Bats
Walk along the Indian Creek Trail, across from the Sherwood Community Centre, and you’ll see 2 bat boxes installed by Sustainable Milton. We’re proud to be providing shelter for creatures who are such a very important part of our ecosystem. Did you know that the Little Brown Bat can eat 600 insects in an hour! Great for preventing crop damage and wonderful for backyard mosquito control. They also play an essential role in pollinating plants and dispersing seeds.
The ( Toronto Zoo ) has some interesting reading about bats in Ontario.
Bees
The cheeky Sustainable Milton icon is not a honeybee, it’s a Rusty Patched Bumblebee. Once common throughout Southern Ontario, the only known location is now Point Pelee. While honeybees get all the attention, wild bees are equally important as pollinators. Blueberries, cranberries, buckwheat, canola and orchard crops rely heavily on wild pollinators. “In Canada, wild pollinators aid in pollinating crops that generate an annual farm income of nearly $2.8 billion and produce calories and nutrients that could feed the equivalent of around 24 million people (although not all these crops are directly consumed by people, as some go to livestock).” Including pollinator friendly plants in your garden is an important part of maintaining our food supply. For more information on this key element in the ecosystem visit https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1040002
Our latests insect friendly garden is along Roper Drive on the eastern edge of Milton. It recently became an official part of ( The Butterfly Way ). Initiated by the Suzuki Foundation, “The Butterflyway Project is a citizen-led movement growing highways of habitat for bees and butterflies across Canada”. Our work in this area has also been recognized by ( Monarch Watch )
Trees
If you have a native plant sapling and are wondering where to plant it and what it will look like then look no farther. We have some handy links below but if you are still unsure about what to do feel free to contact us.
Here is a quick rule: plant trees, bushes and bulbs in the fall, everything else in the spring. (Though perennials planted in the fall often do well.)
The first thing is to do some research. Use websites like bplant.org or treecanada.ca to learn about your tree. Does it like sun? How wide and tall will it grow? How do I feed a sapling? How do I prune a young tree so that it grows straight and healthy?
Generally make your hole bigger than the pot and slightly shallower than the soil in the pot. Soak the pot and the hole then gently pull the tree out by the stem. Put the tree and root ball in your hole and back fill gently tamping down the soil. Water daily (not a soak but enough to maintain transpiration) until the leaves fall off (remember it is the autumn and leaves will turn and fall off soon). In the spring and especially the first summer make sure your sapling gets a good soak at least once a week. If you use mulch, keep it away from the trunk. Mulch should resemble a donut around the trunk, not a volcano up against the trunk. Follow recommended feeding and pruning advice from your research.
Some native trees we have been encouraged to plant are:
RedBud
Choke Cherry
Pagoda Dogwood
White Ash
Harold says “Make sure your tree stock is sourced locally. Garden centre trees often come from different climate zones and will not thrive as well as local stock.”