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The pollinator garden at Carleton University is envisioned as a space for teaching, learning, healing, and connection to the natural environment. Plants play an important role in supporting physical and mental well-being, while also providing essential habitat and food sources for pollinators and other wildlife. In urban areas, community gardens are important sites for exploring the intersection of nature and society, foster environmental stewardship, and build stronger community connections.
This garden aims to transform “space” into “place” by creating an environment shaped by community needs. It is built upon the understanding that access to green spaces contributes to health and overall well-being, while providing opportunities for education, reflection, and engagement with the natural world.
The 2023 Carleton University Campus Master Plan highlighted the importance of creating special gathering places that foster a sense of belonging and connection on campus. This garden contributes to that vision by offering a welcoming outdoor space where students, staff, and community members can gather, learn, and connect with nature. It also creates opportunities for collaboration among students, researchers, and community partners to address shared environmental challenges. Ultimately, this garden is intended to provide the Carleton and broader Ottawa communities with a meaningful place to reflect, connect with the environment, and gather as a community.
Upon the planting of this garden, guest writer and pollinator garden partner Kristen Vlahiotis wrote and published a blog post about how the students of Carleton University turned grass into a pollinator refuge and community gathering space. Click here to read the full story.
Here is the layout of the garden!
These native wildflowers are doing a lot more than just looking pretty. Each species plays an important role in supporting local wildlife by providing food, shelter, and habitat for pollinators, birds, butterflies, and other animals. Together, they help create a healthier, more resilient ecosystem and show how even small garden spaces can make a big difference for biodiversity.
Blue Stemmed Goldenrod: This late-blooming flower is a critical food source for pollinators late in the growing season. It is also a host plant for the caterpillars of over 100 different species of moths and butterflies, which feed on its foliage.
Spotted Joe-Pye Weed: These plants have dense, sturdy root systems, which help them stabilize wet soils and prevent erosion along riverbanks, making them ecologically vital in Ottawa.
Early Goldenrod: As its name suggests, Early Goldenrod is the first species of goldenrod to bloom. It is a keystone species that helps support a wide array of local biodiversity like bees, wasps, butterflies, and moths.
Giant Hyssop: This plant is a great option for an urban garden as it requires minimal water, and also deters rabbits, allowing native plant patches to establish themselves without getting eaten. It also stays in bloom for more than half of the growing season, ensuring a consistent pop of colour.
Sky Blue Aster: In addition to being a great source of nectar for pollinators later in the season, its seeds persist during the winter months and are a critical food source for native birds such as goldfinches.
Pearly Everlasting: This lovely plant acts as a protective nursery for caterpillars of the American Lady and Painted Lady butterflies.
White Yarrow: This plant is highly resilient to a variety of weather conditions, a natural pest deterrent, and a pollinator magnet, making it the perfect addition to an urban garden in Ottawa.
Woodland Strawberry: These berries are a great source of food for foraging wildlife, and their flowers bloom early in the season, making them highly beneficial to local biodiversity.
Culver's Root: This plant attracts beneficial, predatory insects like wasps which prey on common garden and agricultural pests, making it the perfect natural pest deterrent.
Switchgrass: Due to their extensive root systems, switchgrass is highly effective at stabilizing soil along riverbanks, making it the perfect plant for the Ottawa region.
Hairy Beardtongue: Beloved by hummingbirds and butterflies especially, this flower is a crucial source of early-season nectar.
Sideoats Grama: A species of grass that thrives in dry and rocky soils. It also provides essential nesting habitat for ground-dwelling native bees, as well as winter forage and cover for local birds and small mammals.
Bee Balm: These brightly coloured flowers are attractive to a wide diversity of pollinators. They bloom mid-summer, and usually last until early autumn. Their seeds are a critical food source for birds in the winter.
Fireweed: A vital pioneer species in the Ottawa region, it is a great source of food for foraging animals around the late summer. Because it is indifferent to soil pH, fireweed easily colonizes barren lands and helps kickstart nutrient recycling and soil health in those areas.
Flat Top Aster: This flower serves as the primary larval host plant for the caterpillars of the Harris's Checkerspot and Pearly Crescent butterflies.
Smooth Aster: Due to its ability to tolerate drought, it is highly ecologically valuable for urban biodiversity.
Frost Aster: A keystone species in Ottawa, Frost Aster supports local biodiversity by providing a critical food source for late-season pollinators before winter.
Pale Spiked Lobelia: These flowers provide abundant nectar for long-tongued bees and hummingbirds. Its seeds feed songbirds, and it produces a toxic latex that deters small mammals, making it the perfect wildflower to put on the edge of an urban garden.
Woolly Violet: The leaves of the Woolly Violet are the sole host and food source for the caterpillars of several beautiful Fritillary butterfly species found in the Ottawa region. These caterpillars cannot survive on any other plant.
Limestone Calamint: This plant is great for rewilding efforts in urban areas as they are highly resilient and thrive in thin, nutrient-poor soils, especially ones rich in limestone. They also smell great, which attracts many native pollinators.
False Sunflower: This flower provides nutrient-rich nectar and pollen to native bees, butterflies, and wasps throughout the growing season. Their seeds also feed birds during the winter.
Before
A big thank you to our wonderful team of volunteers for their time and energy dedicated to this project!
The volunteers dug up the ground into two patches, and added fresh soil to give the seedlings extra nutrients.
Here are the seedlings before they got put into the ground!
After a hard day's work, the plants are finally in the ground.
Keep an eye out for Carleton University's completed native plant and pollinator garden next time you are on campus!
A huge thank you to the private donor who made this project possible! If you would like to be one of the several donors who support our pollinator gardens, please contact [email protected].