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Oakvillegreen sets up new pollinator garden with Town by Julia Le Oakville Beaver Staff 37 | Thursday, October 15, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Honey bees, monarch butterflies and hummingbirds are among the pollinators an Oakville garden has been designed to attract. Oakvillegreen Conservation Association, in partnership with the Town of Oakville, officially unveiled its first pollinator demonstration garden outside of Glen Abbey Community Centre Sept. 30 in hopes of inspiring others to follow its lead. The garden features native shrubs like New Jersey tea, nannyberry, alternate-leaf dogwood and black chokeberry and wildflowers blackeyed susan, big leaf blue aster, wild bergamot, wild columbine, butterfly milkweed and lanceleaf coreopsis. It's meant to show the important role everyone can play in the survival of pollinators, especially native bees and butterflies, said Oakvillegreen Conservation Association executive director Giuliana Casimirri. "We want people to see that it's possible for everybody to do," she said. A garden can be beautiful, low maintenance and have "a broader environmental value." An educational and instructional sign has been incorporated into the garden to share how others can create similar places for pollinators to thrive in their very own backyard. It shares how one-third of our food depends on pollinators -- animals that transfer pollen between plants, allowing fertilization, which is essential for food and seed production. "Pollinator populations are declining globally due to habitat loss, pesticide use and urban development," the sign reads. "Monarch butterflies have declined by 90 per cent in the last 20 years. Planting native shrubs and wildflowers is one of the most importune actions we can take to help threatened pollinators and our environment." Casimirri said the project has really brought the community together to work towards a common goal. Oakvillegreen is grateful for the support of the Town of Oakville in providing space at the community centre, funding from the Ontario THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR BETTER HEARING Book your FREE Hearing Test! Giuliana Casimirri, executive director of Oakvillegreen works in Oakville's first pollinator demonstration garden in front of Glen Abbey Community Centre. The garden was created in partnership between the association and the Town of Oakville. | photo by Michael Ivanin ­ special to the Beaver Trillium Foundation and Whole Foods Market and the time and effort volunteers put in to helping install and maintain the garden, she said. In addition to the installation of the pollinator garden, Oakvillegreen has been undertaking a number of other initiatives to help the pollinators in Oakville. During the spring, the environmental residents' group assembled and sold pollinator garden kits that were an ecologist-approved collection of native and shrubs and helped a number of schools and churches incorporate native shrubs and plants in their gardens that attract pollinators. Oakvillegreen staff also delivered workshops on gardening with native plants, creating native bee boxes and making native seed bombs. For more information, visit oakvillegreen.org. We believe everyone over the age of 60 should get a FREE baseline hearing test. You can join us by simply booking YOUR test today and encouraging your friends to join you. It only takes 60 minutes and there are more than 175 participating locations across Canada! In addition, we're donating $2.00 for every test we perform in order to provide hearing aids for those who can't afford them. Our goal is to raise over $100,000 for hearing aids this year ­ So book your test, bring your friends, and together, we can make a difference! VISIT CampaignForBetterHearing.org/NSP OR CALL Lunch: 11:30 am - 3:00 pm Buffet Hour All You Can Eat Monday - Friday ................................................ $11.95 Saturday - Sunday ............................................. $13.95 Audiology Associates of Oakville 331 Sheddon Avenue Call Ruth at 1-888-589-9968 For All... Dine in, Buffet Pick up, Delivery, Party Tray Offer ends: Sept 20, 2015 Dinner: 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm Monday - Thursday ............................................ $16.95 Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Holidays ............... $18.95 905-338-1010 649 Fourth Line, Oakville (at Speers) LUC13 NSP-CFBH-OAKB NOW OPEN!