Allbirch Pollinator Garden

treenuts.ca Promoting the growing of tree nuts in Canada, and their use.	Email acorn@treenuts.ca
Proudly sponsoring this Allbirch Pollinator Garden project website

Controlled Pollinator Gardening in Canada

Why is controlled pollinator gardening necessary for our everyday health and wellbeing?

Two reasons: Food Security and Zoonoses.

Re Food Security, as ecological farming, of necessity, moves into our 100 mile circle, many more pollinators will be needed. Already, some 30% (and climbing) of our essential food supply requires animal pollinators. Pollinator gardening supplies pollinators the critical additional nutrition, not available from pollinating the farm crops, that both wild and domesticated pollinators already need in order to overcome their current collapse and to again flourish.

Re: Zoonoses. Zoonotic diseases (serious human diseases, such a black death, influenza, lyme disease, and more, harboured by our symbiotic inquilines) number amongst the 50 or so emerging or re-emerging diseases with demonstrated epidemic potential. Research now shows that decreasing biodiversity, even highly local, causes zoonotic disease rates to skyrocket. As urban farming burgeons, reducing biodiversity, homestead pollinator gardening counterbalances with its quantum jump in biodiversity, helping keep both our food security, and our health and wellbeing, strong.

What is a 'controlled pollinator garden'?
Definition: A controlled pollinator garden is a self-organizing community of plants and animals, dominated by pollinators, populated by native and naturalized plants, and controlled for invasive species and noxious weeds.

Who is promoting pollinator gardening to Canadians?
Amongst others, the newly forming Pollinator Gardeners of Canada (PGC) is an association of interested individuals and groups who promote and educate on the principles and best practices of pollinator gardening across Canada.
As well, Canadian homesteaders are stepping forward to show their support for pollinator gardens. In fact many, many of these forward-looking folks are already growing their own homestead pollinator gardens!

What elements can an advanced urban pollinator garden contain? An urban pollinator garden should be constructed in 'three dimensions', including (from top to bottom):

the overarching trees of the urban agroforest above;
the edible landscape of smaller fruit and nut trees and shrubs in the mid-height; and
the meadow on the ground.

Each level provides food and shelter for its own pollinator species. Together they provide for all.

Why grow your pollinator garden instead of your mown lawn?
Your homestead pollinator garden can both help reverse the collapse of North America's pollinator populations and increase your local biodiversity, thus directly improving your family's overall health and wellbeing. Our Allbirch Controlled Pollinator Garden is already at work, the first full 'three dimensional' pollinator garden in Canada. You should be starting your own pollinator garden at your homestead, right now!

Proudly hosted by the Canada Nutculture Association, Ottawa, Canada: "Progress through Research & Development". This page last updated on Monday, July 27, 2009