Bee City

Colour a World of Pollinators

Calling all young artists 13 and under! Get ready to unleash your creativity and celebrate Pollinator Week with Bee City Kawartha Lakes. We're thrilled to invite you to participate in our exciting art contest!

How to Participate:

Kids 9 to 13: Show off your artistic skills by creating an original piece of artwork or invention inspired by the theme "A World of Pollinators". Alternatively, let your creativity soar and submit your bee boxes, bird houses and pollinator gardens!

Kids 8 and under: Choose your favourite colouring page found in person,on our Facebook page, or Here! Colour your world and bring your master-piece to life.

Create your own pollinator paradise - Page 1

Garden partnerships - Page 2

Pollinator Pathways - Page 3

Pollinating Insects and Animals - Page 4

Contest Details:

• Contest runs from May 6 until June23.

• Three prizes will be awarded, one to each of the following age groups: 9 to 13, 6 to 8, and 5 and under.

• Each winner will receive a prize kindly donated by Tradewind Toys & Gifts! Each prize is themed around pollinators and nature!

• All participants will be celebrated! Each artwork will be proudly featured as a cover photo on our Facebook page throughout the upcoming year.

Submit Your Entry:

• Once your art work is complete, snap a photo of it and send it to us through our online submission portal.

     OR,

• Hand your creation back in to the store you found it and we will enter your details provided. Don't miss the chance to show case your talent and win fantastic prizes!

Special Thanks:

A heartfelt shout-out to the amazing individuals who made this colourful journey possible!

• Our Pollinator Pals: To the buzzing bees, fluttering butterflies, and all the pollinator pals out there, thank you for inspiring us with your beauty and grace.

• Our Creative Crew: Big thanks to all the young artists who poured their hearts into creating stunning artwork. Your imagination knows no bounds!

• Kinetik Designs: A huge thank you to Haleigh for her incredible talent in creating the captivating colouring pages that sparked imagination and creativity in our young artists. Visit Kinetik Designs to discover more of her amazing work!

• Tradewind Toys & Gifts: Huge gratitude to Tradewind Toys & Gifts for their generous donations. Your support means the world to us and helps nurture a love for nature in our community.

A pollinator garden takes into account the needs of pollinators - bees, moths, beetles, butterflies and hummingbirds - by providing nectar and pollen. It is pesticide free and offers a variety of native species that bloom from spring through fall with flowers of different colours, shapes and sizes to suit all pollinators' tastes. Its habitat features can include a small water source, bee nesting sites and larval plants such as milkweed for Monarch Butterfly caterpillars. Your pollinator garden can begin as a container or span a full yard.

Anyone can participate: residents, schools, churches, businesses and farms. By planting pollinator-friendly plants, we are building a corridor across CKL. The database you are helping to create can be used to ascertain what our pollinator corridor looks like, what plant species are doing well here and what seasonal gaps are occurring so we can encourage planting of a wider variety of plants.

Help build our Pollinator Pathways and get on the map! Register your Bee City Kawartha Lakes Pollinator Pathway.

Pollinator Pathway Map

Learn from your local Central Ontario Beekeepers Association

Advice from a veteran beekeeper:

Plan to study beekeeping for at least a year before even thinking about getting your own bees.

1) Take a beekeeping course

• University of Guelph
• Dancing Bee

2) Join the Central Ontario Beekeepers Association discussion group

3) Subscribe to a magazine

• American Bee Journal
• Bee Culture

4) Team up and work with an experienced beekeeper

Youth Environmental Heroes honoured this week

The 2019 Youth Hero was awarded to the junior kindergarten and senior kindergarten classes of Dunsford District Elementary School for their involvement as leaders in the Bee School application and project launch. For the full story, please read the Kawarth411 article.

Bee friendly: City of Kawartha Lakes stands up for pollinators

The City of Kawartha Lakes has joined the ranks of Bee Cities in Canada. For more details, visit Global News Peterborough.

Decommissioned Fenelon Falls landfill repurposed for bee population

The City of Kawartha Lakes Environmental Advisory Committee (CKLEAC) is piloting a project to turn part of the decommissioned land at the Fenelon Falls landfill into a positive source of habitat and food for insects. For more details, read the news article in Kawartha411.

City celebrates its first year as a “Bee City”

The City of Kawartha Lakes is celebrating the one year anniversary this July of its designation as a Bee City. The City would like to recognize the hard work and effort that has been made by City residents, communities and organizations towards raising awareness about the importance of pollination. Read the full release under the City's news section.

Bobcaygeon's Jerry Jerrard is responsible for millions of lives

With roughly 500 hives spread out between several locations in the Kawartha Lakes, Jerrard enjoys sharing the ‘buzz’ on Earth’s sweetest pollinator. Please visit The Peterborough Examiner's website to read more.

Kawartha Settlers' Village designated as a Bee Business by Bee City Canada

Bobcaygeon's Kawartha Settlers' Village was designated as a Bee Business by Bee City Canada. Guests who visit Kawartha Settlers’ Village will now be able to learn about traditional beekeeping and enjoy garden areas that include wildflowers, shrubs and trees that are important to pollinators.

Fenelon Falls resident wants you to celebrate Bee City Pollinators

Susan Blayney, a 10 year resident of the Fenelon Falls area is proud to have led the Environmental Advisory Committee's Bee City initiative and is now the Chair of Fenelon Falls' very own Pollinator Action Committee.

Fenelon Falls landfill pollinator project

This project is a multi-year project which began in 2015 and was planted in 2017. It was proposed to Kawartha Lakes Waste Management by the Kawartha Lakes Environmental Advisory Committee and approved by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

1.5 acres of the final cover of a decommissioned cell at the landfill site has been sown with a pollinator-friendly seed mix to enhance habitat instead of the usual grass seed mix. There is a plan to have students from Fleming College monitor the site using the Ontario Pollinator Monitoring Protocol developed at the University of Guelph.

Fenelon Falls Landfill - site map photo

Fenelon Falls Landfill - before photo

Fenelon Falls Landfill - "in bloom" after photo

KRCA Windy Ridge pollinator patches

In 2019, collaboration between Bee City Kawartha Lakes, Kawartha Conservation and Pollinator Partnership Canada culminated in the planting of two new pollinator patches at the Windy Ridge Conservation Area. Students from nearby Scott Young Elementary School in Omemee were bussed in to plant 100 native flower species to enhance the habitat. Learning outside of the classroom is the best.

• Fenelon Falls Horticultural Society: Lock 34 Pollinator Garden, Fenelon Museum Victory Garden and (with the support of KRCA) Rain Garden
• Omemee Garden Club Pollinator Garden at the Fire Hall
• Bobcaygeon Wilderness Park Pollinator Garden
• Lindsay Community Gardens
• Lilac Gardens of Lindsay
• Fleming College's Frost Campus Butterfly Garden
• Fenelon Falls Lock 34, Pollinator Garden
• The Rosedale Pollinator Garden in the Trent-Severn Parkette
• Seeds of Kindness Fruit Trees, Orchard Park, Lindsay
• Lindsay Garden Club Bee Hotel, Mayor Flynn Park, Lindsay

Individual schools can become part of the Bee City family by making a pledge to protect pollinators and their habitats. Learn the 3 Simple Steps to becoming a Bee School.

We currently have 2 officially designated Bee Schools in Kawartha Lakes: Langton Public in Fenelon Falls and Dunsford District Elementary.

Congratulations to Langton Public School in Fenelon Falls on being designated the 14th Bee School in Canada.
This is the accomplishment of the school's Green Team and teacher Candice Milroy.

In their acceptance letter Bee City Canada states:
I am simply amazed by all that you have accomplished in such a short period of time. From composting at your school (not many schools I know of in Toronto compost), to getting involved with the local horticultural group, to growing organic food, building bee homes, to partnering with a local MP and getting the Blue Dot program into Fenelon Falls, to sharing the food you are growing with others in need, and a host of so many other initiatives that you have undertaken, I must applaud all of you!

Here’s what they say on the Bee City Canada website:

“On behalf of our Kindergarten team at Dunsford District Elementary School, we are elated to have been named the 25th Bee School in Canada.  Our students have been busy planting gardens, planning a school wide spirit day, and preparing for our off site trip to kick off pollinator week at a garden unveiling in our community. We look forward to the many opportunities ahead to promote the bees, their importance and provide the rest of our school community with the knowledge that our kindergartens have acquired along our journey to become a Bee School.”

Learn to identify Pollinators and support scientific research:

• Submit Bumble Bee sightings to www.bumblebeewatch.org
• Other bees and insects sightings can be submitted to www.inaturalist.org
• Participate in our local Butterfly Count on July 22. Contact dan.bone13@gmail.com

You can help pollinators by creating foraging and nesting opportunities in your garden. Here are some tips to attract bees and butterflies to your garden.

Plant native

Choose native shrubs, trees and perennial flowers rich in pollen and nectar. Locally grown and pesticide free are best. For native plants, visit Kawartha Conservation.

Mass plantings

Planting multiples of the same plant together in large groupings makes it easier for pollinators to find and collect pollen.

Choose single blooms

Double or triple bloom flowering varieties with lots of petals can block access to pollen and nectar.

Continuous bloom

Pollinators need a continuous source of pollen and nectar; so choose a variety of plants that will bloom from spring to fall.

Plant host plants

Butterflies lay their eggs on specific plants. Monarch butterflies, for example, will only lay their eggs on milkweed, the sole food source for their larva.

Provide water

A bird bath or shallow dish of water with half-submerged rocks will help bees and butterflies quench their thirst.

Provide sun

Butterflies like to bask in the sun, so place a few flat rocks in sunny, sheltered locations.

Keep it natural

Converting a lawn or garden to concrete, gravel, mulch or artificial turf reduces valuable food and nesting sites.

Bare ground

Many native bees build nests in soil, so leave some bare patches and limit your use of mulch.

Leave dead stems

Some bees hibernate and lay eggs in hollow stems. If you do cut, leave the bottom 8 inches or bundle the stems and place them in your garden.

Leave the leaves

Leave the leaves where they fall or rake them into your garden to provide overwintering habitat for butterflies.

Prune and deadhead

Remove dead flower heads to encourage new growth and extend the flowering season.

Reduce mowing

To avoid disturbing ground nesting bees, mow your lawn less often and set the blade at the highest level possible.

Avoid pesticides

Avoid plants/seeds treated with systemic insecticides, such as neonicotinoids. And don't spray pesticides. Pesticide Bylaw bans the cosmetic use of pesticides.

Turn off lights

Help our nocturnal pollinators such as moths by remembering to turn out your outdoor lights at night.

Native wildflowers and shrubs for pollinators and butterflies

Spring

• Shrubs

• Pussy Willow

• Saskatoon Serviceberry

• Chokecherry

• Blueberry

• Nannyberry

• Red Elderberry

• Black Elderberry

• Common Snowberry

• Downy Serviceberry

• New Jersey Tea

• Wild Flowers

• Hepatica

• Trillium

• Trout Lilly

• Canada Violet

• Yellow Wood Violet

• Wild Columbine

• Canada Wild Ginger

• Wild Blue Lupine

• Blanket Flower

• Wild Strawberry

• Prairie Smoke

• Bloodroot

Summer

• Shrubs

• Staghorn Sumac

• Elderberry

• Red Raspberry

• Blueberry

• Shrubby Cinquefoil

• Ninebark

• Northern Smooth Rose

• Buttonbush

• Fragrant Sumac

• Wild Flowers

• Common Yarrow

• Purple Cone Flower

• Black Cohosh

• Lavender Hyssop

• Pearly Everlasting

• Wild Columbine

• Canada Wild Ginger

• Wild Blue Lupine

• Wild Bergamot

• Common Milkweed

• Butterfly Milkweed

• Swamp Milkweed

• Great Blue Lobelia

• Blanket Flower

• Tansey

• Lance Leaved Coreopsis

• Black Eyed Susan

• Soapwort

• Bottlebrush Grass

• Indian Grass

• Canada Rye Grass

• Sweet Oxeye

• Ragged Blazing Star

• Grey Headed Coneflower

• Dense Blazing Star

• Cardinal Flower

• Hoary Vervain

• Bee balm

Fall

• Shrubs

• Witch Hazel

• Buttonbush

• Wild Flowers

• Common Yarrow

• Purple Cone Flower

• Black Cohosh

• Lavender Hyssop

• Pearly Everlasting

• Bergamot

• Helen's Flower/Sneezeweed

• Spotted Joe Pie Weed

• Boneset

• Great Blue Lobelia

• Blanket Flower

• Black Eyed Susan

• Cardinal Flower

• Turtlehead

• Ironweed

• Zig-Zag Goldenrod

• Upland White Goldenrod

• Stiff Leaved Goldenrod

• Foxglove Beardtongue

• New England Aster

• Flat Topped White Aster

• Smooth Aster

• Heath Aster

• Heart-Leaved Aster

• Smooth Aster

• Panicled Aster

Native plant and pollinator resources

Grow Wild!

Paul Heydon

3784 Highway 7

Omemee, ON, K0L 2W0

Phone: (416) 735-7490

Green Side Up

Douglas Kennedy

121 Grassy Rd.

Omemee, ON, K0L 2W0

Phone: (289) 892-2827

Ecology Park Plant Nursery

Ashburnham Drive

C/o Peterborough Green-Up

378 Aylmer St. N., Unit 4

Peterborough, ON, K9H 3V8

Phone: 1-888-745-3238
Phone: (705) 745-3238 extension 212Native Plants in Claremont
4965 Westney Road

Pickering (Claremont), ON, L1Y 1A2

Phone: 905-649-8176

Email: info@nativeplants.ca

Wildflower Farm

10195 Hwy 12 West,

R.R.#2 Coldwater, ON, L0K 1E0

Phone: 1-866-476-9453

Instructions for Growing Native Wildflowers from seed

Florabunda Seeds

Box 3; Indian River, ON, K0L 2B0

Phone: (705) 295-6440
Fax: (705) 295-4035

Rockwood Forest Nurseries

437 Mark Road

Cameron, ON, K0M 1G0

Phone: 1-888-833-0473

Other resources

North American Native Plant Society

Butterflies of Ontario

Butterflies and Moths of North America

Monarch Watch

Pollination Guelph

Pollinators, busy doing what?

How to Build a Butterfly Garden

• A Flower Patch for the Rusty-Patched Bumblee: Creating Habitat Gardens for Native Pollinators in the GTA

• Bee City Canada

• Peterborough Pollinators

• Pollination Guelph

• Pollinator Partnership

• Canadian Wildlife Federation

• Friends of the Earth

• Xerces Society

• Ontario Pollinator Health Action Plan

• North American Native Plant Society

• David Suzuki - Create pollinator friendly garden

• Beyond Pesticides