Rhubarb and monarchs: an unlikely duo
Monarch butterfly on aster (Photo by June Swift)
June is my favourite month. That time of year when you’re on the cusp of hot summer weather, daydreaming of how you’ll spend the dog days of summer in some sort of lake or having a picnic in the shade. For gardeners like myself,...
Monarch migration reflections
One of the millions of monarchs I saw in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán, Mexico (Photo by Alberto Becerra)
I am an immigrant to this country, as are most people across this diverse continent with such a complex history. In fact, all who are not indigenous to this land are immigrants. When I was just a toddler, my family and I immigrated to Canada from...
The flight of the monarch inspires an international relay run
Monarch (Photo by NCC)
This is the story of the Monarch Ultra: an international relay run involving 46 ultra runners who ran along the monarch’s migratory route from Peterborough, Ontario, to Macheros, Mexico, this past fall. I yearned to understand the...
Don’t trust lady’s-slippers (if you’re a bee)
This honeybee was tricked into pollinating this yellow lady’s-slipper. (Photo by Steven Anderson/NCC staff)
Before I began working at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), I spent six years studying the pollination of two species of lady’s-slipper orchids in Manitoba and the northern U.S. While I no longer spend all of my time thinking about...
The birds and the beans
October 1 marks International Coffee Day (Photo from Creative Commons)
October 1 marks International Coffee Day, a day that celebrates and recognizes the millions of people across the globe who work hard to create and serve the warm, blissful beverage that we all know and love — especially in the morning. From...
Hummingbirds: The forgotten pollinator when it comes to pesticides
Female rufous hummingbird (Photo by Jennifer Kepler CC BY-NC)
When life is leaping forth in its freshest tender green and shrubs are casting their best wine-rich blooms of colour, there comes a humming. Not just from the song of spring rising in the world, but from wing beats — 52 to 62 per...
Making friends with the solitary bees
Blue orchard bee (Photo by Robert Engelhardt)
When you think of bees, your mind probably goes to honey, hives and stingers. But what if I told you that there was a species of bee, native to the Saskatchewan prairies, that didn’t make honey, live in a hive or (usually) sting? Mason bees...
Monarch migration
Monarch (Photo by NCC)
Fall is fast approaching. As the days grow shorter and temperatures drop, it’s time for monarchs to migrate south for the winter. These iconic bright-orange butterflies will soon be replaced by pumpkins and turning leaves. Monarchs spend...
Bring on the alternative lawns!
A cottontail among a red clover and black medic clover patch (Photo by Mike Dembeck)
Weeds: What are they? Unwanted, non-traditional turf? But what if there was something more to all those pesky patches of plants? For some, there’s nothing more satisfying than a healthy lawn full of lush, green grass. For others, like...
Meadows for Monarchs
Meadows for Monarchs event participants (Photo by NCC)
If you thought you saw more monarchs flitting about last summer and fall, you were right. Monarch Watch reported that 2018 was a good year for the iconic orange and black butterfly, thanks to a combination of aggressive conservation efforts in...
