April 4, 2023 Spring is here, and with it comes the urge to clean up our gardens and remove all the dead plant material from the previous year. However, it is important to resist this urge, at least for a little while longer, and leave some of the debris in place to protect the pollinators that have taken refuge there for the winter! Many pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and other insects, spend the winter in dead leaves, plant stems, and other debris in our gardens. More than 70% of bee species nest in the ground! By removing this material too...
A native plant is a species that occurs naturally in a specific geographic region without human intervention. These plants have evolved over thousands of years to thrive in their environment and have adapted to the local climate, wildlife, and soil. Native plants are an essential part of the ecosystem and play a crucial role in maintaining nature's balance.
March 15, 2022 Our land offers us beautiful native plants that play a crucial role in our ecosystems. However, urban sprawl, landscaping practices, and forestry activities continue to threaten and fragment their habitats. A report published in the spring of 2018 by Canada's Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development highlighted the "significant decline" of critical ecosystems, including a major reduction in wetlands, natural prairies (now only a "fraction" of their original size), and deciduous forests. In some regions, more than 90% of these wooded areas have been altered by human activity.1 Yet, when it comes to planning their landscapes,...
February 23, 2022 It was near the sunny wetland that flows into this calm stream where we encountered our painted turtles last summer. This little turtle, the most abundant one in North America, enjoys stagnant waters and slow-moving streams close to land areas where dense vegetation grows. [YouTube Video https://youtu.be/hynmU7VaH2I] Turtles are ectothermic reptiles, meaning their body temperature changes with the surrounding environment. But while you can see painted turtles basking in the sun on rocks or tree trunks in summer, what do they do in winter to avoid freezing? Among our native species, adult turtles hibernate at the bottom...