Here, you will find educational resources that are free to use! Our website is in construction, so stay tuned for more resources to help you discover pollinators, and how you can incorporate more native plants into your garden!
An important part of our work is to get more people thinking about the value of Ontario’s native pollinators to the functioning of our ecosystem. While pollinating flowers may seem distantly removed from the everyday life of most humans, the work of pollinators impacts some really essential global processes! Around 96% of all plants on Earth are flowering plants and approximately 87% of all flowering plants require animal pollination in order to make the fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds to reproduce.
Who are our Native Pollinators?
Numerous different kinds of animals can pollinate, such as ants, beetles, wasps, flies, hummingbirds, and even slugs! However, the best pollinators are the bees and the butterflies…
Bees
Think you know bees? There are around 400 species of bees native to Ontario, and honey bees aren’t one of them! The best feature to identify a bee is the hair – bees have feathery hairs all over their body that help them collect pollen. Check out the diversity of our wild bees in the resources below:
Butterflies are showy insects that are best known for their beautiful wings, which are actually covered in tiny, microscopic scales! The easiest way to identify a butterfly from a moth is by looking at their antennae – if you see a feather-like shape, then you’ve actually found a moth! Check out more cool facts below:
A Flower Patch for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators in the Greater Toronto Area
By: Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla
“By creating habitat, you are helping native bees and supporting the biodiversity upon which all life depends.
Saving the bees resonates deeply with Canadians. Yet as revealed in a 2017 national poll by Friends of the Earth, Canadians are largely unaware of the importance of native bees and are instead focused on honeybees…”
Discover
Welcome to our DISCOVER page!
Here, you will find educational resources that are free to use! Our website is in construction, so stay tuned for more resources to help you discover pollinators, and how you can incorporate more native plants into your garden!
An important part of our work is to get more people thinking about the value of Ontario’s native pollinators to the functioning of our ecosystem. While pollinating flowers may seem distantly removed from the everyday life of most humans, the work of pollinators impacts some really essential global processes! Around 96% of all plants on Earth are flowering plants and approximately 87% of all flowering plants require animal pollination in order to make the fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds to reproduce.
Who are our Native Pollinators?
Numerous different kinds of animals can pollinate, such as ants, beetles, wasps, flies, hummingbirds, and even slugs! However, the best pollinators are the bees and the butterflies…
Bees
Think you know bees? There are around 400 species of bees native to Ontario, and honey bees aren’t one of them! The best feature to identify a bee is the hair – bees have feathery hairs all over their body that help them collect pollen. Check out the diversity of our wild bees in the resources below:
For a full list of bee diversity, check out Dr. Packer’s Bee Galleries!
Butterflies
Butterflies are showy insects that are best known for their beautiful wings, which are actually covered in tiny, microscopic scales! The easiest way to identify a butterfly from a moth is by looking at their antennae – if you see a feather-like shape, then you’ve actually found a moth! Check out more cool facts below:
Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory
Gardening for Pollinators
A Flower Patch for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators in the Greater Toronto Area
By: Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla
“By creating habitat, you are helping native bees and supporting the biodiversity upon which all life depends.
Saving the bees resonates deeply with Canadians. Yet as revealed in a 2017 national poll by Friends of the Earth, Canadians are largely unaware of the importance of native bees and are instead focused on honeybees…”