welcome

The wild Bee reels from bough to bough
With his furry coat and his gauzy wing,
Now in a lily cup, and now
Setting a jacinth bell a-swing,
In his wandering.

— Oscar Wilde

Spring is not visibly apparent as I write this, but its feeling is in the air. Despite the lingering mountains of snow, the air is filled with the sweet music of cardinals singing out for mates. Geese fly by overhead bringing hope of the warmth to come. After a very challenging winter these are welcome signs indeed.

One of the sure signs of spring is the return of pollinators — bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds among others. Though they often go unappreciated, these little creatures are worth their weight in gold. The work of pollinators benefits all of us every day, whether it is the fruit we have at breakfast or the cotton pajamas we put on before we go to bed, or the many other benefits in between. Canada’s diverse pollinators are forever busy making sure we have the produce we need to survive. And yet many of these valuable creatures are under threat. So this season we touch on this important topic.

Our feature creature introduces you to hover flies — bee mimics that can be found searching out nectar at flowers and providing pollination in the process. The spring feature garden demonstrates how you can create a gorgeous garden that also provides valuable habitat for pollinators. If you don’t have a lot of space to work with, you should check out our guest column on container gardening (coming soon). Just a few well-thought-out containers can help provide nectar and pollen for some of our valuable pollinators. Our feature plant — bloodroot — is not only a springtime beauty, but provides pollen early in the year when food sources are hard to come by.

If you would like to learn more about Canada’s great diversity of bees you can request a copy of our new Wild About Bees poster. E-mail your request with your full mailing address to info@cwf-fcf.org.

Enjoy.

credits

Most of the photographs were kindly provided by Arlene and John Neilson and Jim Robertson.

Thank you to Gaston Tessier and Paul McLellan for their generosity in contributing to and reviewing the material for this Web site.

Thank you to Sarah Coulber, Sharon White, Louise Hanlon, and Terri-Lee Reid of the Canadian Wildlife Federation for their many contributions to the site.

Thank you to Terry Wiskin of Intoinfo Inc. for the initial design and layout for this Web site.

Thank you to Lynn Villeneuve of the Canadian Wildlife Federation for the design and layout of all new and updated material.

The Plant Encyclopedia photographs were provided by Jim Robertson and Arlene and John Neilson.

Thank you to Terry Wiskin of Intoinfo Inc. for the design and layout for this website.

The material for this website was compiled, researched, and/or written by Maria MacRae, Backyard Habitat Programs Coordinator, who you can contact at mariamac@wildaboutgardening.org