Grants of up to $5,000 are available to support community-led projects that:
PollinateTO supports projects that:
All Toronto neighbourhoods are eligible. Priority will be given to projects located in Toronto’s Neighbourhood Improvement Areas (NIAs).
Since 2019, PollinateTO has:
Videos by PollinateTO Groups:
Pollinators support healthy and resilient ecosystems that clean the air, sequester carbon, stabilize soils, absorb storm water and protect from extreme weather.
Pollinators, especially bees, provide the important ecosystem service of pollination – which allows plants to produce seeds, fruits, and new plants. This is essential for food production and creating our natural landscapes. Pollinators also support other wildlife – for example, butterfly larva (caterpillars) are a critical source of food for birds.
Pollinators contribute to the biodiversity in our city and hold intrinsic value as wildlife species with unique natural histories.
Pollination happens when a pollen grain moves from the anther (male part) of a flower to the stigma (female part), allowing plants to reproduce. The majority of flowering plants need help with pollination, which means they need pollinators, like bees, to move pollen for them.
Bees are the most efficient pollinators – they visit flowers to drink nectar or feed on pollen and the hairs on their bodies transport pollen grains as they move from flower to flower. Toronto is home to a wide range of pollinators, including 364 species of bees and 112 species of butterflies.
Pollinators are under increasing stress due to:
Studies have shown that some species are in drastic decline, including the endangered Monarch butterfly and several species of bumblebees including the Rusty-patched bumblebee.
Pollinators are vulnerable to the negative consequences of climate change.
Biodiversity is a key component of helping ecosystems adapt to climate change. Healthy ecosystems will be more resilient to climate change. Abundant, well-connected and functioning habitat provides assurance for the future wellbeing of species and ecosystems. This is highlighted in our Toronto Biodiversity Strategy.
The best way to help native pollinators is to plant native plants. Native plants provide pollen and nectar for food, as well as places to nest, overwinter and reproduce.
Native pollinator gardens…
Pollinator habitat includes the following:
Ideal pollinator habitat features native plants that are locally-grown and pesticide-free. Pollinator habitat can be created almost anywhere – in parks, yards, apartment buildings, schools, faith centres, community gardens and more.
Native plants are those that occur naturally in a region in which they evolved, without human introduction. Toronto is located where the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest Region and the Carolinian Zone meet.
Native plants have co-evolved with native pollinators and have formed symbiotic relationships, depending on each other for survival. Plants from other parts of the world or plants that were cultivated by humans into forms that don’t naturally exist (for example cultivars and nativars) do not support pollinators as well as true native plants.
Future applicants are encouraged to review the information below ahead of the next round.
Download the PollinateTO Application Questions Summary from the last round. You can use this document to help plan, brainstorm and organize your project ideas and application submission for the next round.
Applications to PollinateTO are accepted each fall and received through an online application form. Some of the information we ask about your project is also submitted using the supporting document templates shown below:
Optional: Proposed Plant List (Word doc) – use this to organize your plant choices.
Future applicants are also encouraged to review these supporting documents to help plan and organize their project ideas.
PollinateTO provides opportunities to create new pollinator gardens in select PollinateTO pre-approved City Parks:
Applications are now closed. The next round will open in September 2023. The key dates below are for the next round.
Applications open | September 2023 |
Application deadline | late October 2023 |
Application review | November & December 2023 |
Applicants notified | January 2024 |
Gardens planted | Spring/Summer/Fall 2024 |
Completion and evaluation | by end of 2025 |
Please note: Timelines are subject to change
Create your own group or join one that is already established in your community. Partner with others who can support your idea.
To be eligible, groups must include at least three Toronto residents residing in three separate households.
Decide on a name for your Group. Select a Group Lead to be the main contact.
Look for potential garden locations in your neighbourhood. Choose garden sites that are visible to the public, have access to water and are easy for your group to get to (walking distance is ideal). Your project may include multiple locations. Priority will be given to projects located in Toronto’s Neighbourhood Improvement Areas (NIAs).
Complete the Property Owner Support Letter template (Word doc) for each location.
If the garden location is on…
For City park locations – please select from the PollinateTO Pre-approved City Parks List. These sites have been pre-approved so you do not need to submit a support letter.
Decide on a name for your Project (this is different from your Group name).
Create a community engagement and education plan – think about the best ways to involve the community in your project.
Put together an estimated budget (max. $5,000). See the Eligible Costs section for guidance. Please use the Proposed Budget Summary template (Excel doc) provided.
You must apply using the online application form before the deadline.
The following documents are required to evaluate your proposal:
The PollinateTO Team will review your application to ensure eligibility requirements are met. Applications must be complete and received by the deadline to be eligible.
A Review Committee will evaluate all eligible proposals.
Successful applicants will receive an approval letter via email and details about next steps.
Successful applicants will attend an online information session to learn more about the next steps.
A funding agreement will be drafted and sent to your group or Trustee to be signed. Upon returning the signed agreement, the City signature will be added and the first installment of your funding award (approximately 90 percent) will be processed.
Most (approximately 90 per cent) of the funding will be provided in advance to get you started. The remainder of the funding (up to approximately 10 per cent for which documentation is provided) will be provided upon proof of completion.
Your group has until December 2025 to complete your project.
Please notify the PollinateTO Program Manager when your project is complete. A site visit may be requested.
Your group will be responsible for submitting the following:
PollinateTO is open to all resident-led groups and non-profit groups. Groups must have at least three residents of Toronto (from separate households) as part of the group.
Examples of eligible projects include:
Examples of projects the City will not fund include:
PollinateTO supports projects that create pollinator habitat in all Toronto neighbourhoods. Priority will be given to gardens located in Toronto’s Neighbourhood Improvement Areas (NIAs).
Gardens can be on private and public land. Your project proposal can include multiple garden locations at one or more sites (i.e. different addresses). Your proposal can also have one or more garden locations a single address (i.e. separate garden beds on different parts of the property).
Each garden location must have access to a source of water to allow plants to be watered as required.
When selecting your garden location(s), please consider the following requirements and approval process for each type of location.
Examples of private property include residential, commercial, post-secondary institutions, faith and spiritual centres, non-profit organizations, etc.
Note: For front yard gardens on residential streets, you must have three or more front yard gardens on the same street or same neighbourhood to create a “pollinator pathway”. The front yards do not have to be directly beside each other.
This is often the area between the road and the sidewalk.
For all approved PollinateTO gardens – you must “call before you dig”. This process will identify any underground infrastructure in the area you want to build your garden. Ontario One Call provides a locate request process that is free, reliable, timely and easy to use. You can make the request online.
Optional: You can use the Proposed Plant List template to help you organize your plant choices.
See our list of native flowers, trees and shrubs in the section below.
Gardens must include at least one species of goldenrod and at least one species of milkweed.
Goldenrod (Solidago)
Get to know Goldenrod brochure – includes photos of the goldenrod species mentioned here.
A hardy native plant with many different species adapted to a wide range of growing conditions, there’s a goldenrod that’s right for every garden. To set the record straight: goldenrod does not cause hay fever. Ragweed, in bloom at the same time, is the hay fever culprit. Goldenrod is insect-pollinated. It has heavy, sticky pollen that doesn’t fly on the wind, so adding goldenrod to your garden will not cause discomfort to hay fever sufferers.
More facts about goldenrod:
Here are a few goldenrod species to consider for your garden that are easy to grow, drought tolerant and easy to find:
Sun: | Part-Sun: | Shade: |
Grass-leaved goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia): | Grey-stemmed
(Solidago nemoralis) |
Zig-zag goldenrod
(Solidago flexicaulis) |
Early goldenrod (Solidago juncea) | ||
Stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida) | Silverrod
(Solidago bicolor) |
Blue-stemmed goldenrod
(Solidago caesia) |
Sun & Wet: Ohio goldenrod (Solidago ohioensis) |
Milkweed (Asclepias)
Milkweed is the larval host plant for the endangered Monarch butterfly. Monarchs will only lay their eggs on milkweed leaves, which is the sole food source for caterpillars. Without milkweed, there would be no Monarchs.
More facts about milkweed:
Here are a few suggestions for milkweed species to consider for your garden and one non-native milkweed species to avoid.
Plant in dry areas: | Plant in wet areas: | Do not plant: |
Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) | Swamp milkweed
(Asclepias incarnate) |
Tropical milkweed
(Asclepias curassavica) This is not native to Canada, but is often sold in garden centres. |
Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) | ||
Purple milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens) | ||
Whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata) |
Budgets cannot exceed $5,000. Funding can only be used for the direct delivery of the proposed project.
Download this information here – PollinateTO Eligible Expenses.
Examples of fundable budget line items:
Examples of budget line items that are not fundable:
A Review Committee will review applications and recommend funding using the following process:
Pollinator Partnership Canada (“P2C”) is a registered charity and the largest non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of pollinators and their ecosystems in Canada.
P2C has been engaged by the City of Toronto to serve as the official trustee organization for PollinateTO. P2C will provide administrative oversight of the funding disbursement to successful PollinateTO grant recipients.
P2C will:
Download this information here – PollinateTO_Best Practices for Creating Pollinator Habitat
Your group should consider the following best practices when designing pollinator habitat. Please note: These are best practices only – not mandatory project requirements.
Use this checklist to help you create or enhance pollinator-friendly habitat in your community.
Plant native: Choose native plants, trees and shrubs rich in pollen and nectar. Locally grown and pesticide free are best.
Plant host plants: Butterflies lay their eggs on specific plants. Monarch butterflies, for example, will only lay their eggs on milkweed, the sole food source for their larva.
Provide continuous bloom: Pollinators need a continuous source of food from spring to fall. Select a variety of plants with a range of bloom times.
Mass plantings: Planting multiples of the same plant together in large groupings makes it easier for pollinators to find and collect pollen and nectar.
Plant single bloom varieties: The petals of double or triple bloom varieties can block access to pollen and nectar.
Avoid nativars (native cultivars): These are named varieties and not the true native species. Studies have shown that many nativars are less beneficial (e.g. contain less pollen) than the true native species.
Bare ground: Many native bees build nests in soil, so leave some bare patches and limit your use of mulch.
Dead wood: Large branches and decaying logs can be kept in a sunny spot to provide additional shelter, resting sites for birds and nesting locations for bees and other wildlife.
Fallen leaves: Leave the leaves where they fall or rake them into your garden to provide overwintering habitat for butterflies. Leaves can be removed in late spring, after overwintering adult butterflies are gone, or left in the garden to decompose.
Dead stems: Some cavity nesting bees use hollow or pithy stems to lay their eggs.
Hollow-stemmed plants: | Pithy-stemmed plants: | |
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Offer a drink: Pollinators need water. Add rocks for perch points to a birdbath or shallow dish of water to help bees and butterflies quench their thirst.
Create sunny spots: Butterflies like to bask in the sun.
Avoid pesticides: Don’t spray pesticides or insecticides, especially neonicotinoids. Ontario has a Pesticide Ban that prohibits the cosmetic use of pesticides.
Leave dead stems: Bundles of sticks and stems that are put out for yard waste collection too early in spring will often contain overwintering bees.
Leave the leaves: Leave the leaves where they fall or rake them into your garden to provide overwintering habitat for butterflies. Leaves can be removed in late spring, after overwintering adult butterflies are gone, or left in the garden to decompose.
Avoid tilling: Keep large patches of land unmown and untilled to provide secure and undisturbed nesting sites for ground-nesting bees.
Prevent the spread of invasive plants: Monitor your garden for invasive plants and remove them when detected. For example, the invasive dog-strangling vine has a negative impact on Monarchs – female butterflies mistakenly lay their eggs on it since it’s in the milkweed family, instead of native milkweeds, causing their larvae to starve.
Plant material is replaced: Monitor garden regularly for dead plants and replace accordingly in order to ensure healthy plant diversity.
Tell your friends and neighbours: Help spread the word about what pollinators need by sharing your experience with others. Let them know how they can create or enhance pollinator habitat on their property.
Offer tours of your garden: Inspire others to create pollinator gardens by showcasing yours. Identify plants and offer tips for success.
Install signage provided: Identify your garden as pollinator-friendly. Create your own sign or use the PollinateTO sign.
Download this information here – PollinateTO_Best Practices for Pollinator Education
Educational messaging should align with the guiding principles and priorities of the City’s Pollinator Protection Strategy. The following are best practices for designing a pollinator educational initiative funded by PollinateTO.
How will your project educate and engage the community? Some ideas you might consider:
Here are some native flowering plants organized by season to help you provide a continuous source of food for pollinators. We’ve also indicated growing conditions in sun or shade and whether it’s a larval host plant.
Site conditions:
Native plant species vary in their light preferences. Select plants based on your site conditions:
Common Name (Scientific Name) | Likes sunny spots | Likes sunny or shady spots | Likes shady spots | Larval host plant |
False Solomon’s seal (Maianthemum racemosum) | yes | yes | ||
Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) | yes | yes | yes | |
Hairy beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus) | yes | yes | ||
Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) | yes | yes |
Common Name (Scientific Name) | Likes sunny spots | Likes sunny or shady spots | Likes shady spots | Larval host plant |
Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) | yes | yes | ||
Bee balm (Monarda didyma) | yes | yes | ||
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) | yes | |||
Blue vervain (Verbena hastata) | yes | |||
Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) | yes | |||
Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) | yes | yes | ||
Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis) | yes | |||
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) | yes | yes | ||
Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum) | yes | |||
Cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) | yes | |||
Dense blazing star (Liatris spicata) | yes | |||
Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) | yes | |||
Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) | yes | |||
Great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) | yes | yes | ||
Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) | yes | |||
Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata) | yes | yes | ||
Joe-pye weed (Eutrochium maculatum) | yes | |||
Lance-leaved coreopsis (C. lanceolata) | yes | |||
Nodding onion (Allium cernuum) | yes | yes | ||
Pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida) | yes | |||
Pearly everlasting (A. margaritacea) | yes | yes | ||
Showy tick trefoil (D. canadense) | yes | yes | ||
Swamp milkweed (A. incarnata) | yes | yes | ||
Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) | yes | yes | ||
Twinflower (Linnaea borealis) | yes | |||
Virginia mountain mint (P. virginianum) | yes | |||
Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) | yes | |||
Wild lupine (Lupinus perennis) | yes |
Common Name (Scientific Name) | Likes sunny spots | Likes sunny or shady spots | Likes shady spots | Larval host plant |
New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) | yes | |||
Stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida) | yes | |||
Woodland sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus) | yes | yes | yes |
Native trees and shrubs offer benefits to pollinators too. Here are a few to consider based on size and moist soil conditions (see rain garden species).
More native species profiles:
PollinateTO Best Practices Guides:
Wild about Bees:
Wild About Bees brochure – Learn more about native bees and honey bees and what you can do to help.
Get to know Goldenrod:
Get to know Goldenrod brochure – includes photos of the goldenrod species to help you choose a species that’s right for your garden. And no, goldenrod doesn’t cause allergies (that’s ragweed).
City of Toronto Biodiversity Series:
Pollinator Partnership Canada (P2C):
Kids & Schools
Where to find native plants:
Seed starting:
Indigenous resources:
North American Native Plant Society (NANPS):
Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA):
Rain gardens:
Pollination Guelph:
David Suzuki Foundation:
Canadian Wildlife Federation:
Carolinian Canada:
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Fall tips
Spring tips
Nesting tips
Pollinators and growing food:
Resources created by PollinateTO Groups
Topics | What you’ll learn |
Bees
with Scott MacIvor |
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Butterflies
with Jessica Linton |
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Trees for Bees
with Tara Mabon |
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Sourcing native plants
presented by Project Swallowtail |
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Shrinking the Lawn: Eco-friendly alternatives to sod
with Lorraine Johnson |
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Expense tracking:
Photos and Videos:
Impact Report:
Since 2019, PollinateTO has:
View the PollinateTO Approved Projects Map to see where all our projects are located.
PollinateTO funded projects are listed below by ward and neighbourhood.
NIA = Neighbourhood Improvement Area
EN = Emerging Neighbourhood
Forty applications were selected to receive funding from among 120 applications submitted. Of the forty approved projects, 12 are located in Neighbourhood Improvement Areas and two located in Emerging Neighbourhoods.
In total, over 100 gardens and more than 7,500 square metres of pollinator habitat will be created through these projects.
Congratulations to the groups listed below!
Group: All Saints Pollinators
Project: All Saints Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Moss Park
Ward: 13 |
The All Saints Pollinators will create three pollinators gardens within the Dundas Street and Sherbourne Street neighbourhood. The pollinator gardens will aim to increase the vibrancy and resiliency of the community through this beautification process and bring new life to public spaces to facilitate social exchange. Community members will have the opportunity to come together to exchange knowledge and develop both practical and socialization skills. | |
Group: Art City in St James Town
Project: SEED (Student Environment Education Demonstration) Garden |
Neighbourhood: North St. James Town
Ward: 13 |
Art City’s SEED Garden will transform a small underused and poorly maintained green area into a live/learn space. The project will create a new pollinator habitat in the dense tower community of St. James Town, and will serve as a space for youth to engage with hands-on environmental education through on-going stewardship of the garden. Environmental Education workshops in the garden will be complemented with youth-led art projects that give voice to local environmental issues. Youth artwork will include informational garden signage, pollinator houses and garden decorations and will culminate in an exhibition of artworks advocating pollinator protection to the broader community. | |
Group: ASPS – HPAS Garden Stewards
Project: Garden Renewal/Pollinator Power |
Neighbourhood: High Park North
Ward: 4 |
Annette Street Public School and High Park Alternative School (ASPS & HPAS) are excited to refresh three garden spaces. The Peace Garden will be getting raised beds filled with pollinator plants, pathways and an education board. Students will learn and share the value of pollinators and native plants with the community through post on the education board, signage and plantings in the Butterfly/Pollinator garden. | |
Group: Bloor Annex BIA
Project: Pollinate the Annex |
Neighbourhood: University
Ward: 11 |
The Bloor Annex Interactive Pollinator Map will be located on Bloor Street between Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street, creating pollinator garden in four public parklets. Using interactive plant markers and a local plant map, we intend to build relationships with our community through education and engagement. | |
Group: Braeburn Neighbourhood Place & Boys and Girls Club
Project: Braeburn Kids Are Making a Difference! |
Neighbourhood: Elms-Old Rexdale (NIA)
Ward: 1 |
The ‘Braeburn Kids Are Making a Difference!’ project focuses on Climate Action Learning for children. Children will be creating a pollinator garden in the community garden alongside adult allies and youth mentors. Participants will have fun and interactive opportunities to deepen their understanding about interconnectivity of habitats, pollinators, biodiversity and human stewardship. The project will also support and extend learning about the environment, where our food comes from and why it matters for our future. | |
Group: Bruce Green Committee
Project: The Valerie Mah Pollinator Station |
Neighbourhood: South Riverdale
Ward: 14 |
The Bruce Public School Green Committee will be creating The Valerie Mah Pollination Station as a commemorative garden dedicated to former Bruce Public School principal Valerie Mah, the first female Asian Vice-Principal in the Toronto District School Board. Through the process of creating, maintaining and enjoying the garden, the project’s goals include sparking student, educator and community member interest in the phenomenon of pollination and local horticulture. The project team will also invite the surrounding community to explore the garden and participate in its caretaking. | |
Group: Carlton Park Pollinators
Project: Carleton Park Pollinator Patch |
Neighbourhood: Junction-Wallace Emerson
Ward: 9 |
The Carleton Park Pollinator Patch will be a demonstrative garden, playing a role in beautifying the park and educating residents about the value and the benefit of native plants and their beauty. The gardens will attract pollinators, increase the biodiversity of the neighbourhood, and help establish a pollinator corridor with nearby Symington Avenue Playground community garden and the greenspaces along the West Toronto Railpath. | |
Group: Community History Project
Project: The Tollkeeper’s Garden |
Neighbourhood: Wychwood
Ward: 12 |
The Community History Project maintains a small museum, The Tollkeeper’s Cottage at the corner of Bathurst and Davenport. This colourful project will become a gateway to the forest escarpment that will become part of the National Healing Forest. | |
Group: Corktown Residents and Business Association
Project: Corktown Community Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Moss Park
Ward: 13 |
The Corktown Residents and Business Association is comprised of residents and businesses that seek to enhance and build an inclusive community within one of Toronto’s oldest neighbourhoods. The Sackville Playground Pollinator Garden project will create a habitat that will be used to educate people and children in the community about the importance of pollinator protection as well as the elements that make a healthy ecosystem. This new garden will serve to start the process of creating and connecting more pollinator habitats within the neighbourhood. | |
Group: Cornell Gardeners
Project: Cornell’s Butterfly Garden |
Neighbourhood: Golfdale-Cedarbrae-Woburn (NIA)
Ward: 24 |
Cornell’s Butterfly Way is a pollinator garden that will be created in front of Cornell Junior Public school with easy accessibility to all. The pollinator garden will teach students and families about the benefits of pollinators on the ecosystem. Through this process, community organizations and people of all ages will be engaged in the creation and maintenance of the garden. | |
Group: Dewson Street Junior Public School
Project: Dewson Pollinator Gardens |
Neighbourhood: Palmerston-Little Italy
Ward: 9 |
Dewson Pollinator Gardens will transform under-used space into healthy, thriving pollinator gardens. These new native ecosystems hold natural value, create beauty and provide a space for important ecosystem education. The Dewson Pollinator Gardens will be located on the school grounds of Dewson Street Junior Public School and will create an educational gathering space for 450+ students, their families and the surrounding school community. | |
Group: Dixon Hall
Project: Dixon Hall Peace Gardens |
Neighbourhood: Regent Park (NIA)
Ward: 13 |
This is an environmental education and place making project that will give Regent Park youth an opportunity to animate the garden beds of the Bill Graham Youth Centre. The youth will learn about pollinators and the importance of building pollinator habitats in the city, gain gardening skills that they can use in the future, and have a hand in building something they can proudly display to their community. The goal is the creation of a collaborative garden space that increases biodiversity and pollinators, honour Regent Park’s urban agriculture tradition, and celebrates Regent Park youth and everything they are capable of. | |
Group: Eastview Gardeners
Project: Bee-utify Eastview |
Neighbourhood: West Hill (NIA)
Ward: 24 |
The Bee-utify Eastview project will create a large and attractive pollinator garden at the front entrance of Eastview Public School. The goal is to create a place for students and community to come and observe the amazing pollinators and also have a comfortable place to relax and enjoy. By taking on this project, the teachers of the school will engage their students in fun and exciting learning opportunities and cultivate the environmental stewards of tomorrow. | |
Group: Feed Scarborough
Project: Scarborough Junction Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Clairlea-Birchmount
Ward: 20 |
Feed Scarborough will introduce a community pollinator garden as an expansion of its Scarborough Junction Community Farm. The green space will provide families and neighbours a place to come and connect with the Land, their shared culture and each other, while promoting plant biodiversity, food security, and importance of growing native plants and pollinators. | |
Group: Friends of Henrietta Park
Project: Henrietta Park Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Rockcliffe-Smythe (NIA)
Ward: 5 |
Friends of Henrietta Park will create a pollinator garden at Henrietta Park, a small and tranquil pocket of green space in the west-end of the city. The garden will provide an educational opportunity by creating a space for participants, both adults and children, to learn and share their skills and knowledge, as well as cultural opportunities, by providing a space to share knowledge between people of different ages and backgrounds. | |
Group: Friends of Smythe Park
Project: Healthy Park Healthy People |
Neighbourhood: Rockcliffe-Smythe (NIA)
Ward: 5 |
Friends of Smythe Park is pleased to be adding a rain garden and pollinator garden. The rain garden will help absorb overland flooding from streets that has been contaminating the ponds, resulting in a negative effect on both the flora and fauna. The pollinator garden is strategically placed where very few insects have been seen. | |
Group: Green Industries Program
Project: David and Mary Thomson Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Bendale-Glen Andrew
Ward: 21 |
The David and Mary Thomson Pollinator Garden will be run by David and Mary Thomson Collegiate Institute staff and students, and will be located on the school property. The goal of the project is to create a pollinator garden which will feature a variety of flowering plants to attract a wide variety of pollinators throughout the spring, summer and fall. It will increase pollinator populations, and also educate all who visit about the importance of native plants and pollinators. | |
Group: Hillside Outdoor Education School
Project: Pollinator’s Paradise |
Neighbourhood: Morningside Heights
Ward: 25 |
Hillside Outdoor Education School will create a pollinator garden with the help of students. Students will be involved in all aspects of the creation and maintenance of the garden plot. The pollinator garden will be used as an engaging learning tool with a focus on raising awareness around the role of pollinators and native species within our ecosystem. The group hopes to continue building on this for years to come. | |
Group: Huron-Sussex Community Garden
Project: Huron-Sussex Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: University
Ward: 11 |
The Huron-Sussex Community Garden (HSCG) was founded in April 2016 in a busy neighbourhood in the heart of University of Toronto. The pollinator garden is a welcome addition to the existing community garden and will educate the gardeners and others about pollinator stewardship. | |
Group: Ecole Jeanne – La Joie
Project: Jardin des Merveilles |
Neighbourhood: Victoria Village (NIA)
Ward: 16 |
Jardin des Merveilles will create five pollinator habitats at Jeanne-Lajoie Elementary School. The garden will feature native plants and shrubs and serve as an education space for students. | |
Group: Jonesville Allotments Pollinator Group
Project: Jonesville Allotments Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Victoria Village (NIA)
Ward: 16 |
The Jonesville Allotments Pollinator Garden will establish a vibrant pollinator garden within the busy gardens located in the Victoria Park and Eglinton Ave neighbourhood. The garden will feature native plant species, provide nesting/overwintering habitat, include interpretive signage, and offer points for close observation. The garden will both beautify the space and importantly, equip visitors with a new-found awareness of how this pollinator-supporting habitat directly impacts the success of urban vegetable growing. | |
Group: Manor Road United Church
Project: Pollinator Garden @ The Manor |
Neighbourhood: Mount Pleasant East
Ward: 15 |
Manor Road United Church will be planting a drought resistant native garden that encourages pollination by bees and butterflies and provides a habitat for birds, insects and wildlife. The church houses many community programs and sits next to a busy park. The native garden will be an opportunity to teach our community about native plants and the importance of pollinator gardens, with signs that identify the different types of plants and shrubs. | |
Group: Parkdale Junior and Senior Public School Garden Committee
Project: Indigenous Medicine/Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Roncesvalles
Ward: 4 |
Parkdale Junior and Senior Public School will plant an Indigenous medicine and pollinator garden. This garden will support learning in Indigenous knowledge, pollination, habitats, plant health, and food. It will also beautify the community, creating an inviting space for neighbours and Parkdale families. | |
Group: Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary School Community
Project: Jardin de Pollen |
Neighbourhood: Trinity-Bellwoods
Ward: 11 |
This group will raise awareness and educate their multi-lingual community about the role of pollinators and native species in our ecosystem. The students will learn about pollinators and the role they play in the school’s existing vegetable garden. They will be involved in planting and caring for the garden and will even assist in creating bee hotels. Located along a well-walked downtown street, the three pollinator beds will not only provide enjoyment, but will also provide an opportunity to educate the broader community through informative signs in multiple languages. | |
Group: Pollinator Pedestrian Access Path
Project: Pilkington to Santa Monica |
Neighbourhood: Clairlea-Birchmount
Ward: 20 |
This project will create six pollinator gardens including five in front residential yard, and one on a public corridor that joins two neighbourhoods in Scarborough. These spaces will be planted with species that support pollinators such as native shrubs, thickets, and flowers. Plants that offer food will be a consideration. We also want to offer natural seating and play space such as boulders and tree stumps. | |
Group: Portage Parent Council
Project: Portage Trail Garden |
Neighbourhood: Mount Dennis (NIA)
Ward: 5 |
This project will create a pollinator garden in front of the Portage Trail Community School. With assistance from the Portage Parent Council, the goal is to promote a space for children to learn about plants in a playful environment. | |
Group: Roden School Council
Project: Kindie Heart Garden |
Neighbourhood: Greenwood-Coxwell
Ward: 14 |
As part of honouring and remembering the Indigenous survivors of Canada’s Residential schools, Roden School Council is planting a Heart Garden with students. The garden will be a permanent living memory that students contribute to and care for year to year. By pairing the Heart Garden with native plants, we honour the land and provide a much needed habitat for our native pollinators during all stages of their development. Our hope is that this project helps to establish increased biodiversity of our native pollinators strengthening our food system for generations to come while reminding us of the generations of Indigenous peoples that have come before. | |
Group: San Lorenzo Latin American Community Centre
Project: El Jardin San Lorenzo |
Neighbourhood: Yorkdale-Glen Park (EN)
Ward: 8 |
El Jardin San Lorenzo will create three pollinator gardens in the green areas of the San Lorenzo Parish and Community Centre. Community members, including immigrant and refugee families from Latin America, will learn the importance of pollinators and native plants and their impact to our local environment. This project will incorporate traditional and lived experiences from Latin American countries to help raise awareness on the necessity to protect, restore and create new natural habitats for life diversity in our neighborhoods. | |
Group: SKETCH Working Arts
Project: Weave and Mend Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Trinity-Bellwoods
Ward: 10 |
Weave and Mend Gardens will be located alongside SKETCH Studios at Artscape Youngplace on Shaw Street. The pollinator bed, titled The Mother’s Bed, will be designed by artist Harley McDowell to honour the impact mothers have on our lives. The group believes that similar to mothers, pollinators play a significant role in our eco-systems and without this vital relationship we would be lost. | |
Group: St. Aidan Catholic School
Project: Stardust Pollinator Project |
Neighbourhood: East L’Amoreaux (EN)
Ward: 22 |
Through The Stardust Pollinator Project, St Aidan Catholic School will create a pollinator friendly school through the construction of a pollinator walkway leading to the front entrance of the school. The project proposes the creation of two new pollinator gardens that will serve to educate students and the community about the importance of our pollinators. | |
Group: St. Boniface Elementary School
Project: Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Scarborough Village (NIA)
Ward: 20 |
St. Boniface Elementary School will create a pollinator garden at the front of the school, which will be seen and experienced by all and will inspire and educate staff, students, families and community members. The garden will be a teaching tool for students and classes where all can learn the importance of pollinators and their need in the environment. The hope is that the lesson goes beyond school and that students and staff become advocates for pollinators. | |
Group: St. Francis De Sales
Project: The Learning Garden |
Neighbourhood: Glenfield-Jane Heights (NIA)
Ward: 7 |
The goal of this project is to beautify the school while at the same time providing natural areas to support the natural environment. The hope is that students will have the opportunity to participate in the maintenance of the pollinator habitat. | |
Group: The AppleTree Group
Project: The Outdoor Classroom Project |
Neighbourhood: South Eglinton-Davisville
Ward: 12 |
The Outdoor Community Classroom Project will create a pollinator garden in June Rowlands Park. The goal is to transform the existing educational garden into a fully functional outdoor learning space for school and community groups to gather and learn about the importance of pollinator gardens and their positive effect on the environment and the world at large. | |
Group: The Junction BIA
Project: The Junction Butterfly Gardens |
Neighbourhood: Junction Area
Ward: 4 |
The Junction Butterfly Gardens will create a pollinator pathway along Dundas Street West. The project aims to return biodiversity to The Junction by providing butterflies and bees with additional food sources and mark The Junction as the most pollinator-friendly neighbourhood in Toronto. | |
Group: The PACT Program
Project: Pollinator Garden at Thistletown Collegiate Institute |
Neighbourhood: Rexdale-Kipling
Ward: 1 |
The PACT Grow-To-Learn Pollinator Garden at Thistletown Collegiate Institute will serve as an invaluable educational resource for both students and the community. PACT will develop pollinator workshops which will be delivered to students (Grades 1-12) during school hours, and to the community at our weekly markets. PACT will offer TDSB staff and students access to the pollinator space, and will provide all visiting classes a detailed self-guided tour with the help of QR codes, sitemaps and digital information. | |
Group: The St. Clair Diggers
Project: The St. Clair Pollinator Patch |
Neighbourhood: Clairlea-Birchmount
Ward: 20 |
The St. Clair Pollinator Patch will consist of three gardens located at St. Clair Avenue East and Maybourne Avenue. This project aims to greatly increase the number of native plants on the property to attract and support a significant number of pollinators, beautify the neighbourhood, and share learnings with our community. The group will work with Grade 3 classes in local schools, teaching them about pollinators and assisting them with planting in our garden. | |
Group: Thorncliffe Park Urban Farmers
Project: Thorncliffe Park Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Thorncliffe Park (NIA)
Ward: 15 |
Thorncliffe Park Urban Farmers (TPUF) is a community-based farming group working in the Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood. This project will be located on a large area of 53 Thorncliffe Park Drive and transform grassy areas to landscapes designed exclusively with native plants to create vibrant habitats for pollinators. The project will provide Thorncliffe Park area youth and adult volunteers with space, material resources and training to create garden spaces and promote community engagement. This project will serve as an example and model for other property managers in the area to transform their landscapes from lawns to pollinator habitats and nurture interest in urban horticulture to support mental health and physical well-being of area residents who otherwise may not have an opportunity to create their own garden spaces. | |
Group: Toronto Botanical Garden
Project: Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Banbury-Don Mills
Ward: 15 |
This project will ensure our pollinator garden is accessible to the public for better education on the importance of native pollinators and plants. The plan is to redesign and replant an existing perennial border with at least 75% native plants for pollinators. We will create an engaging and educational pollinator garden for the estimated 250,000 visitors that visit Toronto Botanical Garden each year. | |
Group: West Bend Green Community
Project: West Bend Butterfly Way |
Neighbourhood: High Park North
Ward: 4 |
West Bend Butterfly Way is a pollinator garden located on the west side of Indian Road just north of Keele Subway Station. This project will plant 250 native plants to attract pollinators and encourage others to follow suit. This project is part of a series of boulevard gardens lining High Park to the rail corridor gardens on the east side of Dundas Street West from Glenlake Avenue to Humberside Avenue. The butterfly pathway thus created will facilitate further pathways for butterflies along the rail corridors in the west end of Toronto. | |
Group: Withrow Parent Outdoor Education Committee
Project: Pollinators at Withrow School |
Neighbourhood: North Riverdale
Ward: 14 |
This group will create multiple gardens at Withrow School to increase awareness of native pollinators are and how creating habitats for them has many environmental, ecological and social benefits. This project will extend the pollinator pathway already started by our neighbours The Bain Co-op (previous PollinateTO grant recipients). Withrow students will learn about the Indigenous worldview through the lens of gardening, and caring for the plants and land they grow on. In response to the calls to Truth and Reconciliation and in memoriam of Indigenous children at residential schools, the staff at Withrow would like one of the gardens to be designed as an Indigenous Medicine Garden and will have the names of all the plants identified in multiple languages. |
Thirty-two applications were selected to receive funding to create pollinator gardens in their communities, including 11 located in Neighbourhood Improvement Areas and one located in an Emerging Neighbourhood.
In total, over 60 gardens and 5,000 square metres of pollinator habitat will be created through these projects.
Congratulations to the groups listed below!
Group: 757 Gardening Committee
Project: Bee Kind Pollinator Rockery Garden |
Neighbourhood: Oakridge (NIA)
Ward: 20 |
757 Victory Park Condo has a large empty rockery area that is located within the North West portion of our property. It is a perfect location for a large pollinator friendly garden and we are excited to get working on this garden. This area is clearly visible to our residents and our neighbours. We hope this project will bring together members of our community to help plant and help beautify the neighbourhood. | |
Group: 75th Old Mill Scouts
Project: 75th Old Mill Toronto Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Runnymede-Bloor West Village
Ward: 4 |
The project will create a pollinator garden at St. Paul’s Church, home of the 75th Old Mill Scout Group. This space will provide education for the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts as well as to the church parish and local community. It is hoped that this garden will inspire others to plant native pollinator plants to create an ever expanding pollinator pathway within our city. | |
Group: Agincourt Community Services Association (ACSA)
Project: Chester Le Pollinator Pad |
Neighbourhood: L’Amoreaux West (EN)
Ward: 22 |
The Chester Le Pollinator Pad will create a pollinator garden within the current Chester Le Olive Garden through the placement of a wide variety of native pollinator plants to create a sustainable pollinator habitat. Through this project community residents will receive workshops and demonstrations that feature the importance of pollinators, the connection to climate change and food production, and will learn about the tools needed to do more pollinator work within the community. This community-based project seeks to enhance the resiliency of the Chester Le Olive garden and the surrounding neighborhood’s ecosystems while supporting local food availability. | |
Group: CALC Secondary School
Project: CALC Secondary Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: North Riverdale
Ward: 14 |
City Adult Learning Centre (CALC) is excited about our Pollinator Garden, which will actually cover several areas and thus be part of more than one outdoor teaching space. The centerpiece will be our food garden, which will be surrounded on three sides by a pollinator garden. The pollinators will benefit the food crops, be aesthetically pleasing, and promote learning about all aspects of botany and agriculture. | |
Group: Flemingdon Park Ministry
Project: The Common Table Pollinator Garden and Labyrinth |
Neighbourhood: Parkwoods-O’Connor Hills
Ward: 16 |
The Common Table is a food security project of Flemingdon Park Ministry. We grow fresh, organic produce on our urban farm for the Flemingdon Park neighbourhood. Our Pollinator Garden and Labyrinth project will increase the biodiversity of our farm, supporting pollinators and wildlife. With signage, workshops, and a prayer labyrinth, this garden will also provide a space for education and reflection for the community. | |
Group: FoodShare Toronto
Project: Flemo Farm Pollinator Corridor Project |
Neighbourhood: Flemingdon Park (NIA)
Ward: 16 |
Flemo Farm is a new community-developed and community-owned ½ acre urban farm located in Flemingdon Park. This project will create a pollinator area in the Farm perimeter and plant over 1,220 perennial native flowers to create and support the habitat for bees, butterflies, beetles and other pollinators in the park. The pollinator garden will sustain the growing production at Flemo Farm. | |
Group: Fr. Henry Carr (FHC) Environmental Club
Project: BEE-U-TIFLY Done habitat project |
Neighbourhood: West Humber-Clairville
Ward: 1 |
The Father Henry Carr (FHC) BEE-U-TIFLY Done habitat project will be a collaborative effort supported by a diverse team of FHC students, parents, staff, and community members. Our project’s primary goal is to increase the ecological value of the school’s existing greenspace by planting several different native flowers, shrubs, and trees to create new habitat for native pollinator species. The garden will include informative signage, observation areas, and an eco-friendly pathway. This natural setting will also serve as an inclusive cross-curricular outdoor education resource, providing an opportunity to enjoy and learn about nature. This includes descriptions and visuals of environmentally significant plants which may be observed. We hope that our garden will demonstrate what local communities can do to promote the biodiversity and protection of pollinators in urban environments. | |
Group: Friends of Allan Gardens
Project: The Pollinator Playground at Allan Gardens |
Neighbourhood: Moss Park
Ward: 13 |
The Friends of Allan Gardens is a volunteer-based organization that is working to imagine and lead the revitalization of Allan Gardens park and conservatory. The “Pollinator Playground” project will create a demonstration garden within the children’s playground at Allan Gardens. This new garden will connect with existing pollinator gardens in the park to create a pollinator pathway. The garden will help to green the playground, and get families up close and interested in native plants and pollinators. Through community planting days, children’s activities, volunteer-led garden tours and signage, this project has the potential to engage and educate hundreds of local families who visit on a regular basis. | |
Group: Friends of Guild Park / Guildwood Butterflyway Project
Project: Guild Park Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Guildwood
Ward: 24 |
The Pollinator Garden at Guild Park will help support the Carolinian Forest ecosystem found at this 88-acre site atop the Scarborough Bluffs. Guild Park is part of a well-established migratory route for butterflies and birds. Local volunteers will convert an underused area into the park’s first native pollinator garden. The project includes an outdoor education resource where local residents and students from nearby schools can learn about pollinators, horticulture and our urban green space. | |
Group: Garden Club of Toronto
Project: Metropolitan United Church Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Downtown Yonge East
Ward: 13 |
The Garden Club of Toronto has partnered with Metropolitan United Church (MUC) to create two native plant-only pollinator gardens that flank the main entrance. Our plans include a rich tapestry of 41 different varieties of native plants, shrubs, trees and a vine that will provide rich displays from March to October and food and shelter for a variety of wildlife throughout the year. To recognize MUC’s inclusive nature, one section has been designed as a “Pride” garden and will bloom with the rainbow colors of the Pride Flag during the month of June. We have used online remote events such as an online seed-starting workshop and blog as our first steps to engage members. To ensure the long-term success of this project, we will be training volunteers and preparing a manual on appropriate maintenance methods that minimize soil and plant disturbance. | |
Group: Harmony Community Food Centre
Project: The Harmony Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: O’Connor-Parkview
Ward: 19 |
The Harmony Pollinator Garden will be an extension and expansion to South Riverdale Community Health Centre’s Harmony Community Food Centre and Senior’s Active Living Centre programs on site at 2 Gower St. The garden will create a pollinator corridor around our site and with neighbouring George Webster Elementary School garden. The primary goal of the project is to introduce new habitat and food source for pollinators with native perennial plants. The garden will create opportunities for community education and engagement around the importance of pollinator stewardship and how crucial they are to the health of our ecology and food systems. It will provide a beautiful space to connect and grow with our diverse community and participants. | |
Group: Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Group
Project: Right Relations Garden |
Neighbourhood: Wychwood
Ward: 12 |
Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan—Healing Garden at St. Matthew’s United Church is a modest start for the National Healing Forests Initiative in the city of Toronto. In 2021, our crew is building a rain garden and pollinator pathway, labelling the 125+ plants we grow, and—with the guidance of Elder-in-Residence Peduhbun Migizi Kwe–offering opportunities to learn about Indigenous and settler peoples, and as human beings living within the natural world. | |
Group: JBV Gardening Committee
Project: Pollinating South Parkdale: A Cooperative Community Garden |
Neighbourhood: South Parkdale (NIA)
Ward: 4 |
Located in the heart of South Parkdale, John Bruce Village Housing Cooperative is fortunate to have over 1800 square feet of garden space that is shared by 40 mixed income households. We will enhance this existing green space by creating a pollinator-friendly garden that is comprised primarily of native plants, and that captures rain water more efficiently. The project aims to foster a shared commitment to stewarding our natural spaces. We will do this through youth engagement during the development of the garden, and through awareness building and educational events for the wider community. | |
Group: John A Leslie Parent Council
Project: JAL Bee-utiful Garden Expansion Project |
Neighbourhood: Cliffcrest
Ward: 20 |
This project at John A Leslie (JAL) Public School will expand the existing pollinator garden, as well as create new beds in the adjacent field. Increasing the number of native plants in our neighbourhood will allow us to participate in a greater community initiative, the Cliffcrest Butterfly Way, which is important, as our school grounds lie on an migratory pathway for many pollinators and birds. Our JAL Bee-U-tiful garden expansion project will also beautify school grounds, and provide stewardship teaching to students and the greater community on the importance of supporting native pollinators and increasing local biodiversity. | |
Group: Lambton Park Community School
Project: Lambton Park Environmental Learning Garden |
Neighbourhood: Rockcliffe-Smythe (NIA)
Ward: 5 |
The Lambton Park Environmental Learning Garden will serve as a school teaching garden, a learning ground for environmental literacy and a pollinator habitat creation project using native North American plants that educates and engages the community. | |
Group: Malvern Family Resource Centre
Project: Eco-Learning Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Rouge
Ward: 25 |
Malvern Family Resource Centre is excited to create a natural pollinator garden so we can increase eco-learning opportunities in Malvern. Our design will include pollinator plants which will form a natural backdrop to enhance and beautify our garden. Signage, tours and eco-learning sessions will help community members understand the importance that pollinators have on our eco-systems, inspiring them to grow their own eco-gardens to make a difference in our environment. | |
Group: Monarch Park Pollinator Partners (MPPP)
Project: Monarch Park Collegiate Institute Pollinator Gardens |
Neighbourhood: Greenwood-Coxwell
Ward: 14 |
This project involves the revitalization of a student-planted pollinator garden and the creation of a second garden on school property. Local residents and students will collaborate to maintain the gardens and educate the community about pollinators and pollinator habitat. | |
Group: OCAD University
Project: Friendship Community Garden |
Neighbourhood: Kensington-Chinatown
Ward: 10 |
OCAD University is proposing a pollinator garden at the site of Butterfield Park located at 100 McCaul Street. This garden will strive to increase habitat for pollinator species, support universal design and accessibility, and bridge staff/students/faculty in a living project that expands natural spaces for learning, well-being, and a sense of belonging. It’s an opportunity to increase awareness of the artist/designer role to protect ecological systems and integrate biodiversity into daily urban life and build connections between people and land. | |
Group: Scadding Court Community Centre & Friends of Alexandra Park
Project: Alexandra Park Pollinator Power |
Neighbourhood: Kensington-Chinatown
Ward: 10 |
Alexandra Park Pollinator Power is a partnership between community gardeners from the Alexandra Park Diversity Garden; urban agriculture program staff and volunteers from Scadding Court Community Centre; and volunteers with the Friends of Alexandra Park neighbourhood group. AP Pollinator Power will work collaboratively to develop a pollinator habitat and a site for community building, education and recreation. Community members will be involved in planting and maintaining the pollinator garden during the growing season and will participate in educational workshops to deepen their knowledge of pollinator insects, native plants and best practices for maintaining this type of garden. | |
Group: Shirley Street Junior Public School Gardeners
Project: Shirley Street Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Little Portugal
Ward: 9 |
Our garden transformation plans include adding an abundance of native plants and shrubs to our existing outdoor space to attract many different pollinators, providing learning opportunities and a place of serenity and joy for our students and the wider community. | |
Group: South Parkdale Pollinators
Project: Springhurst and Close Pollinator Corridor |
Neighbourhood: South Parkdale (NIA)
Ward: 4 |
This will be a woodland garden in South Parkdale on a corner adjoining five houses that will also be adding pollinators to their front gardens. It’s a corner is used my many pedestrians, as well as being very close to two elementary schools, a rehabilitation centre, and a long-term care facility. | |
Group: St. Angela Catholic School
Project: Environment Club Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Mount Olive-Silverstone-Jamestown (NIA)
Ward: 1 |
A pollinator garden will be created at St. Angela Catholic School. | |
Group: St. Basil-the-Great College Pollinators (SBC)
Project: SBC Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Pelmo Park-Humberlea
Ward: 7 |
The SBC Pollinators are grateful for the opportunity to use this grant to support our role as stewards of the Earth. Through this project, we aim to foster students’ development into responsible citizens and life-long learners who actively sustain the well-being of our environment. Our pollinator garden will be located at the front of our school and will be visible for all to enjoy. | |
Group: St. Cyril Parent Council
Project: St. Cyril Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Willowdale West
Ward: 18 |
We will be enhancing our outdoor yard by creating a home and a safe space for our butterflies, bees as well as any other type of insects. We look forward in teaching, not only our students but also our community, about the benefits of planting native species as well as educating everyone about how to care and maintain such a garden. Our project is exactly what our community needs as this will create new dialogue about the insects and what it takes to help protect them. Our team will be using native plants as well as perennials and creating a “drinking station” for our insects. We have a beautiful space where we will build 2 separate gardens in order to attract twice as many insects as we can. Let’s keep them “BEEsy”. Our goal is to have a safe space for them to feel comfortable to eat, drink and possibly nest. | |
Group: St. Louis Catholic School
Project: St. Louis Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Stonegate-Queensway
Ward: 5 |
St. Louis school plans to transform our existing community-facing green space into a pollinator garden with the help of our students, staff and community volunteers. In addition, we will plant larval host plants at the base of our trees in the main schoolyard, which will add more plants amidst the concrete, assist with water retention for our trees and create more habitat for our pollinator friends. This project will engage our students in hands-on learning about the role of pollinators and native species in their own backyard for many years to come. | |
Group: Sustainability at Centennial
Project: Pollinators at Progress |
Neighbourhood: Woburn North (NIA)
Ward: 24 |
Sustainability at Centennial College group will be creating a pollinator garden on the south half of Progress Campus, which boarders Morningside Park in Scarborough, Ontario. The garden will feature over 130 native species plants and shrubs, with plant identification signage. Our college community will be invited to engage in an on-site planting and virtual webinar focused on the importance of native species pollinator gardens, increasing our canopy cover and green spaces to mitigate the impacts of climate change in our urban communities. | |
Group: Taddlewood Heritage Association
Project: Butterfly Entrance, Wychwood Barns Park |
Neighbourhood: Wychwood
Ward: 12 |
Taddlewood Heritage Association will create a pollinator garden where Slade Avenue meets the south entrance to Wychood Barns Park in the St Clair/Christie area. What is now bare ground will become the Butterfly Entrance to Wychwood Barns Park and when finished will be full of life and colour and visible along the full length of Slade Ave as well as from several vantage points inside the park. | |
Group: The Neighbourhood Organization (TNO)
Project: TNO Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Thorncliffe Park (NIA)
Ward: 15 |
A pollinator garden will be part of Leaside Park Community Garden and will not only create habitat for the pollinators to thrive but also create a beautiful, colourful space in the neighborhood that will help raise awareness, educate the community, especially the younger generation through workshops and training. | |
Group: Thorncliffe Park Women’s Committee
Project: Thorncliffe Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Thorncliffe Park (NIA)
Ward: 15 |
Thorncliffe Pollinator Garden is an intergenerational project that will enable and empower families of Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood to learn environmental sustainability, conservation and other earth-friendly practices. Our project will create the pollinators garden areas in our existing Thorncliffe Family Garden to promote education and awareness of the role of pollinators and native species to the families in a fun, free, creative and accessible way. | |
Group: Toronto Birth Centre (TBC)
Project: T’Karanto Ondaadizi-Gamig Mushkiki Gitigaan – TBC Medicine Garden |
Neighbourhood: Regent Park (NIA)
Ward: 13 |
The TBC currently has a small garden which we have maintained with little funds but a lot of care. Currently the garden mainly grows calendula, strawberry and sage. We are committed to put on more educational events within our existing programing at the Garden. We want to invite Elders and Indigenous teachers to share plant knowledge and teachings with our larger community about growing, harvesting and storage of the medicines. Speakers will teach about Indigenous medicines and decolonization, food justice, planting and creating a welcoming habitat for pollinators such birds, bees, insects and butterflies to share the space and educate about their importance to the Regent Park community. | |
Group: Toronto Green Community
Project: Eglinton Park Community Garden (EPCG) |
Neighbourhood: Yonge-Eglinton
Ward: 8 |
Since 1997, Eglinton Park Community Garden has been a haven of edibles and native plants. In 2020, we began restoration following a two-year closure due to nearby construction. This project will allow us to engage volunteers who are excited to cultivate native plants, and a wild meadow of pollinator plants. Signage and plant ID tags will raise awareness of the role of pollinators and native species in our ecosystem. A message board will promote our activities and workshops to help further educate and build community. Through our collaboration with “Growing Our Roots” (a project funded by the Indigenous Arts & Culture Partnership) and EPCG’s Medicine Wheel Garden, we will highlight Indigenous ecological knowledge and create a welcoming space for Indigenous people to grow and harvest food and medicines. | |
Group: Woburn JR. Public School
Project: Pollinator Learning Garden |
Neighbourhood: Woburn North (NIA)
Ward: 24 |
Woburn Junior Public School is a TDSB certified EcoSchool, and will use the grant to create a Pollinator Learning Garden. The school will build a pollinator garden on school grounds and Woburn Junior families from the Tuxedo Court buildings will help maintain it through the summer months. School staff and Community Members will promote the awareness of the role of pollinators and native species in our ecosystem, and provide education and enjoyment for students at the school and the wider community. |
Thirty-five applications were selected to receive funding from among 151 applications submitted. Of the 35 approved projects, 2 are located in Neighbourhood Improvement Areas and one is located in an Emerging Neighbourhood.
Approved projects include community faith gardens, Indigenous education gardens, residential rain gardens, schoolyard teaching gardens, and multiple front-yard gardens on residential streets (which serve as pollinator pathways).
In total, over 115 gardens and almost 9,000 square metres of pollinator habitat will be created through these projects.
Congratulations to the groups listed below!
Group: Appleton Ave. Community Organization
Project: Appleton Ave. Pollinator Corridor |
Neighbourhood: Corso Italia-Davenport
Ward: 9 |
This project will create a pollinator corridor consisting of 15 pollinator patches along Appleton Ave. The project will result in a complex urban ecosystem and engage the community through planting days, speakers, children’s activities, and a community potluck. | |
Group: Argonaut Rowing Club
Project: Argonaut Growing Club Pollinator Project |
Neighbourhood: South Parkdale (NIA)
Ward: 4 |
The Argonaut Rowing Club is proposing a pollinator garden near the Martin Goodman trail. The project will create plant identifiers and signage that is easily visible from the Martin Goodman trail. The project is supported by a dedicated gardener and team of volunteers. | |
Group: Bain Butterfly Way
Project: The Bain Butterfly Way Project |
Neighbourhood: North Riverdale
Ward: 14 |
The Bain Butterfly Way project will create five pollinator gardens at the Bain Cooperative. The goals are to map and create a pollinator pathway that would connect our native plant species throughout the Bain, while also building a sense of stewardship for the land and an appreciation for native plant species. The community engagement and education plans include a community planting day, guided plant tours, and a partnership with a local school to co-create a pollinator-themed art project. | |
Group: Bell Manor Pollinators
Project: Bell Manor Park Community Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Stonegate-Queensway
Ward: 3 |
This project will create a pollinator community garden in Bell Manor Park. The community garden, which is part of the Community Health Centre’s Food Access Program, addresses the lack of space for growing in lower-income neighbourhoods and provides an alternative food source and access to community activities and connections among many cultural diverse circles. A component of the project will be to have AlterEden deliver four workshops to educate the community about the needs of pollinators. | |
Group: Bernard Betel Centre
Project: Bernard Betel Centre Community Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Westminster-Branson (EN)
Ward: 6 |
This garden will be created on a non-profit community centre property that has been serving the community for 54 years. The Bernard Betel Centre currently holds 120 programs a week and the pollinator garden will be incorporated into their programming, allowing residents in the community to enjoy and learn more about pollinators. | |
Group: Carlton-Sherbourne Garden Group
Project: Rooming House Beeuties |
Neighbourhood: Moss Park
Ward: 13 |
The Carlton-Sherbourne Group is partnering with Dixon Hall to create multiple pollinator gardens in the front yards of Toronto Community Housing properties in the Cabbagetown area. This project aims to increase the vibrancy and resilience of the community through this beautification process. The goal is to build upon and nurture the pollinator patches and expand the project to all 23 Toronto Community Housing properties in the area. | |
Group: Centre for Immigrant and Community Services (CICS)
Project: The ENRICH Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Agincourt South-Malvern West
Ward: 22 |
CICS is a multi-service registered charity and a leader in serving immigrants in Toronto and the GTA for 50 years, helping newcomers develop a sense of inclusion and belonging in their new communities. CICS would like to introduce a pollinator garden to enhance their educational programming and their work towards building community connectedness and leadership skills around urban gardening. | |
Group: Chester School Pollinator Garden Team
Project: Chester School Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Broadview North
Ward: 14 |
This proposal from the Chester Eco Community will create a pollinator learning garden at Chester Elementary School, a Platinum EcoSchool. The school will create and maintain a year-round pollinator garden and promote the awareness and education of the role of pollinators and native species in our ecosystem, and provide enjoyment for students and the wider community. | |
Group: Church of the Resurrection
Project: Resurrection Garden |
Neighbourhood: Danforth East York
Ward: 19 |
The Church of the Resurrection will fill seven beds with native plants and shrubs to create habitat for bees, butterflies, and birds. The garden spaces will contain signage to educate the community about the need to support these creatures. | |
Group: CSPC – Transfiguration
Project: Transfiguration Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Willowride-Martingrove-Richview
Ward: 2 |
The parent council at Transfiguration of our Lord Catholic School will lead the creation of a pollinator teaching garden at the school. The goal is to provide pollinators with an additional resource in our neighbourhood by creating a pollinator garden and to educate the community. | |
Group: Danforth Gardens Neighbourhood Association
Project: Pollinator Corridor |
Neighbourhood: Clairlea-Birchmount
Ward: 20 |
This neighbourhood association is proposing a pollinator pathway that will create pollinator gardens at Danforth Gardens Public School, and transform several residential properties from lawns to pollinator habitat. The project will engage the community through garden tours and native plant sales to inspire others to transform their green spaces. | |
Group: David Hornell Junior School & Mimico Residents Association
Project: David Hornell Pollinator Gardens |
Neighbourhood: Humber Bay Shores
Ward: 3 |
This proposal from David Hornell Elementary School and Mimico Residents Association will create three pollinator garden areas within David Hornell’s established eco school grounds. This initiative will help to revitalize David Hornell’s outdoor classroom and provide students with important eco-learning opportunities. This project will also provide significant benefit to the surrounding Mimico and neighbouring communities. | |
Group: Evergreen
Project: Pollinator Revitalization Project |
Neighbourhood: Leaside-Bennington
Ward: 11 |
Evergreen Brick Works is located in the Don Valley ravine system and is a vital access point to nature for Torontonians. Evergreen works to promote and preserve native species and will transform the Tiffany Commons space into pollinator gardens. Evergreen welcomes nearly half a million visitors a year and with their contact through these gardens, visitors will be able to learn more about pollinator habitats. | |
Group: FJR Pollinator Group
Project: FJR Pollinator Project |
Neighbourhood: New Toronto
Ward: 3 |
Father John Redmond (FJR) Secondary School will create a pollinator garden that will provide benefits to the school, the Ken Cox Community Centre and the greater Lakeshore community. It would include the collaborative efforts of the biology department, Eco-club, and the parent council to build and maintain the garden. Wider school community including the Summer School courses and Ken Cox Community programs will also share in the regular care of the garden during summer months. The vision is that the pollinator garden would serve to invite the enjoyment of the school community and beyond, and at the same time, provide a necessary habitat for pollinators. | |
Group: Garrison Creek Park Community Garden (GCPCG)
Project: Garrison Creek Park Pollinator Gardens |
Neighbourhood: Wychwood
Ward: 12 |
This group plans to build a community pollinator garden in Garrison Creek Park. The garden will engage over 50 families in the area already involved in urban gardening, serving as an educational tool for the public with signage, plant labels and tours. This pollinator garden will complement the existing pollinator murals located in the area as well as the Green Line project connecting green spaces in the city. | |
Group: George Chuvalo Community Center (GCCC)
Project: GCCC Gardens |
Neighbourhood: Junction-Wallace Emerson
Ward: 9 |
The pollinator garden will be one of the first community projects for this new community centre. The goal is to establish sustainability as one of the community’s priorities through the collaborative experience of growing a pollinator garden. The key elements of the project will be a garden design inspired by the rainbow flag, and educational workshops on pollinators, seed saving and seed starting. | |
Group: Green Thumbs Growing Kids
Project: Flower Power |
Neighbourhood: North St. James Town
Ward: 13 |
Green Thumbs Growing Kids is a community group that have been growing plants with children, youth and families for 20 years. They are partnered with four schools in the Toronto District School Board to create and maintain pollinator gardens, used for experiential learning connected to curriculum objectives in the school year.
Watch how Green Thumbs Growing Kids |
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Group: Greenland & Community Butterflyway Pollinator Garden
Project: Pollinator Waystation |
Neighbourhood: Banbury-Don Mills
Ward: 16 |
Greenland Public School is a platinum level Eco school with a long tradition of creating learning spaces, beautifying school grounds and educating children and the community of the importance of eco initiatives. The pollinator garden will be used as a teaching tool, Monarch waystation and tour site for the larger community. | |
Group: Harbord Collegiate Institute & Palmerston Area Residents Association (PARA)
Project: Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Palmerston-Little Italy
Ward: 11 |
This proposal is a school-community collaboration between the Harbord Collegiate Eco team and the Palmerston Area Residents Association (PARA) Green Committee. The goal of this project is the creation of two permanent pollinator gardens within the south-facing front yard of Harbord Collegiate and along Harbord Street. As part of meeting this goal, the garden will educate and engage students, staff and community on the importance of pollinators, native plants, biodiversity and organic gardening. | |
Group: Hopewell Community Garden
Project: Hopewell Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Briar Hill-Belgravia
Ward: 8 |
This group plans to introduce a community pollinator garden to an underused area in Walter Saunders Memorial Park. The garden expands the capacity of Hopewell Community Garden, allowing for increased participation and alternative horticultural learning opportunities for participants. The goal is to become a local resource for the public, schools and community groups wanting to learn more about horticulture, pollinators and the importance they play in our urban ecosystem. | |
Group: Kapapamahchakwew Parent Council, (Wandering Spirit School Parent Council)
Project: Gitigaan |
Neighbourhood: Blake-Jones
Ward: 14 |
Wandering Spirit School Parent Council is a group of dedicated volunteers and staff who have strong ties to the Indigenous community in Toronto. The project will create a garden that will provide opportunities for the school community to share cultural knowledge about pollinators and Indigenous plants with the surrounding community. The goal is to inspire others to plant native plants, create their own pollinator garden, and share information. | |
Group: King George Junior Public School Parent Council
Project: King George Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Runnymede-Bloor West Village
Ward: 4 |
The King George Garden Committee is proposing a pollinator teaching garden at King George Junior Public School. The garden will space for students to engage in active learning about biodiversity, ecology, and stewardship. The garden will also be presented as a demonstration garden that encourages residents in the area to consider how their plant choices and gardening practices affect native pollinator species. | |
Group: Naadmaagit Ki (NKG) “Helpers of the Earth”
Project: Aamoog, Memengwaag miinwaa Nenookaasiwag (Bees, Butterflies & Hummingbirds) |
Neighbourhood: Little Portugal
Ward: 9 |
St. Anne’s Church invited NKG to care for the land adjacent to the church in 2013. With the help of committed volunteers, the space will be transformed into a shared community pollinator garden. NKG intends to offer culturally-rooted, indigenous educational opportunities for the community. | |
Group: Neighbours4Nectar
Project: Pollinator Pathway |
Neighbourhood: Woodbine-Lumsden
Ward: 19 |
Six households at the intersection of Westlake and Westbrook Avenues will form the Neighbours4Nectar project, planting demonstration pollinator gardens in front yards to create a pollinator pathway, and engaging local residents in learning why pollinator gardens are important and how to establish them successfully. Open planting days, garden tours and pollinator-themed kids’ activities will involve a wide range of neighbours in the project. | |
Group: Rain Gardens United (RGU)
Project: Greenwood Pollinator Rain Gardens |
Neighbourhood: South Riverdale
Ward: 14 |
The first phase of the Greenwood Pollinator Gardens includes three rain gardens on Alton Avenue and Sawden Avenue near Greenwood Park. The three rain gardens will capture and infiltrate at least 90% of annual rainfall from the roof downspouts. This will benefit the overall stormwater system in the neighbourhood, which is known to cause nuisance issues throughout Greenwood Park. As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of rainfall events, green infrastructure such as these rain gardens will help make the storm sewer system more resilient by retaining rainfall close to where raindrops hit the ground. | |
Group: Ravina Community Garden
Project: Ravina Community Garden Pollinator Project |
Neighbourhood: High Park North
Ward: 4 |
The Ravina Community Garden will transform an existing lawn bowling club space and create an experience for community members to directly engage with the plant and wildlife growing in the garden. The project proposes the creation of a stone wall for cavity nesting native pollinators. There will be educational opportunities for members of this intergenerational community garden to learn through hands-on experience of creating the garden. | |
Group: Regenesis
Pollinate UTSC (University of Toronto Scarborough Campus) |
Neighbourhood: Highland Creek
Ward: 25 |
The University of Toronto Scarborough Campus (UTSC) aims to create a pollinator-friendly campus. The project proposes the creation of four new pollinator gardens AND the enhancement of an existing butterfly garden. The project will use signage to raise awareness about native bees and outline the best practices to create a pollinator-friendly garden. Through the process of creating the gardens, students and staff will engage in awareness building activities (e.g. planting session, seed saving session, seed and plant sharing). | |
Group: Rouge Valley Foundation
Project: Bombus Native Garden Project |
Neighbourhood: Morningside Heights
Ward: 25 |
The Rouge Valley Foundation will be planting native flower species specifically selected for the native Bumblebees that are in dramatic decline, specifically American Bumble Bee and the Yellow Banded Bumble Bee. There will be four unused areas of the existing native garden area that will be planted with species designed to flower throughout the spring, summer and fall season. Each area will also be paired with a series of bumble bee nesting boxes that will be installed within the garden plots and monitored throughout the year to determine presence, abundance and species usage. | |
Group: Scarborough Arts
Project: Pollinator Art – Planting and Botanical Illustration Program |
Neighbourhood: Birchcliffe-Cliffside
Ward: 20 |
Scarborough Arts is a non-profit organization with over 40 years of service and is the only arts organization of its kind specifically serving residents from low-income, and newcomer populations in Scarborough. This project will engage participants (youth, adults) in arts and environmental education activities centred on pollinator-friendly plants, with the ultimate goal of planting a collaborative community pollinator garden at the Scarborough Arts’ home office. | |
Group: Scarborough Bluffs Community Association
Project: Bluffs Pollinator Garden |
Neighbourhood: Birchcliffe-Cliffside
Ward: 20 |
The Scarborough Bluffs Community Association is proposing a community pollinator garden in Sandown Park. The goal is to encourage children to visit the park with their families and learn about pollinators. The final result can be used as an educational tool for future school projects on pollinators, native plants and environmental issues. | |
Group: St. Wilfrid Catholic School
Project: ECO Rangers School Grounds Greening Project |
Neighbourhood: York University Heights (NIA)
Ward: 7 |
The ECO Rangers at St. Wilfrid Catholic School have kept the students, staff and community involved in issues that are related to saving our Earth. Students and staff will work together to create a pollinator teaching garden. These gardens will enhance student learning by providing a natural, pleasing, relaxing setting and sparking discussions about the new additional plants and animals that they attract. | |
Group: Sunshine Centres for Seniors
Project: Sunshine Pollinator Gardens: Seniors and Youth Bee-utify Our Community |
Neighbourhood: St Lawrence-East Bayfront-The Islands
Ward: 10 |
Sunshine Centres for Seniors was first established in 1970 with its flagship program, Camp Sunshine on Ward’s Island. The organization now comprises eight centres offering innovative and empowering programs for seniors and youth throughout Toronto. This project will create three pollinator gardens at the Parsonage building on Ward’s Island, providing opportunities for all who visit to learn about the importance of pollinators. The community will also be significantly involved in planting and maintaining the gardens. | |
Group: The Toronto Heschel School
Project: Project Nectar |
Neighbourhood: Clanton Park
Ward: 6 |
Project Nectar will be an educational pollinator garden at the Toronto Heschel School. The goal is to give students, teachers, and community members an opportunity to learn about the important role that pollinators play in supporting local and global ecosystems as well as to contribute to Toronto’s ongoing effort to expand pollinator habitats. As a Jewish school, it is incumbent to care for the Earth as part of the concept of ‘Tikkun Olam’ or repairing the world. Project Nectar will be open to all community members and we will actively engage our neighbours in its construction and care. Project Nectar will be a hands-on way for students to explore how they fit into the complex ecological processes of nature. | |
Group: Toronto Chinese Mennonite Church
Project: Toronto Chinese Mennonite Church Community Garden |
Neighbourhood: Danforth East York
Ward: 19 |
This project proposes the creation of a community pollinator garden at the Toronto Chinese Mennonite Church at Woodbine and Danforth. Many residents engage with the space including three congregations within the church (English, Mandarin, Cantonese), “Kei Lok Yuen” senior’s group, children’s Sunday school, and daycare. This pollinator garden will beautify the site, engage the various groups using the site, and raise community awareness about the needs of pollinators. | |
Group: Windermere United Church
Project: Windermere United Church and Friends’ Pollinator Project |
Neighbourhood: High Park-Swansea
Ward: 4 |
The project will create a pollinator garden at Windermere United Church. The project will engage children from the church school, community cooking class, the on-site daycare (Windermere Kids) and the Swansea School of Dance, as well as many other groups that use the church building during the week. |