On a warm Sunday in early June, LEAF hosted our final spring planting event at Grandview Park Woodlot, one of Markham’s many urban greenspaces. LEAF staff and volunteers planted ten different species of native trees and shrubs to increase the plant diversity. By the end of the day, 37 trees and 102 shrubs had found a new home nestled in the woodlot’s understory.
Maiesha, our Education and Stewardship Intern, interviewed Anthony about his experience being a steward of his community.
It took four LEAF staff members and two full cargo vans to deliver 250 native shrubs to 18 TCHC properties in a single day! All of that time and effort was well worth it to provide TCHC tenants with their new native shrubs.
This spring, LEAF staff, volunteers and community members came together to plant native trees and shrubs across York Region which will result in a plethora of benefits for these communities and the overall resiliency of the urban forest.
The Small Yard Shrub Bundle includes four native shrubs, mulch, delivery, a planting and care guide and a specialized fact sheet, all for only $100 +HST! The bundle includes lowbush blueberry, St. John’s wort, meadowsweet and snowberry. Read on to learn more about these small shrubs:
Lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium)
Myth #1: You can only plant trees in the spring.
The first thing you can do is learn about invasive plants and how to identify them. Remember, not all non-native plants are considered invasive. For example, dandelions may be a nuisance to some, but they don’t pose a significant threat to native plants in southern Ontario. Instead, invasive plants are defined as non-native plants that are introduced to an area where they have negative environmental, social or economic effects. Some of the impacts of invasive plants include:
How did you first become interested in the urban forest?
LEAF has six Urban Forest Demonstration Gardens throughout the City of Toronto that showcase the beauty of native plant species and enhance the urban forest. Each of these gardens is cared for by a group of dedicated volunteer garden stewards, who recently put on their gardening gloves for the first time this year to wake up our gardens. Here’s photo evidence of the good times we had checking tasks off our gardening to-do list during our annual spring work parties.
