Native Plant Pollinator Project

We will be working with five community gardens in HRM to design and build native plant and pollinator gardens. Together we will build knowledge around the following topics through workshops, discussions and guest lectures.

• Soil building and soil health
• Introduction to native plants
• Rainwater catchment systems
• Plant propagation
• Garden design
• Seed saving

We are always looking for interested participants, volunteers, experts and wanna-be experts. Some workshops are open to the public and will be posted on the Halifax Garden Network calendar. If you would like to volunteer some time (no skill necessary), contact Rebecca.

More About Native Plants

Choosing plants native to our region is an important part of our vegetable gardens, our city and community spaces, and the local food movement. Native plants support wildlife by creating shelter and food for our pollinators and wildlife of all kinds.

Native plants are incredibly adaptive and have evolved to maximize the conditions in our specific microclimate here in Nova Scotia. They are very self-sufficient, needing less fertilizer and water, and they are more capable of fighting disease and pests.

There are so many incredible plants native to Nova Scotia such as, milkweed, sky-blue asters, and high bush cranberry. Some produce food, some make great tasting teas, some have important medicinal properties, some are especially important food for pollinators and some are mostly looking fine.

Native plants attract pollinators to the garden. This plays an integral role in our food production. One out of every three bites of food that we consume is directly related to the work that pollinators do. Pollinators include bees, flies, butterflies, moths, birds, and bats, all of which feed on pollen. Traveling from plant to plant they move pollen from one flower to another, fertilizing plants as they go. This results in the production of the seeds and fruit, which we depend on and savor.

Native plants also provide food and shelter for wildlife. Domesticated plants are often bred for their appearance and have lost much of their capacity to produce nectar and pollen, as well as being shapes that are so frilly or tightly bunched that they make their pollen inaccessible to pollinators. Some pollinators depend on specific native vegetation for their larva stage and are unable to adapt to non-native species. The Karner Blue butterfly can no longer be found in Canada as it depends on wild lupine for its larvae to survive.

Let’s invite the wild back into our gardens to create gardens that are diverse, interesting and inviting to pollinators which we depend on for so much.