My wife came across a Facebook group called the Friends Of Taylor Creek.  I looked them up and they were having a guided hike in the Taylor Creek Ravine in the east end of Toronto in the former borough of Scarborough. It is an urban ravine that connects to Massey Creek, that goes through a small ravine/parkette at the end of our street.  We drove the couple kilometers to the meet up and tagged along on the informative hike and learned about the history and flora and fauna of the area.  Turns out it was part of a big dairy farm and dairy so most of the current forest would have grown since then as the original forest would have been cut down.  In addition to native species there are a number of non-native and invasive species.  There are efforts currently to plant more natives and eliminate invasives like the Norway Maple.  Ironically, a group of environmentalists inadvertently planted a bunch of cultivated cranberry bushes that had been mislabeled native by a local nursery that are not consumed by local birds and bees. Despite minor setbacks there have been a number of new native plantings organized by a variety of groups.

The end of the hike was organized to coincide with a City of Toronto community native tree planting.  We joined in and did our little part to help the environment and build biodiversity.

City of Toronto Staff ran a short demo on planting and had plenty of shovels, soil, gloves and plants for everyone. Lots of families, individuals and groups showed up to help pitch in.

We chose a Rosa Carolina to plant in a wet area.  After digging the hole and putting the plant in we covered it in a cardboard shield to help keep water in the soil and keep weeds down until it got established.

We added additional wood chip mulch to again maintain ground moisture and reduce weed and grass competition until the plant is established.

And now, bring on the big trees…!

 

After we heard and saw that Justin Trudeau had visited and canoed at Rouge Valley Park earlier this summer we thought we should go a see what it was all about. Apparently, it’s Canada’s First Urban National Park!  We live in the east end of Toronto so it seemed quite convenient although we did not know much about it.  We loaded up the canoe, our gear and some food and made the 25 minute car trip to the mouth of the Rouge River.  If you don’t drive you can also get there by local transit or the Go Train.

We arrived early so we snagged a parking spot in the lower lot close to the put in which was really convenient. Space is limited but there are overflow lots about half a click (0.5 km) up the hill or on the east side of the river.  Transit stop is at the top of the hill by the overflow lot and the Go Train Station is 0.5 km further.  The park can also be accessed on bike trails including one that runs along the lake shore.

We launched just a few meters from our car and headed up river to see what we could see. And here is some of what we saw!

 

Shore lunch

After a nice shore lunch we headed back downstream to check out the mouth of the river, lake and beach.

We found a great beach so we set up for some snacks, rock throwing and swimming.  We were amazed at the wildlife, river habitat and awesome beach that was much less busy than the city beaches we had visited.  We highly recommend a trip out to the Rouge for hiking, biking, canoeing or just hangin’ out at the beach.  We even did our part and carried out some trash on the way out.

And the best part was that the take out was right beside our car!

Happy Urban Camping everyone!

The spring blooms have faded but the summer flowers have emerged in dramatic fashion to replace them.  Although this is a mostly a native plant garden I was conscious that it existed in a city neighbourhood where the majority of properties had monoculture lawns.  I tried to strike a balance between a completely wild front yard and a cultivated garden by group planting the natives.  In this way I created beds, albeit casual, to give some semblance of a “garden” and swaths of impactful colour that would be aesthetically pleasing to the urban eye.  As noted earlier, I added the brick path and bird bath to reinforce the “garden” feel which had the added benefit of being able to access the garden and provide water for birds and insects.  Although I have received some overt negative feedback I have been pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming appreciation for the garden.  It does not hurt when the neighbours can forage for wild strawberries and blueberries and the kids have fun running around the brick path. I believe that I will not be fined or have the plants removed for having noxious weeds in my front lawn; I hope or society is past that.  I like to think the front yard is a little Noah’s Ark in the middle of monoculture madness.

Here’s the pics with labels to the best of my recollection.  If you can identify any I did not label, please add in the comments section with the corresponding number so I can label it.

If you are looking to start a native plant garden I would start with small plantings in patches and slowly add to it each year; unlike me who did it all in one shot and had to endure 2 -3 years of a pretty sparse garden.  It is more manageable and less of a shock to the neighbours.  Despite the desolate looking early spring and late fall I have found the blooming garden very pleasing and have enjoyed seeing a multitude of birds, bees, bugs and wildlife foraging, nesting or passing through.