Cardiff Naturescaping

06/05/2026

06/03/2026

My friends & neighbours Julia and Tudor have started an amazing initiative called Great Lakes Cleaners, logging waste clean ups from our waterways. So far, we have hauled 401kg of plastics and other debris from local waterways that lead to great lakes and have even cleaned up along the shores of once pristine Point Pelee.

If you are able to bring a bag while you're hiking or Canoeing anywhere with water and pick up a few (or many) pieces of garb. Even stormwater retention ponds like the one by our west end community center are important habitat for our endangered species. You can share pictures of what you clean up, flora and fauna you see along the way, and any weird finds (so far, 2 shopping carts, an entire bike rack, chairs, countless fishing lures...) It's a fun and rewarding way to build community and give back to the nature that sustains us.

Visit the website and sign up to hear about local clean-up initiatives, or log your own!

https://greatlakecleaners.ca/submit-cleanup/

05/31/2026

This black capped chickadee just landed on my Nannyberry viburnum, ate a caterpillar off of it, landed on the waterfall and had a cute little bath. Didn't even seem to mind dhat I was a foot away

05/26/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DQp1BzegG/

Do you have a lingering Ash?

Still Standing

As EAB Awareness Week comes to an end, we’re highlighting a hopeful part of the story: lingering ash.

While all ash species have been severely impacted by EAB, black ash has experienced widespread declines across many landscapes. But in some areas where EAB has caused significant ash mortality, certain mature black ash trees remain alive and relatively healthy.

These trees are known as lingering ash.

According to Knight et al. (2014), lingering ash describes a healthy ash tree greater than 10 cm DBH, found in an area known to have been infested with EAB for several years and where more than 95% of ash trees have already died. These trees may still be infested with EAB, but appear to be declining more slowly.

But there’s hope.

Efforts like the FGCA’s Black Ash Recovery Program and ISC’s Black Ash Community Action Network (BACAN) provide opportunities for volunteers to be part of that hope by scouting for healthy black ash, documenting observations through iNaturalist, and helping identify potential seed-producing trees.

Seed collection is also a key part of this work. Seeds from healthy or surviving black ash can support genomics research, help preserve genetic diversity, and contribute to long-term seed storage for future restoration and recovery.

Ways you can help:

Join BACAN
Scout for healthy black ash
Submit observations through iNaturalist
Report lingering black ash through the FGCA website
Support seed collection and conservation efforts

Every observation matters. A single healthy tree could help inform the future of black ash recovery.

Because sometimes, hope begins with what is still standing.
https://fgca.net/species-conservation/trees-in-trouble/black-ash-conservation/
https://www.invasivespeciescentre.ca/black-ash-community-action-network/

05/22/2026

Garden bartering is the best thanks Amy Ellard-Gray
If you don't follow Amy on IG at the Hobby homestead, you need to!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18b7UV75jF/

05/07/2026

I wanted to share the progression of my little native future "woodland" habitat.

How it started: removed all of the invasives that were there. Pictured in the before Pic above.

Now there are at least 30 species of native plant growing in difficult conditions under a norway maple ( where supposedly nothing will grow) aside from the plants pictured above there are also 1 small Hackberry and Tamarack trees planted as successors to the Norway maple and the dying honey locust cultivar beside.

3 bladdernut shrubs, purple flowering raspberry, ostrich ferns, mayapples, Jack in the pulpit, wild ginger, running strawberry bush, wild phlox, Zigzag goldenrod, 3 species of native buttercup, prairie sundrops, jack in the pulpit, woodland strawberry, barren strawberry, large flowered bellwort, tall meadow rue, black elderberry and red osier dogwood (in large pots), wild geranium and more!

These native species support countless specialist insects that count on them to survive. And the birds that need the insects and so on. Every small space can make a big impact!

05/01/2026

Park stewardship diary:

When you walk by and think it's too much for one person, if you're able and in the right headspace see if you can challenge yourself. This is my gym membership and my meditation. When I go for walks in my neighbourhood park I bring some type of tool and try to do a small act of forest stewardship.

Yesterday I brought my "swoe" long handled (sythe/hoe) and my goal was to chop off the garlic mustard before it seeds. I hand picked the little garlic mustard seedlings around the trout lily (takes some experience to know what the cotyledons and first leaf of garlic mustard looks like, so make sure you're careful to not remove something beneficial).

It feels good to know that I did something small that helped a patch of important Indigenous wildflowers to survive. This in turn helps the insects that need them to survive, and the birds that need those insects and so on. These web of connections is how I connect to the nature that connects us.

04/24/2026

The tree in your yard isn't just shade. It's the base of a food chain.

Nesting chickadees need a remarkable number of caterpillars to raise one clutch — far more than most people would guess. Native trees host those caterpillars. Most non-native ornamentals host very few. The difference between what you plant determines what can nest nearby.

🌿 Native trees ranked by how many caterpillar species they support:

- Oak — more caterpillar species than any other tree genus in North America. One mature oak supports more insect life than entire yards of non-native ornamentals

- Black cherry — the native cherry most people treat as a w**d tree. Its caterpillar load feeds more birds than most ornamental cherries planted in its place

- Willow — fast-growing, water-loving, and among the highest caterpillar hosts on the continent. Native willows outperform the common weeping willow hybrids by a wide margin

- Birch — white, river, and paper birch all rank in the top tier. The caterpillars feeding on birch foliage are primary food for warblers and chickadees during nesting season

- Poplar and cottonwood — the messy tree people complain about is one of the more important wildlife trees in the country. The cotton is a minor inconvenience. The ecological output is hard to replace

- Native maple — red maple and sugar maple, not the imported Norway maple that lines many suburban streets. Norway maple supports far fewer caterpillar species than its native counterparts

- Elm — American elm was the dominant street tree for good reason. Disease-resistant cultivars are returning and bringing the caterpillar community with them

- Hickory — slow-growing and long-lived. The nuts feed mammals. The foliage feeds caterpillars. The caterpillars feed birds. A complete food web in one tree

- Native pine — the evergreen people assume supports nothing because it doesn't flower. Pine-specialist caterpillars are important food for birds in winter and early spring when deciduous trees are bare

The tree you choose determines what can eat, nest, and raise young within reach of it 🌿

04/22/2026

Happy Earth day!

Please share what you're doing to celebrate!