church & St Joan of Arc Catholic Church, Bloor St West. 

For more info and photos please go to: www.gardenpartytoronto.com and to see a lovely video of the garden please click here.

This Year’s Successes

The Garden Party is a giving garden. Over the past 18 years, we have been growing and donating herbs and vegetables initially to the Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre (PARC) and St. Francis Table, both located on Queen Street West in the Parkdale neighbourhood and later expanding to other local food banks. This year, our donations went to PARC and St. Francis Table.

This year, we donated 285.25 Kg (629 lbs.) of fresh produce and 308 herb bundles. Between May 28, our first delivery, and October 15, one of our last, we made 34 deliveries.

This year, we increased the number of rows of beans we planted and a volunteer started peas early in the spring which provided harvests early in the spring. The pea seeds were purchased at the Parkdale Seedy Saturday. These efforts helped generate a larger yield than in 2023.

Pea seedlings in March (started at home by a volunteer)

We had two planning meetings before the beginning of the planting season and through a facilitated process by two of our volunteers who are trained facilitators, we identified successes and failures from last year and developed a garden plan together that had a greater focus on our higher yield produce – beans, kale and cherry tomatoes.

New Volunteers

We continued our regular Saturday morning gardening sessions with people signing up to water for specific weeks from June until September. We attracted several new volunteers this year and had several students join us to complete their community service hours.

We also had campers from the Jardin Infantil Academy take on watering duties for several weeks this summer. One of our volunteers is the Founder and Director of the Jardin Infantil Academy which is based out of Redeemer Lutheran. She had the following comments to say about the campers’ experiences helping with the garden this summer:

Much gratitude to you all, for including my little campers in the watering schedule and to Louis [one of our long-time volunteers] for teaching them how to water and care for the garden. The children loved it! It had a positive impact on them. They went home talking to their families about the experience. We got many positive comments from their parents.

- Marta Estrada

Garden Tours

The two churches that provide the land for our gardens, Redeemer Lutheran and St. Joan of Arc, held a blessing of the garden on September 8 that was attended by volunteer gardeners and members of the two churches. This event provided an opportunity for the congregants to learn more about the garden and see what was growing.

We also provided impromptu tours throughout the season to people who just stopped by on their way by the garden and explained the purpose of the garden and how we were a project of the Parkdale Hort. Unfortunately, some of our produce (ripe tomatoes) was taken by people when we weren’t there – fine if they really needed it, but we do not think this was always the case.

Research

This year, our gardens were the host site of two nest boxes as part of the research by Ph.D. student Sisley Irwin at the B.U.G.S. Lab at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus. Sisley installed the boxes in May to recruit solitary bees and wasps at low densities. Sisley is trying to understand how temperature and urbanization affect cavity nesting bee communities by surveying cavity nesting bees over the summer months across the City of Toronto. She removed the boxes at the end of October.

Her project was investigating the effect of temperature on small-bodied solitary bees in urban greenspaces. The early life stages of bees in nest boxes are immobile, and therefore restrained to the nest site, making them particularly susceptible to temperature extremes. Cities are becoming increasingly warm, leaving bees closer to their thermal limit, and at greater risk of decline. Determining how solitary bees will respond to temperature across an urban landscape can be used to inform conservation efforts. She believes this research has the potential to support efforts to provide evidence-based data on the benefits of community gardening, as well as practical recommendations for improving the sustainability and impact of pollinator enhancement programs on biodiversity conservation. We will receive a copy of her research findings when she concludes her work.

Donations and Other Funding

We received a donation of two sets of vegetable seedlings from the Stop Community Food Centre, which were grown in their greenhouse and we also got seedlings through CAMH’s garden. We also received a few leftover tomato plants from the Hort’s plant sale which did very well and produced heirloom tomatoes.

One of our long-time members died in the spring and we received a donation in her memory from two members of her church. Two of our volunteers also made a generous financial donation this spring.

One of our volunteers was able to use his technical talents to set up a new website for The Garden Party in the spring. www.gardenpartytoronto.com

Redeemer Lutheran Church pays the cost of watering the garden.

- Christine Hughes

What is now the 3,200 square foot Healing Garden beside St. Matthew’s United Church began as a small circle of Sacred Medicines—Tobacco, Sweetgrass, Sage, and Cedar. Under the stewardship of the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Group (IPSG), the circle expanded to include heritage food plants just as Covid 19 arrived in our midst. Elder Pedhubun Migizi Kwe/Dr. Catherine Brooks (Nipissing FN) gifted the garden the name Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan at our first Fall Equinox Ceremony in 2020, and subsequently  became Elder-in-Residence to the IPSG, thanks to an “Engaging the Spirit” grant from the United Church of Canada.

Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan viewed from St. Clair W., June, 2022. The hand-built fence in the background encircles the original Right Relations Food & Medicine Garden; the Children’s Garden further south along Rushton Rd. is not visible.

Support from Pollinate TO plus Canada Summer Jobs funding helped us take up even more scruffy grass in 2021 and develop the north end of the garden. Focussed on commemoration and Ceremony, the entranceway includes a burlap and sinew Every Child Matters banner and shoe memorial created by Bert Whitecrow (Seine River FN) after Haida artist, Tamara Bell.

A round rain garden and Conversation Circle designed by Whitecrow echo the shape of the full moon in their Ode’min Giizas panel high on the church wall, while half moon gardens continue along the wall and sidewalk. These gardens replaced invasive buckthorn and filled new beds on both sides of the space with native plants for all seasons, including golden alexander, wild columbine, wild strawberry, wood strawberry, joe pye weed, butterfly weed, heart-leaved aster, zig zag goldenrod, heath aster, and more. Bushes include White Cedar, serviceberry, elderberry, red osier dogwood, and nannyberry.

Posters recalling the now-hidden waters of Ziibing/Taddle and Garrison Creeks that flow below this part of the city were also added in 2021, created by Whitecrow’s fellow youth summer staff member, Olivia Dziwak in collaboration with Elder Catherine, Dr. Mariko Uda, and Green Neighbours 21.

Spring Equinox Ceremony in Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan, 2022. Foreground left shows half moon gardens.

In January, 2022, Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan became the first Toronto greenspace to join the coast-to-coast-to-coast National Healing Forests Initiative. As part of this initiative, we ask our community to remember those lost to Residential Schools and other forms of violence as well as celebrate Indigenous spirituality and cultural resilience. Ceremonial songs and drums resound off the surrounding buildings with each change of season, inviting connection with the Land and Waterways of this “urban canyon.”

With the help of Horticultural Society member, Vanessa Barnes, a grant from the Society allowed us to continue to amend our soil in all beds created by the removal of grass or buckthorn or both. In 2019 and 2020, new beds were double dug to break up the deeply compacted soil and add triple mix plus additional manure and city compost. By 2021, we had begun to use the Haudenosaunee method of “hügelkultur” in the Right Relations Garden—the central mound is built up from logs buried 2 feet below the surface—and layered, regenerative methods everywhere else.

Our first Work Bee in the spring of 2022 renewed the top layers of all beds and the protective mulch around the base of shrubs and along garden pathways; the second rebuilt the 80-foot, spiral fence constructed in 2020 to protect the food and medicine plants. Made flexible thanks to electrical ties, the fence is made of “Siberian” bamboo from a neighbouring yard.

Horticultural Society funding in combination with our second Canada Summer Jobs grant for youth summer staff also allowed us to expand programming in the Children’s Garden, located outside the Hippo Nursery School in the church basement. Abby Burns assembled raised beds and designed and led 6 weeks of Land-and-Water-based activities centred around native and heritage food plants and their insect friends, ably supported by fellow staff member Jacob ElzingaCheng together with Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan Crew volunteers and the children’s teachers.

Raised beds made of discarded bureau drawers and scrap cedar fencing. The right-hand bed was planted in June with one of the Americas most important crops in the Columbian exchange, potatoes. The children hilled up and watered the potatoes weekly (with additional watering support from the Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan Crew and staff), digging them up and enjoying boiled potatoes with their classmates and teachers in October. French marigolds planted by the school’s toddlers were included as “Helper Plants” that repel harmful insects. Thank you to the Horticultural Society for funding safe, child-sized tools.

In addition to growing potatoes, the children grew Canadian Slow Food Ark of Taste red fife wheat supplied by local miller and baker Carole Ferrari of Motherdough. The “We’re Growing Cookies!” raised bed helped children understand the relationship between grain plants and one of their favourite foods. It was also the impetus for many conversations with passersby, conversations being what Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan grows best.

Even though sparrows feasted on wheat before it could be harvested by humans, Jacob took a rainy day to make wholegrain cookies with the Hippo School classes anyway.

Calendula planted at the sidewalk end of the bed offered another example of a “Helper Plant,” as well as many seeds for giveaway tables at Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Group events.

Harvesting mint while the bee harvests bergamot.

Maintaining a relationship with another tenant in the church building, The Stop Community Food Centre’s Wychwood Open Door Drop-In, was another 2022 priority. Since the inception of Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan, the Drop-In has been gifted weekly herb bundles and other produce to add to their healthy meals.

The IPSG’s commitment to the National Healing Forest initiative even took us beyond our own project, collaborating on an August 17 celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples with Miinikaan Innovation and Design and Friends of Bickford Park with funding from Park People, WWF Canada, and the David Suzuki Foundation. Over 200 people attended, with more than 100 taking away native plant seedlings donated by Pollinator Partnerships.

While the event did not relate to our Horticultural Society grant, we were grateful to Clement Kent for his support throughout the planning and set up, and his invitation to other Horticultural Society members to attend: many joined Clement in touring Bickford’s greenspaces and taking in a talk by Chef, artist, and Miinikaan Co-Founder Johl Whiteduck Ringuette (Nipissing FN). A Ceremony under the rising moon led by Elder Catherine, Isaiah Cada and the 416 Drum, and dancers Nichole Leveck, Nazarene Pope, and Indiana Cada brought the evening to a close with an All Nations Round Dance.

Here is  a little video about the garden made in 2023 by our young Toronto Film School student, LJ Howse, of Conne River Mi'kmaq FN.

https://youtu.be/ySL72r7UTb4

Here is more info about the project, linking to the church's website about the garden.

https://www.stmattsunited.com/noojimo-iwewin-gitigaan-healing-gar

Project address: 729 St. Clair W. at Rushton Rd, Toronto

Project write-up by Robin Buyers.

Garden backstory: 2017-2021

The Friends of Charles G. Williams Park had been trying to plant a pollinator garden as part of the park refurbishment, since 2017. Our City of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation (PFR) supervisor and the Parks Partnership office both turned down our initial request. After the supervisor retired, all subsequent requests to interim supervisors were also turned down, which continued over the course of the pandemic. Previous to this, I had reached out to the Hort for advice on native plant seeds which our group intended to package and sell to fundraise for some elements of our park refurbishment. Ron replied and put me in touch with Clement, who later divulged his plans as part of a group to create pollinator corridors throughout the city connected by hubs (Project Swallowtail). As Charles G. Williams Park is a perfectly situated hub between the pollinator garden Clement established in High Park and the West Toronto Railpath (where there are plans afoot for pollinator gardens), Clement became interested in our plans for the garden and offered guidance with grant applications and suggestions. In turn, the Friends knocked on doors on Fermanagh & High Park Blvd to sign on support for the pollinator corridor PS was trying to establish.

Before the project began, the strip of land was grass with bare spots, and some shrubs.

Approval to plant: February 2022

Around the time the park was under construction, a neighbour indicated that the strip of land next to the park (1100 square feet) was under the jurisdiction of the Public Realm, a division of Transportation Services. Planting the garden here would alleviate our need to deal with PFR about planting a garden in the actual park. A contact of Clement’s suggested that I approach Robert Mays in this department. I sent the proposal to Robert in February of this year, and he fully endorsed the initiative. He was extremely helpful and gave suggestions on how to work with the park supervisor.

Roll with it: April 24th 2022

Repeated attempts to get the city to part with some woodchips for our lasagne method to break down the sod were spurned, but Clement was able to secure 17 yards(!) of root and wood chips from Aaron Hill of Toronto Tree Removal who arrived bright and early on a Sunday morning with his orange truck. I had rounded up 12 volunteers, but the sunny day had brought more people to the park along with offers to help, so we doubled our volunteers to 25. It took us 5 hours to edge the 166- foot perimeter, roll the kraft paper, distribute the wood chips and install the fence. 

17 yards of root and wood chips ready to be distributed on the beds.

Unrolling Kraft paper to go under the wood chips.

Fence installed with a sign.

Just plant it: May 14th 2002

Tagging each plant with a colour coded popsicle stick to correspond to the planting plan helped volunteers identify where to place the plant on-site. We had a smaller group of volunteers to plant the first round of shrubs and perennials, but they were no less dedicated, and we spent 6 hours of this sunny May day planting over 300 plants.

Plants after delivery, being sorted and identified for where to plant.

Clement, planting.

Strawberry sighting: May 20th 2022

Six days later, after more plants were planted and some weeding and watering happened.

Enter the hosers: May 28th 2022

A group of us, including neighbours who live near the park were organized to start watering every other day as we neared summer. We donated a hose and Len at Home Hardware donated two more and we stored them across Wabash Avenue, coiled up outside of the Fieldhouse at Sorauren Park. It was an arduous task uncoiling 150 feet of hose, running it across the street each time to water. We had to repair the hose several times this year.

Watering is very important for new gardens, even hardy native pollinator gardens in their first year.

Special thanks to Lorraine Johnson: after a phone conversation with her about her experience in implementing a pollinator garden on public space on Portland, we took her advice about being diligent in watering-in a new garden (even if all native species) in the first year especially. It was her biggest regret. We are currently in talks with the park supervisor at Charles G. Williams Park, to use a water source in our park so that we can avoid having cars drive over the hose.

Plants flowering and the strip is looking good.

Planting class: June 27th 2022

When approached about visiting the garden to plant, my son’s teacher and her neighbouring class of grade 2/3’s were very excited. By the end of the sessions, with Pete Ewins and Clement giving advice and anecdotes about the plants they donated, all 40 kids enthusiastically planted at least one plant each.

Students each planted a plant in the garden.

Heard by the teachers later on a school trip to the park at the end of the week: some of those students proudly pointing out ‘their plant’ to their peers. Look at the tiny little milkweed plants.

June and July in all their splendour:

My milkweed is taller than your milkweed: August 23rd 2022

Behold the milkweed planted by the kids on June 27th!

August into September 2022

That’s not all folks:

While the garden sleeps this winter, the plan is to see what kind of ripple effect this garden can have on the community at large. Whether it be through seed-sharing, native plant information sessions, ongoing weeding or watering groups and more planting sessions, we will share an update with you again this time next year.

Thank you very much for your support and interest in the project.

- Alanah Boychuk, coordinator

The journey of the Pollinator Pocket began in August 2021- on a walk to Christie Pitts with my kids, we took the photo below.

This patch on Bloor Street was filled with shoulder high weeds and we thought it would be a good location for a pollinator habitat. We received approval from the adjacent business owner to plant a pollinator garden and got to work.

Here's how we did it.

Once I had approval, in October and November of 2021 I began by taking out all the large weeds and bagged them for city pick up. I took the grass down as low as I could and raked off the loose debris and garbage before winter.

In mid winter, I moved seeds that I had cold moist stratified in my fridge and placed them under a grow light. I started Rudbeckia hirta and Ceoreopsis lancelata in March as well as the Dahlias that would be planted on the perimeter of the garden.

In April of 2022, once the ground thawed, we started digging to remove the top layer of unwanted roots and garbage . We mulched the areas we cleared as we went along. I began hardening off seedlings in preparation for planting.

We had a warm spring and no frost in the forecast so I thought it was the right time to plant the garden. On May 5th, I went over with the plants in my wheelbarrow and planted the garden.I visited the garden daily through May and, with little rain, I was bringing watering jugs from home attached to my wheelbarrow.

Once past the last frost date, I planted some annuals (geraniums, marigolds, and the Dahlias I grew) around the outside of the fence area. At this time, I noticed the plants that were already planted were being nibble at -- I eventually witnessed the starlings who were nesting nearby taking leaves for their nests.

In early June the starlings moved from their nests and the plants that survived could grow. To fill the gaps, I had extra seedlings from outdoor stratifications, acquired a few plants (Stiff leaved goldenrod, butterfly milkweed) from the North American Native Plant Society sale, and some neighbours brought some plants from division (purple coneflower, golden alexanders, wild strawberries). At this time, we also made a sign with some art drawn by my daughter.

It was very dry through the month of June so I was watering daily. I continued to add a few things to the garden - planting Prairie Smoke, Little Blue Stem, Grey Golden Rod, Swamp Milkweed. Started to see Lanceleaf blooms towards the end of June.

Lots of blooms started to pop up in July: Anise Hyssop, Lanceleaf Coreopsis, Black-eyed Susan's. Weed growth from seed bank in the soil slowed significantly. However, the amount of garbage rose with increased traffic along Bloor Street. Had a few painted lady butterfly caterpillar show up in the pearly everlastings.

New bloomers in August included Wild Bergamot, Blue and Hoary Vervains, Butterfly and Swamp Milkweed, Mountain Mint.

The garden continued to grow and fill in through September. New blooms included Stiff leaved goldenrod and New England Aster.

Challenges

Although the project was a success, it was met with a few challenges and set backs. I found it challenging at first to connect with volunteers. It took some time, but I was able to do some planting and weeding with volunteers over the summer.

The starlings using the garden as nesting material in the spring was a real set back. I lost about 60% of what I had originally planted. I had overwintered seeds outdoors, so I had back up seedlings to fill in. I found that some of the young plants, for example, the blue vervain, grew much fuller having been pruned to the ground by the starlings.

After the area had been cleared off, I put in a chicken wise fence around where the native plants would be planted in order to protect them from people and pets. The fencing worked great and there were not too many issues inside that area. I left the outside perimeter with mostly annuals in case they suffered damage. One geranium was lost to theft and a Dahlia was killed by having an unknown substance poured on it. As part of my daily chores I would sweep up off the sidewalk and re-mulch if needed to keep the perimeter looking tidy. Overall, the challenges provided key lessons for the next planting season and added to the unique journey and story of the Pollinator Pocket.

Anise Hyssop, Stiff Goldenrod, New England Aster, Golden Alexander, Black Eyed Susan, Grey Goldenrod, Swamp Milkweed, Pearly Everlasting, Canada Wild Rye, Little Bluestem, Spotted Beebalm, Dense Blazing Star, Lanceleaf Coreopsis, Foxglove Beardtongue, Butterfly Milkweed, Hairy Mountain Mint, Hoary Vervain, Blue Vervain, Wild Columbine, Purple Coneflower, Pale Purple Coneflower, Wild Strawberry, Tall Meadow Rue, Smooth Aster.

- Adam

I am pleased to submit the final annual report from The Garden Party relating to the grant we received in 2022 for our giving garden project.

The generous grant we received from the Horticultural Societies of Parkdale & Toronto was critical to the success of our garden as it allowed us to purchase seeds, plants and much needed soil amendments. The financial report was previously submitted to your treasurer and we promptly received our reimbursement of expenses, which was much appreciated.

April 9, 2022, our first day in the garden. Getting the beds ready for planting. Lettuce and radish seeded.

As you know, The Garden Party is a giving garden. Over the past 16 years, The Garden Party has been growing and donating herbs and vegetables primarily to the Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre (PARC) and St. Francis Table, both located on Queen Street West in the Parkdale neighbourhood. This year, we knew the need for fresh food was great and we expanded our donations to include the Parkdale food bank, the Westminster Chapel Food Bank on Roncesvalles, the food bank at the Four Villages Community Health Centre (Dundas Street location), the Loaves and Fishes food bank in the Bloor West Village, and the Winter Welcome Table at Joan of Arc Catholic Church.

This year, we were able to donate 230.6 Kg (508.5 lb.) of fresh produce and 187 herb bundles. Between May 5, our first delivery, and November 5, one of our last, we had 43 harvests. Our bean crop was especially prolific this year.

Bountiful Bok Choy harvest ready for delivery to PARC.

We were able to have more volunteers participate at the same time this year and went back to our usual Saturday morning gardening sessions. We attracted several new volunteers later in the season and hope that they will return next year.

The two churches that provide the land for our gardens, Redeemer Lutheran and St. Joan of Arc, held a blessing of the garden in mid-September that was attended by volunteer gardeners and members of the two churches. It was followed by a potluck lunch and corn roast at Redeemer Lutheran.

One of our volunteers is a member of the Hort. Christine Hughes volunteered more than 75 hours from May to the end of October.

One of the things we have been trying to do over the last few years through involvement with the David Suzuki Foundation’s Butterflyway Project and Project Swallowtail is to incorporate native pollinator plants into the garden and on a hillside at the back of the church property. Redeemer Lutheran Church received several grants that allowed them to establish a small pollinator garden at the front of the church this year, which was in part to attract more pollinators to the vegetable garden.

We received a donation of two sets of vegetable seedlings from the Stop Community Food Centre which were grown in their greenhouse. Several of our volunteers participated in a research study the Stop was doing which was funded by the Samuel Family Foundation to look at whether community gardens promote social connections.

Harvesting Herbs.

The Garden Party would like to thank the Horticultural Societies of Parkdale & Toronto for your continued support and selecting us as one of the recipients of your Community Garden Projects for 2022. We were pleased to have a somewhat normal garden season again and we know that the produce we were able to donate this year was especially welcome by the recipients in Parkdale and west Toronto.

Fall, cleaning up the garden.