Help create a ‘butterflyway’
Planting just twelve plants as part of the 2024 Butterflyway Project can make a difference for Manor Park’s biodiversity.
The Manor Park Community Association’s Environmental Sustainability Committee is excited to announce our 2024 Butterflyway Project. As a part of a national program with the David Suzuki Foundation, we are promoting gardening with native plants to support local wildlife.
Our goal is to establish at least a dozen new gardens in Manor Park, at homes and businesses, to create a Butterflyway. If you can plant at least a dozen new native plants in your garden or in containers, let us know. It will count towards our goal, and you’ll receive a Butterflyway Project sign.
Wonderful places to purchase native plants include Ritchie’s native plant section, A Cultivated Art, Connaught Nursery, Ontario Natives, and Ferguson Tree Nursery’s spring sale. You can get free seedlings from Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library events, and the Committee is also able to provide some seedlings to Manor Parkers for free!
Need help with invasives?
Unfortunately, Manor Park is home to several harmful invasive plant species. Dog-strangling vine and Japanese knotweed are highly damaging non-native species that may be lurking in your yard. They displace native species which disrupts the life cycles of wildlife.
If you notice these species on your property, please remove them by hand with as much of the root as possible. Get in touch with us for help with identification. Please alert us if you notice them on public land.
Over 30 invasive species are still for sale in Ontario at nurseries and garden centres. This spring, avoid purchasing or sharing common invasive species such as periwinkle, creeping Jenny, English ivy, and burning bush. Non-native Siberian squill is deadly to both people and pets; barberry harbours mice and ticks.
These species easily escape gardens and invade local natural areas like Macoun Marsh and McKay Lake. Their seeds travel on the wind or by birds and create imbalances in ecosystems. Sadly, you’ll need to remove them from your garden if you already have them. Dispose of them in the green bin or garbage, not yard waste bags.
Free mulch
We are very pleased to announce our new community mulch pile available at 1805 Gaspe Ave. In the parking lot near the Farm Shop, there is a pile of free arbourist wood chips that will be replenished regularly.
Bring a shovel and a bin to fill up. Recycling bins work well. The mulch can be used in your garden beds, vegetable gardens, or on top of cardboard to kill grass and expand your garden beds.
Fresh arbourist wood chips are wonderful for soil health, adding nutrients as they break down as well as increasing the natural fungal life in the soil. They also suppress weeds and can help to reduce garden maintenance.
Contact the Manor Park Community Association’s Environmental Sustainability Committee at manorpark.environment@gmail.com to participate in the 2024 Butterflyway Project or to seek help with identifying invasives on your property.
This article was written by Eugenie Waters and Christina Keys.
