Newsletter #10 - Sept/Oct 2021

Help us protect more pollinators in Mississauga - share this newsletter with your friends and family!

Above: Eastern calligrapher Toxomerus geminatus, sips nectar from a fall-blooming bluestem goldenrod blossom. This tiny beauty is a flower fly (aka hoverfly or syrphid fly) and a top contender as one of the best beneficial insects you can have in your garden. Photo @2020 Peeter Poldre.

What a difference a year makes! 

First-season native prairie and meadow perennial plants typically spend their energies establishing deep root systems. To conserve energy, many species do not bloom the first year, and top growth appears slow. The second year is different - vigorous top growth and blooms. You will scarcely recognize your plants!

Above left: Jitendra's garden, first season, early-August 2020 showing 8 weeks of growth. Blooms on black-eyed Susan but not much else is blooming yet. 

Above right: Jitendra's garden, second season, early August 2021. All plants have filled in. Purple coneflower, blazing star, mountain mint, anise hyssop, pearly everlasting and others are blooming now along with the black-eyed Susan. The asters and goldenrod have good top growth and will bloom in fall. Photos: ©2020, 2021 Jitendra Chaudhari

Look how these first year gardens grew!

Show off your beautiful gardens! 

Hey BB garden stewards - send us photos of your gardens as they grow. We'd love to see the pics, and we'll use them to make a slide show for our October AGM. 

* Share in our BB Facebook gardens stewards group or email to info@bloomingboulevards.org.

Here's a short little video with photos from our garden stewards for you to enjoy...:)

Volunteers needed

• Help us collect wildflower seeds this fall

For our member volunteers

• Hands-on apprenticeship course in native plant propagation, March - May 2022

Learn how to grow native plants in this excellent program for volunteers. We will teach you - it's fun and so rewarding - and the training is FREE!

The seedlings produced will help create our new 2022 pollinator gardens!

• Due to high interest this program has been expanded to 20 people this year. 
• Duration: 10 weeks, from March 1 until May 15, 2022. Time commitment: plant care averages about 30 minutes/day, plus Zoom training at key intervals. 
• Course Description: Working from your home, you will have instruction in every aspect of growing selected native plant species from seed under lights indoors. You will help us produce seedlings for our spring gardens, plus the skills you learn can be applied to your own garden, too.

All materials and equipment will be provided on loan for the duration of the apprenticeship.

Below:  Hurrah! Diana, a first-time apprentice grower, with some of the native plants she grew as part of our volunteer program this year. Great job, Diana - your seedlings are beautiful! Photo: ©2021 Jeanne McRight.

Meet a Member: Peeter Poldre

A lifelong learner's journey to native plants

by Pamela Sleightholm

What do a Maple Leafs forward and a butterfly have in common? According to Blooming Boulevard member Peeter Poldre, getting a good photo of a hockey player in action and a butterfly require the same skills and principles.“Trying to snap a shot of a butterfly with a telephoto lens makes hockey photography seem like a piece of cake,” he says.

Above: Peeter Poldre and his beloved Nikon in a perfect location for fall insect photography: his backyard goldenrod patch. Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) is a tall native perennial that blooms from late summer to fall. Its nectar is an important food source for bees and butterflies. Ragweed, a similar-looking plant, may cause hayfever in some people, but unfortunately, innocent goldenrod often gets the blame. Photo ©2021 Kathy Poldre.

And he should know – he has played the part of sports photographer, taking pictures of the Leafs and Marlies from the press box, and now spends some of his retirement time as a nature photographer for Blooming Boulevards, Neighbourhood Magazine (Up Close section) and Neighbours of… magazine (Mississauga Nature Corner).

But wait! He wasn’t a career photographer before retirement. Dr. Poldre worked as a hematologist, professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and past president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. His fascination with photography started as a teen – taking travel photos and portraits of family members. “Everything changed in 2004 when I got a digital camera...Read more >>

Up close and personal: Insect and wildflower photography

How to sneak up on a butterfly

By Peeter Poldre

Capturing good images of butterflies may be easier than you think. Unlike bird photography, you can usually get closer to butterflies, see them easier on plants (not hidden in trees), and do so during the middle of the day. Avoid cold, cloudy, windy or rainy days. Butterflies tend to land on their favourite plants, such as milkweed, wild bergamot, coneflowers and other native plants, so “wait, don’t chase”. Beware of your own shadow. Approach quietly, taking multiple photos as you get closer (thank goodness for digital!). GettIng images of both sides of the wings will help with identification. As you get closer...Read more >>

BB Garden Buzz

Native garden to-do list: September/October

• In your pesticide-free native plant garden, watch for evidence of beneficial insects during fall harvest time. You will notice an increase in your garden's production of flowers, fruits and vegetables! Beneficial insects include species of syrphid flies, tachinid flies, beetles and wasps who pollinate flowers and devour garden pests.  Familiar examples are adult lady beetles but you might not recognize their ferocious-looking larvae. Adults eat thrips, mites, whitefly, mealybugs, leafhoppers, and many other soft-bodied bugs. Both adults and larvae are voracious consumers of aphids. For a list of beneficial insects and the flowers that attract them, go here>>

• Plant native shrubs and trees. These are a great complement to your native flowering perennials. Woody plants with flowers, seeds and berries are important food for wildlife, and their leaves feed butterfly and moth caterpillars which in turn, sustain birds. Find recommended species here>>
• Leave the leaves. Please do not rake fallen leaves under trees. This is where your butterfly and moth pupae live during the winter!
• Leave seed heads on so plants can self-sow. Birds will eat the seeds in winter.
• Collect some ripe seeds as plant stems turn brown. Place seeds in labeled paper envelopes. After air-drying for 2 weeks, store in ziplock bags in fridge. Sow in your garden in late fall, give to friends or donate to your local seed library. 
• Take pictures of your end-of season garden and share them with us on Facebook. Compare your before-and after photos!
• Trim back plants if they overhang sidewalks or street,  but leave all dead plant material standing. It will shelter insects, birds and other wildlife during the winter.
• Water plants - including shrubs and trees - before leaf drop. 
• Protect woody plants against hungry nibblers during the winter months. Wire cages around tasty favorites will discourage rabbits, and bark wraps discourage mice. Deer require more elaborate structures.
• Get the iNaturalist app for your smartphone to help identify plants and wildlife, and report sightings of wild fauna and flora.

Education & Outreach News 

* Covid-19 update: We will be conducting our 2021 workshops as FREE online presentations with a question period afterward. Helpful information sheets are available as handouts, and emailed to you on request. 

Attention BB garden stewards

You're invited to join our new garden steward Facebook group!

This is a group just for you! Now all Blooming Boulevards garden stewards can connect with each other. Your photos, observations, tips and questions are welcome and will be helpful to others. 

Join the Blooming Boulevards Garden Stewards Facebook Group here>>

Your donations are needed

As a volunteer-run not-for-profit, every dollar donated goes to our work of providing habitat and food sources for native pollinators and animals.

We rely on the generosity of donors who care about pollinators, native plants and the environment.