Pollinator park generates a buzz in downtown Toronto
When cities grow, our greenspaces shrink. Luckily, projects are popping up to help combat the impact this has on not only humans, but wildlife too.
The Toronto Downtown West Business Improvement Area, Fairmont Royal York, and Pollinator Partnership have all teamed up to create a 'buzz-worthy' park in the heart of downtown Toronto.
"Pollinators are suffering from habitat loss," says Adele Grenouilleau of Pollinator Partnership Canada. "That's why it's so important to create like this, little habitat patches across the city, to create these corridors where pollinators can find food and a place to nest."
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Across the street from this new mini pollinator park is the iconic Fairmont Royal York, which is the first hotel in the world to introduce beehives to their rooftop garden.
"The bees make their home there, but those bees actually do frequent a lot of the green spaces around Toronto, so they have the benefit of frequenting the herbs and the produce and the fruit that you see up here; but in addition, you'll actually see these bees that frequent our rooftop travelling through the city, so they might even make their way over to the Toronto Islands," comments Georgy Pyle, Sustainability Manager at the Fairmont Royal York. "They'll probably come and visit our Green Triangle Parkette once that's growing and lush and thriving, and then they'll make their way back up here to have their home, their final home, at the Royal York."
Beehives housing bees on the roof of the Fairmont Royal York. (Michael Vann/TWN)
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Want to help out Toronto's pollinators at home? You don't have to install beehives to help!
One solution is to create a habitat with native plants in it.
To help with this, Pollinator Partnership Canada has created a web page called Find Your Roots, which allows users to access a database of native plants found in their area. And it's not limited to only Toronto—users from across Canada can use this unique tool to help plan their pollinator-friendly gardens.
Copyedited by and contains files from Anika Beaudry, a digital journalist at The Weather Network.