Newsletter #21 - July/Aug 2023 |
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Help protect pollinators in Mississauga - share this newsletter with friends and family! |
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Above: Celebration! Here are a few of our dedicated volunteers, cheering for the many BB volunteers who put in a huge effort to make our spring garden program big and beautiful this spring! Way to go, all! |
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Message from the President Dear BB Members and Supporters, Happy summer! It's a month into BB's year FIVE, and our ambitious spring garden program has been proudly accomplished (huge thanks everyone). Seeds cleaned, sorted, and packaged! Plants grown, labeled, inventoried, and distributed! Site visits done! New boulevard gardens up and growing! School, church, and corporate gardens designed and installed! Mega plant sale thronged with delighted gardeners! Last but certainly not least, we are proud to announce that our Community Greenhouse Feasibility Study has been completed (thanks to our consultants and the Ontario Trillium Foundation) after nine months of diligent work. It will be available for public distribution soon. Whew! Now there's time to focus on the exciting projects and activities we are planning this year, as we embark with care on a period of sustainable growth and program expansion. Stayed tuned. And please do join, in every way you can, our efforts to do more good. Cheers, Jeanne |
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Sustainability is no longer about doing less harm. It’s about doing more good. - Jochen Zeitz Do more good — join our efforts to provide food and nesting sites for our threatened bees, butterflies and other pollinators: |
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The delivery of our Community Greenhouse Feasibility Report coincided with our 4th birthday, so we had a party!Much cause for celebration! Members and supporters attending included MPP Rudy Cuzzetto, Councillor Stephen Dasko, Mississauga Climate Change Specialist Carrah Bullock and Environmental Outreach Coordinator Heliya Babazadeh-Oleghi. Our community partners were represented by Executive Director Meredith Wood, Environmental Initiatives Director Jeff Muzzerall, and others from Creative Hub 1352 and former coordinator MJ Kucerak and others from the Mississauga Master Gardeners. We honored our additional guests and invitees who couldn't make it – greenhouse stakeholders and BB volunteers. Organized by our feasibility study's public engagement consultant Jane Hayes (Hoffmann Hayes), the event was topped off with a yummy cake from RicherEarth, the lively fiddle music of BB member Allison Leroux, and a merry toast to launch our 5th year! All photos ©2023 Laura Birman. |
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A successful 4th Annual Plant SaleThankfully the iffy weather held on June 10 & 11 for our big and beautiful native plant sale. We had almost 3,000 plants available to sell, and the majority was gone by the end of the weekend. Those who came were delighted with the large selection of species, and we are now receiving emails and photos of the plants thriving in their new gardens! Hurrah! A first this year: notable author and native plant expert Lorraine Johnson treated us with a signing of her excellent book A Garden for the Rusty Patch Bumblebee, and copies of her book were available for purchase. |
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We've been busyOur spring outreach booth activities were a great opportunity to get out and make new connections with Mississauga residents: Mar. 4 - Seedy Saturday at UCM Mar. 11 - Seed Library Re-Launch at the Small Arms Building Mar. 26 - Eco Day at Eden United Church May 13 - Invasive Species Awareness Day at Tecumseh Park June 15 - Councillor Dasko's Seniors Fair at the Mississauga Seniors Center June 17 - Blooms & Berries at Benares House Museum June 24 - Garden Day at the Bruckner Rhododendron Garden Click on the little video below to see the fun! |
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Mark your calendars! Upcoming BB webinars this summer - Jeanne McRight, presenter |
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July 4, 3 to 4 pm - Greener Greenspaces Series Episode 8: Enhancing biodiversity: Creating Pollinator Habitat - Webinar hosted by SOUL (Society for Organic Urban Land Care) - Register here>> |
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July 8, 10 to 11 am - Goodbye Lawn! Zoom webinar hosted by BB Looking to get rid of your thirsty lawn? Replacing existing lawns with native plants is a great way to save water and provide habitat and food for local wildlife. Register here>> |
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Aug. 19, 10 to 11 am - Understanding Your Soil, Zoom webinar hosted by BB. From the ground up - your garden starts with the soil. Learn about your soil's health and how it helps keep your plants thriving. Register here>> |
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BB Garden BuzzNative garden to-do list: July/Aug Make a compost bin if you don't have one already, and if you do, use it! Find out how>> Pull out weeds before they get big - careful not to pull your native babies! Expand your garden with self-sown native babies, or give them to your friends and neighbours. Top-dress around young plants with rotted leaves or compost. Keep this away from tender stems. Trim plants if they overhang sidewalks or street. Water young plants during drought. New plants need water if lower than top inch of soil feels dry. Protect plants against hungry nibblers - rabbits love tender young seedlings! Long-lasting, non-toxic spray repellents (such as Bobbex or Plantskydd) can be effective, as well as wire cages around tasty favorites. Learn all about the pollinators in your garden: read Pollinators of Native Plants by Heather Holm. Watch for bumble bees and become a citizen scientist. Record sightings here >> Get the iNaturalist app for your smartphone to help identify and report sightings of wild fauna and flora.
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Biodiversity Buzz How to Maintain Your Garden with the Environment in Mind by Pamela Sleightholm |
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Above: Bumble bee on native wild bergamot in member Rob Chiasson's boulevard garden. Photo: Rob Chiasson. We know that gardening is satisfying and rewarding – watching the little plants you cared for grow and thrive is such a joy. However, there are several steps that we can take as gardeners to ensure that we’re benefitting the environment and our ecosystem, rather than being harmful. 1. Choose native plants Of course we’re going to start with this! Native plants preserve biodiversity while contributing to the ecosystem – they’re an essential food source for many species, including native pollinators. Native plants are better adapted to the climate, soil and rainfall of your area, which means they need less maintenance and watering, and they’re more resistant to pests and disease. And they're beautiful! With a little planning you can have native plants blooming in every season for a mix of colours, textures and scents... Read more>> |
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Garden Watch Black Gold by Jacqueline McKernan As gardeners there are many ways we can show our appreciation and care for the environment. Choosing native plants, avoiding chemical and pesticides, leaving stalks until weather is warmer for insects and pollinators, are all among some of the simple but impactful ways we can garden responsibly. Another simple, but effective way to support the environment is to compost to create beautiful ‘black gold’ for our gardens. Read more>> |
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Photo: Jacqueline McKernan, Black Gold, May 13, 2023 |
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Biodiversity Buzz Bee tongues and other curiosities by Jeanne McRight |
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When reading about the ecological benefits of native plants, you may have encountered descriptions of the plant species' special appeal to bees with long or short tongues. "Wait – bees have tongues?" you might be wondering...so here's a short dive into the curious and (as scientists make surprising discoveries) amazingly complex world of bee tongues! |
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Above: Coming in for a landing! A digger bee (Anthophora spp.) with its maxila (tongue shield) extended approaches this early summer-blooming foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) which offers rich nectar and pollen rewards. The bee vibrates its body and is dusted with pollen, then mops up nectar with its long tongue. The long process of native bee/flower co-evolution has been a mutually beneficial process allowing bees to slurp and sip nectar from flowers whose shape and depth matches their pollinators' bodies and tongue lengths. Read more>> |
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Cool fact: Under a microscope, bendable bee tongue segments can be seen. The end of the tongue looks like a mop and functions like a straw with a tubular handle and hair-like projections splayed at the end. Bee tongues can be as long as 22 mm in some bumble bee (Bombus) species, or as short as 1 - 2 mm in cellophane bees (Colletes inaequalis). Left: Bee tongue magnified. Photo: Javier Torrent |
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Above: : Applied tongue-ology! Recent research found that honey bees' stiff tongue hairs are water-repellant so they do not adhere. This improves tongue flexibility and enables the bee to use its tongue millions of times during its lifetime. These findings could inspire the design of sophisticated new materials to capture and transport viscous liquids. Source: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c00431. |
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Impress your friends! Tell them that Long-tongued bees fly with their tongues folded accordion-style under their body when not in use, as the wool carder bee below is doing. Photo: Tim Stanley. |
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Garden watch Did you know...? by Jeanne McRight If you have bees visiting your foxglove beardtongue, chances are they are ground nesting bees. Ground nesting bees (mining and digger bees) account for approximately 70% of our native bees. Their nests don’t have a lot of stores or resources to protect. The result is that our native ground nesting bees are not aggressive at all. Most ground nesting bees are solitary nesters – a female creates and maintains a burrow solely for herself – but they like neighbours. There may be several individual nest burrows nearby. Learn more about bee nesting habits by reading Heather Holm's fascinating book Bees: An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide.
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Call for Volunteers Exciting times We are looking for people to help with program activities. It's an exciting time to get involved in our growing organization! |
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Can you help? These are rewarding opportunities to share with others your interest in native plants and pollinators. We need volunteers this fall to help us develop and expand these programs and initiatives: Newsletter - article writers needed! Especially looking for interested people keen on native plants and the insects they support, habitat conservation and ways to deal with invasive species. Young or old, if you love to write, this is a great opportunity to research, learn, and share information using your writing talents! Newsletter writers apply here>> Schools & educational resources - we get frequent request from schools looking for information, so we are organizing a team to develop educational resources suitable for elementary school staff and students, that can be used when planning a school native habitat garden. We could even get a hands-on garden program going if there is interest! Education resource team apply here>> Seed collecting - This fall will be our fourth season training small groups of volunteers by going on seed collection field trips to permitted sites. It's a fun learning activity open to all BB members and their families. Children are welcome with adult supervision. Seed collector team apply here>> |
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There's room on our Board of Directors! We are entering into an exciting period of growth and want to add new members to our Board of Directors. We encourage expressions of interest from our membership. Please contact us at info@bloomingboulevards.org for more information.
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Attention BB garden stewardsYou're invited to join our garden steward Facebook group This is a group just for you! Now all Blooming Boulevards' garden stewards, BB volunteers and member native plant growers can connect with each other. Share photos, observations, tips and questions and learn together in this lively private members-only group! Join the Blooming Boulevards Garden Stewards Facebook Group here>> |
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| | Become a member Annual memberships are just $15. Members get early-bird privileges at our annual plant sale, opportunities to volunteer, eligibility to apply for a garden. Join us/renew today! | | |
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| | Donate We deeply appreciate your generous contributions and put them to good use - they go straight into expanding our garden and education programs. Thank you! | | |
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Thank you! Blooming Boulevards is thrilled to have the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the City of Mississauga, the Riverwood Conservancy, the Mississauga Master Gardeners and the Cloverleaf Garden Club. A huge thanks to all our members, volunteers, supporters and donors who continue to help us provide habitat to pollinators and protect the wild plants and animals that share our urban neighbourhoods. We can't do this without you!
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Our 2022 - 2023 Board of Directors Jeanne McRight, Founding President Jacqueline McKernan, Secretary MJ Kucerak, Acting Treasurer Wayne Cardinalli Sheila Cressman Murray Moore Pamela Sleightholm Strategic Advisor Douglas Markoff Communications Jeanne McRight Pamela Sleightholm Heather Raithby Doyle Photography (unless otherwise noted) Jeanne McRight |
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Blooming Boulevards is an incorporated Ontario not-for-profit organization and a thankful recipient of funding from the City of Mississauga and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. |
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