Audio Excerpt

Take a good look around, see any beautiful butterflies fluttering nearby? I hope so, because the garden you see here was planted specifically for butterflies!​

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This butterfly garden was planted by the Orillia Environmental Advisory Committee to demonstrate how native plant species can be planted in urban environments to enhance biodiversity and provide habitat for pollinators like the Monarch Butterfly.

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If you look at the sign, you can see all the different types of flowers that were planted to attract butterflies and other pollinating insects like bees.

Pollinators play a critical role in supporting and maintaining terrestrial productivity, including 80% of global food crop species. In recent years, scientists have grown concerned over pollinator decline, which is a significant threat to the integrity of biodiversity, global food webs and human health.

Bees for example, are the worlds best pollinators and have been in sharp decline. The main reasons for the global bees decline are industrial agriculture, parasites, pathogens and climate change.

 

The loss of biodiversity, destruction of habitat and lack of forage due to monocultures and bee-killing pesticides are particular threats for honeybees and wild pollinators. So if you see a bee buzzing around you, please don't kill it! They won't sting you unless provoked, and the earth needs them, like I need ice cream cake!

​

Take a good look around, see any beautiful butterflies fluttering nearby? I hope so, because the garden you see here was planted specifically for butterflies!​

​

This butterfly garden was planted by the Orillia Environmental Advisory Committee to demonstrate how native plant species can be planted in urban environments to enhance biodiversity and provide habitat for pollinators like the Monarch Butterfly.

​

If you look at the sign, you can see all the different types of flowers that were planted to attract butterflies and other pollinating insects like bees.

Pollinators play a critical role in supporting and maintaining terrestrial productivity, including 80% of global food crop species. In recent years, scientists have grown concerned over pollinator decline, which is a significant threat to the integrity of biodiversity, global food webs and human health.

​

Bees for example, are the worlds best pollinators and have been in sharp decline. The main reasons for the global bees decline are industrial agriculture, parasites, pathogens and climate change. The loss of biodiversity, destruction of habitat and lack of forage due to monocultures and bee-killing pesticides are particular threats for honeybees and wild pollinators. So if you see a bee buzzing around you, please don't kill it! They won't sting you unless provoked, and the earth needs them, like I need ice cream cake!