Date: July 29th, 2023
Time: 10 a.m. to noon
Where: Corner of Castle Hill Crescent & Clyde Avenue
Guided tour of a native plant garden created by Friends of Carlington Woods.
Clyde Bee & Butterfly Patch on Clyde at Castle Hill is an effort to make use of a rather inhospitable (for plants) but public space along the shoulder of an urban road. On the other side of the Patch is the Carlington Woods, an NCC property. Many people pass the Patch on their way to the CEF multi-use Pathway and the Woods to walk, bike or take their dogs for a walk.
Goldenrods, asters, and sumac were all growing there already, making it quite lovely in the fall but it was not offering any food for pollinators in spring or summer. With the help of neighbourhood and student volunteers, we started adding native perennials in 2021 and have planted altogether some 42 new species. The plants were selected to be suitable for a sunny location with poor, dry soil and a high proportion of them survived their first year. The idea was to introduce species that might be able to establish themselves there and require little further human intervention in the event that the garden gets abandoned at some point.
Part of the site is landscaped to include habitat structures in the form of logs, tree stumps, an artificial mud puddle and small rock piles. There is signage to help explain what the purpose of it is and to identify it. In 2022, we removed the buckthorn in an area of the woods behind the Patch and, in the fall, planted native shrubs and trees and sowed some native perennial seeds. Visitors will be able to see how well that winter sowing effort succeeded and how well all the new plants are attracting pollinators and other insects.
Free, but please REGISTER HERE