Great Websites | Cliffcrest Butterflyway

Essential Websites for
Creating Habitat for Wildlife

provides gardeners in Canada’s Carolinian Zone with the tools to gradually transform backyards into woodland, water and wildflower gardens for native wildlife. Free gardening resources. The website is made by Carolinian Canada.ca and WWF.ca.

Native Plant Finder

Thanks to extensive research from Doug Tallamy and Kimberley Shropshire, we know the plants that host the highest numbers of butterflies and moths to feed birds and other wildlife in our area. The research was conducted in the US. If you search with the Michigan Zipcode 48507 you find the right keystone plants for the Toronto area.

Prairie Moon Nursery

Read up on hundreds of native plants. Describes the interconnectedness of pollinators and birds with specific native plants and their required growing conditions. It also provides the germination codes of each plant.

Monarch Gardens

Xerces Society

for Invertebrate Conservation is a science-based, international nonprofit organization that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats.

The website offers Incredible resources on all related topics!

Canadian Wildlife Federation

Supports big projects like creating wildlife corridors by restoring habitat on farmland and public land as well as a Native Seed Strategy Framework.

Audubon

is the authority in bird protection. The website contains a native plant database that lists plants and the benefiting birds. The area code 48507 can be used for the Carolinian zone. Enter your email to receive a list of the native plants you've selected and tips on creating a bird-friendly habitat.

Researchers, Thinkers, Influencers, Authors

Doug Tallamy

Professor for entomology, researcher and author. His books are a must read, truly eye opening! He is one of the most sought after speakers, check out any of his amazing youtube videos. Tallamy promotes the idea that to stop further decline of biodiversity loss we can create the biggest Home grown National Park with our own native plant gardens.

Rebecca McMackin

is an ecological designer and science communicator. What a passionate and intelligent person! Her monthly newsletter is out of this world, packed with the latest super interesting news about creating habitat and ecology.

Benjamin Vogt

is an eloquent speaker and author of many outstanding books. His work is especially enjoyable because of his profound knowledge and his philosophical approach. His website Monarch Gardens offers online courses, and may helpful gardening tips.

Foundational Work

is a pollinator conservationist and author of award-winning books about bees and wasps and their dependence on native plants.

Her website offers incredible resources and sharable posters about beneficial garden practices e.g. when to clean up and how to create soft landings.

Robin Wall Kimmerer

is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, one of the most iconic books of our time. She is "a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation."

Rachel Carson

Her most influential work Silent Spring, published in 1962, alarms the public about the harmful effects of chemicals used in agriculture on the environment and human health.

Aldo Leopold

laid the foundation of today's environmental movements with his book The Sand County Almanac, first published in 1949. Aldo advocates enlarging "the boundaries of the community” to include not only humans, but also soils, waters, plants, and animals and coins the term "land ethic ".

Monarch Gardens

About Bees and other pollinators and their relationship
with Native Plants

Heather Holm

is a pollinator conservationist and author of award-winning books about bees and wasps and their dependence on native plants.

Her website offers incredible resources and sharable posters about beneficial garden practices e.g. when to clean up and how to create soft landings.

Lorraine Johnson

is a Toronto-base writer and cultivation activist. Her books are very informative and inspiring. Her newest book A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee written with researcher Sheila Colla,

features the relationship of over 320 native plants with our fauna and other companion plants and is an incredible resource.

The Ohio State University

offers high-quality webinars in their BEE Lab Series. All the webinar recordings and valuable resources about pollinators and creating habitat are accessible through their site.

All about Growing Native Plants from Seed

Wild Plants from Seed

A user-friendly website that explains how to propagate 650 vascular native plants to Eastern Canada, including woodland plants, shrubs, trees, ferns and even orchids.

Wildseed Project

and Cliffcrest ButterflyWay

Wildseed Project is the go-to site to learn about the basics of growing pollinator plants from seed.

Cliffcrest Butterflyway shows different methods in detail and can guide you through the process.

Seed Sources

NANPS runs an annual native seed exchange and online sale.

Seeds of Diversity organizes in- person seed exchanges and sales throughout Canada for vegetable and native seeds.

Native Plant Nurseries sell native seeds for Ontario.

Local Groups

Toronto Nature Stewards

enables people to get organized and remove invasive plants on public land in Toronto.

Field Botanists of Ontario

organizes field trips to bring people together and to educate them on the native flora of Ontario.

Scarborough Environmental Association

and Scarborough Southwest Environmental group.

Join one of the groups to shape the future of your neighbourhood.

Get Involved and Create Pollinator Habitat

Monarch Gardens

Project Swallowtail

empowers Torontonians to restore nature in their neighbourhoods. It supports and connects schools and projects with block ambassadors and seed sitters. It collaborates with Pollinator Partnership Canada, WWF Canada, NANPS, and many other groups.

Blooming Boulevards

is an organization in Mississauga that specializes in creating pollinator habitats in public spaces.

Their website orders detailed lists and instructions on which plants are suitable for plantings in public spaces and how to best prepare a site to convert from lawn to habitat.

Butterflyway Project

Start or join and help a Butterflyway in your area. As a Butterflyway Ranger, you will be part of the David Suzuki Community, and you will receive educational support.

There are many very active groups, e.g. The Guildwood ButterflywayProject runs

community plantings and has a great Facebook community.

Apps and Websites to identify and learn about our flora and fauna

iNaturalist

is a crowd sourcing app that helps identify plants, animals, fungi and other organisms owned by National Geographic and California Academy of Science. This useful data about biodiversity is used for science, research projects, conservation efforts and land management decisions. The app also enables a social network between citizen scientists and biologists.