Fall gardening event to enhance Waterloo meadow to help next spring's pollinators

Fall may not be when people are thinking about pollinators, but a local group is holding gardening events over the next few weekends to help pollinators thrive next spring.

The Pollinator Working Group's first event of four was at Waterloo's Bechtel Park on Sept. 14. They worked to add wildflowers to an existing meadow.

"Our spaces aren't always populated with the variety of plants that could be useful for all the pollinators we have," explained Michelle Stevens, chair organizer of the group. 

There's lots of goldenrod currently in the area, but Stevens says that's not always the most beneficial plant for the pollinators. 

"Nectar is what attracts the different bugs to the flowers but the pollen is what will stick to their bodies and be transferred around to pollinate the rest of the flowers," she said. 

"It's a symbiotic relationship in that the pollinators get fed, but the plants also get disseminated around and pollinated."

Bees, wasps, moths, butterflies and even hummingbirds are classified as different types of pollinators. 

That's why nine-year-old Maggie MacLaren said it was important for her to be there.

"I like planting things for butterflies so they can get nectar and pollinate," she said. 

MacLaren was even donning a pair of butterfly earrings to the event. 

"They're real monarch wings," she explained.

For some of the other participants, trying to make a visible impact was what brought them out to the plant. 

Amelia Upper, an environmental studies student at the University of Waterloo, said in school, they learn a lot about the systems at work and why climate change is unfolding the way it is.

"Climate resilience is a really good way to deal with the scary things in the world, in a way that's tangible and meaningful," Upper said.