Featured Places

Great Native Plant Information -- an interview with Annie White about her research on the attractiveness to bees of native plant cultivars versus straight species native plants.

Living Landscape--Its a bit long but a great talk by Doug Tallamy on garden relationships

Sustainable Gardening Practices -- ideas for creating a sustainable garden

Pollinator Habitat -- lots of ideas on this page for creating habitat for bees

Bee Id Posters -- by Heather Holm -- a Canadian

Native Plants

Planting For Beneficial Insects -- a project from MSU; a great site to learn about pollinators, also.

Audubon Plants for Wildlife -- this web page contains a useful section for plants that attract birds and a very useful page on plants for beneficial insects.

SERO -- Under the "Activities" section, you'll find links to areas in Ontario where restoration is being done along with information about conferences and educational programs. Be sure to go the the "Resources" tab. Sero has published a wonderful guide to resources for native plants.

Seeds of Diversity -- this web site contains a handy list of heritage seed sources, a catalogue inventory if you're looking for specific seeds and a section about their Pollination Canada program. A great group to know about -- Canadian

North American Native Plant Society -- this site contains sources for native plants and associations, information about how to do a plant rescue, a link to the NANPS seed exchange and to their publication, "The Blazing Star"

Ontario Wildflowers -- pictures and descriptions of many Ontario wildflowers -- a great resource

PlantNative -- a site for those wanting to make a natural landscape. It's American but contains information that can be adapted for Canadian needs. The site includes information about bioswales and green roofs.

Native Plant Source: Native Plants in Claremont. Good, healthy plants and good selection for Ontario gardens.

Pollinators

Solitary bees -- a UK video -- great solitary bee information

An Invertebrate Habitat -- this is one of the most inspiring ideas for those who want to create habitat for the insects in their gardens.

The Old Drone -- a wonderful blog about native pollinators and pollinator habitat ideas

Native Bees -- learn about the native bees in Ontario and how to encourage them to live in your garden.

Bee House -- build a house for native pollinators.

Pollination Canada -- a site by Seeds of Diversity -- chock full of pollinator information

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation -- don't miss a look at this site. There is a great page on Pollinator Conservation with a section for what you might do for pollinators in your home garden.

Bring Back Pollinators -- a special place on the Xerces Society site especially for pollinators

Farming with Pollinators -- a document by the Xerxes Society illustrating the value of native bees to farmers and their crops.

If the bees disappear, we'll all be stung -- an article by David Suzuki

Bumble Bees -- how to recognize them and all about them

Convention on Biological Diversity -- discussion on pollination

North American Pollinator Protection Campaign -- a tri-country organization for the preservation of pollinators

Xerces Society Resource Centre -- contains links to great bee guides.

Veggies in the City -- Backyard Gardening

A Drip System for Raised Beds -- a video about installing a drip or spray water system in a raised bed system.

A Productive Backyard -- a farm in the city.

Raised Beds -- information about constructing raised beds -- with some neat corners.

Raised Bed Inspiration -- photos and tips for those who are thinking of adding raised beds.

Raised Bed Garden Tips -- tips to use when planning your raised beds

Building a Raised Bed -- a video, guide to building a 4' by 4' bed.

Square Foot Gardening -- a look at the system and some products

City Farmer -- a great e-zine for urban veggie growers

Soil -- the builder of life

Earthworms at work -- a video of the work of worms over a month.

Fungi -- some new ideas about these soil helpers

Raised Bed Information -- a good page on soil depth of beds and also heights of some veggies.

Soil Calculator -- how to calculate how much soil you will need for a raised bed

Building Good Soil -- Mother Earth News gives 8 good tips on creating good soil

Mycorrhizal Fungi -- by the makers of Myke.

Soil Fungi -- a great spot by USDA on fungi in the soil

Water Conservation

Region of Peel Water Conservation -- this regional web site has a section about waterwise gardening along with notices of rebate programs and rain barrel sales

City of Brantford -- waterwise gardening awards

Conservation Authorities of Ontario -- provides links to all the conservation authorities across Ontario

Conservation Ontario -- contains a map of the conservation authorities in Ontario, a list of aquatic species at risk and information about watershed stewardship

10 Ways to be more water wise -- a publication from the Ministry of the Environment of Ontario

Clean water crisis-- a National Geographic site for water information. Find out about the water crisis on earth.

Riversides -- a really good water conservation site from Toronto

Rainwater Harvesting and Rain Barrels

How to Set Up a Rainbarrel-- this video from youtube is an HGTV presentation -- good visuals.

Texas Rainwater Harvesting Manual -- a must read for those seriously considering harvesting rainwater.

Multiple Rain Barrels -- information about hooking up several rain barrels.

Rainwater Calculation -- this site will calculate the number of gallons you can harvest if you know the square footage of your roof.

Multi-Barrel Collection System -- the gardener explains how he constructed his system in the video

Foundations & Programs

Suzuki Foundation -- lots and lots of "green" information including "Conserving Our Oceans" and "Building a Sustainable Economy." Of special interest may be the status of pesticide bans in Canada -- look in link #6 of "What you can do right now."

TD Friends of the Environment Foundation -- a funding source for things environmental

EcoENERGY -- a federal program that leads to grants for companies and home owners.

Blue Water Project -- a Royal Bank project which grants funds to projects that foster water stewardship.

Environment Canada Funding -- including information on the Community Action Programs for the Environment (CAPE)

Earth Day Canada Grants -- associated with Sobeys -- financial grants to support local environmental projects

Community Foundations -- a good list of potential funders for your project

Ecoaction -- Make Room for Wildlife

Audubon Backyard -- find out how to create a healthy backyard under such actions as removing exotic plant pests, conserving water or minimizing lawns

Ontario Nature -- formerly the Federation of Ontario Naturalists -- learn more about the organization and its works including current campaigns and petitions.

Canadian Wildlife Federation -- Wild About Gardening-- this site is full of information for gardeners including a plant search and events calendar.

Nationa Wildlife Federation -- an interesting page with tips for conserving, building and planting for wildlife

Canadian Wildlife Backyard Certification -- certify your backyard as a habitat for wildlife.

Ecosystem Gardening -- a blog spot of Carole Sevilla Brown with lots of ideas and links about gardening for wildlife

Hydro Land is useful -- an article about using electrict right of ways for wildlife.

Action Groups and Government

OMAFRA Handbook -- OMAFRA has updated its gardeners' handbook

Environment Canada

Ontario Ministry of Environment

ecoAction-- Federal government website on its plan to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution; site includes specific sections relating to energy conservation / energy efficiency, and identifies available grants and rebates.

Species at Risk in Ontario -- information about how species are assessed and links to those species at risk in Ontario

emPOWERme-- a site with lots of information about Ontario's electricity system.

Environmental Action -- an interesting site/blog about global warming, clean air, wilderness, oceans. Read it once in a while just to be on top of world environment issue.

ecoACTION -- the federal government's page about conserving and the environment.

Green Products

Green Shift -- for Non-toxic, Biodegradable, cups, plates, bowls, cutlery, bags,

Grass Roots -- environmental store -- source of produce bags

Gaia Green products for your garden. Although based in BC, many shops in Ontario do stock Gaia Green products.

Green Home -- this site is out of San Franciso. There are a great many products available including drinking glasses, cups, bath and cleaning products, bags, biological pest control and on and on. A good place to visit for idea.

Ecologo -- the group that sponsors the eco labelling. The site contains a database of sources for green products in North America. The group has an office in Ottawa.

Planet Friendly Gifts --- a site full of source ideas for gifting, sources for green products and even a green cleaning service out of Toronto.

Green People -- a list of sources for green products mostly from the United States.

Green Beaver Products -- a line if chemical free products in Ontario.

Climate Change

Stephen Schneider-- on how to reduce our carbon use. This YouTube interview gives answers to what governments should be doing. The clip is sponsored by "How to Boil a Frog" -- an interesting Canadian group. If you haven't seen their movie/documentary, do look for it.

Global Warming -- Al Gore tells us what we must do NOW

350.com -- a site directed at the general public for actions to reduce carbon

A Talk by Tim Flannery -- listen to Australian scientist, Tim Flannery talking about climate change

Here on Earth -- another climate change talk by Tim Flannery

James Hanson -- a NASA scientist speaks about climate change -- YouTubevideo

Environment Canada -- EC's page on climate change with links