It was a very hot day in June when a class of excited primary students were finally able to plant their seedlings (lovingly started in the winter! and cared for for many many months) into the ground at the Rosewood Pollinator Garden.
They planted sunflowers, swamp milk weed, Anise hysop, and butterfly milkweed. The students had sprouted these in the winter/spring this year. Thank you to our dedicated volunteers for your help!
September 2025 – August 2026
The Rosewood Pollinator Garden Group in partnership with Alexmuir Junior Public School and the Scarborough Rosewood Community Association have created a printable PDF calendar featuring artwork by the young primary students who were involved with the pollinator gardens this school year.
Excerpt from the Calendar:
About the Calendar
This calendar features the imaginative and thoughtful artwork of students from Alexmuir Junior Public School. Each illustration is a student-created poster celebrating native plants and their crucial role in supporting pollinators.
Since fall 2024, students have been engaged in learning about pollination and the significance of pollinators through regular visits to the Rosewood Community Pollinator Gardens. They’ve observedplant life cycles and the wide array of pollinators that visit the gardens—including bees, butterflies, and birds—while discovering how native, pollinator-friendly plants contribute to healthy ecosystems.
Over the winter, the class worked with members of the Rosewood Pollinator Garden Group to winter sow native seeds. The students later planted the sunflowers and native seedlings they nurtured in both the Rosewood and Alexmuir Junior Public School Pollinator Gardens. This year, both gardens were awarded the City of Toronto’s PollinateTO grant in recognition of their community impact, a first for the Rosewood Community.
Through various fun hands-on activities, students also explored how pollinators are deeply connected to the food we eat. Did you know that pollinators like bees are responsible for about one-third of the world’s food supply? That’s every third bite on your plate. Yet, these essential creatures are in decline due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change.
In response, the students created persuasive posters to encourage others to grow native plants and provide food and shelter for pollinators. Their message is clear: we all have a role to play in protecting pollinators.
Printing Instructions: For the best results, print in colour, single-sided on letter-sized (8.5×11″) printer paper. Cardstock would look great as well, and can be printed double-sided to save paper. For quick and easy binding, use staples or bulldog clips along the top of the calendar.
You may download the PDF here. This is for personal use only. Please respect the hard work of these young artists and do not reproduce their work outside of this calendar. This is not to be sold for profit in any shape or form.
Our book club resumed in April and we covered three books. It was quite a session and since May is busy for several of our members we will resume in June.
Here goes:
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
This novel gave us a peek at life in South Africa during apartheid. We saw the hardships Trevor Noah and his mother endured during and after apartheid. Laws were changing but many of the people’s attitudes towards non-white did not.
Trevor’s mother had strong religious faith and on Sundays their day was spent attending three churches. Many times they did not have a vehicle so they would have to take public transportation. In these situations they encountered unsavoury characters in which his mother would have to think quick on her feet to keep them safe. Her faith gave her the strength to deal with all the obstacles that arose, including coming close to her death.
Born a Crime was an eye-opening novel. We know Trevor Noah, the successful celebrity of today. It gave us renewed respect for him and what he had to endure through childhood to where he is today.
Why the title Born a Crime? Who is his father? What happened during his childhood? What happened to his mom? Read the novel to find the answers to these questions and many more you might have.
Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke
From the title we thought this would be an interesting read. We enjoy a good mystery and triple chocolate cheesecake! But to our surprise the book was written more like a play for lack of better description. There are constant conversations between the characters and recipes throughout the novel. We almost lost sight that there was a murder we were trying to solve. Yes, there was a murder…read the novel if you want to know who was murdered or enjoy baking and would like to add to your recipe collection.
Just in case after reading the title you are feeling like baking a chocolate cheesecake, here is a link to a recipe I tried and it did not crack in the middle. Enjoy
The Maid by Nita Prose (Canadian Author)
In this novel, we are welcomed to a fine boutique hotel with an interesting staff. The assumption has been made that it takes place in Toronto but never indicated in the novel. Molly the maid, at first appears quite plain and takes things literally. But not everything is as it appears, especially Molly. Everyone underestimates her, especially when she is accused of murdering a hotel guest.
Would you like to meet the staff and find out what they are hiding? Who was the murdered guest? Did Molly, the maid do it? Read the novel and find out the answers to these and many more questions you probably have.
Several of us enjoyed this novel that it inspired us to read her next book, The Mystery Guest. You learn more about Molly and several of the other staff members while solving another murder.
Our next read will be in June and it is The Serviceberry by Robin Kimmerer.
Happy Reading!
After a brief break we resumed in January. Our novel of choice was Proof, written by Beverley McLachlin (lawyer and judge). Our story takes us to Shaughnessy, British Columbia where we meet Jilly Truit, lawyer. She has a law firm, beautiful daughter and home. But everything is not idyllic.
Jilly had a rough start in life. Edith, her social worker since a child has been always there for her. Her life was finally coming together until her partner was shot and killed. A year later she was still trying to put the pieces together.
A case comes up that forces Jilly into action. A child has disappeared and the mother has been charged with her disappearance and murder.
Can Jilly unravel the mystery of the disappearance? Can she help the mother? Can she finally put her life together? Time for you to read the book and get the answers to these and many more questions.
Our next read for February will be Trevor Noah: Born a Crime.
Last week a couple of our gardeners had the honour of sharing what they learned about seed sowing to a group of primary students at the local school.
We arrived early to fill containers with soil and distribute them to different tables. Working in pairs mostly, each group planted a different native, pollinator-friendly plant.
They have been learning about pollinator gardens for a while now, so they were very excited to sow some seeds today. Back in December, the students had collected enough single-use yogurt containers, pop bottles and clear clamshell packaging for today’s activity. We also brought extra seeds for them to attach to a worksheet we had prepared.
We introduced the importance of growing pollinator friendly gardens with a story, which P.L. read to the class.
A couple of our gardeners attended a talk and workshop today where we learned a great deal about winter sowing of native plants. We also came away with some free seeds to try in our pollinator gardens!
photo credits to P.L.
It was a lovely evening. The Scarborough Philharmonic Ochestra and the Bach Children’s Choir gave an outstanding performance of classical music, and beautiful renditions of classic Christmas carols. Scarborough has so much talent to offer, and it was a pleasure to support these talented artists today.
The orchestra was wonderful and the children’s choir sang like angels. Thankfully the conductor gave us a brief background about each piece they performed which made us appreciate it even more. Would do it again!
We gathered in November to talk about “How to Age Dis-Gracefully” written by Clare Pooley. The novel was a positive read to aging. Appreciating the characters’ resiliency to difficult circumstances and how the group came together to save the community centre. They did not let their age refrain them from a sense of adventure or facing situations head on, be it politicians or the police. We realize, no matter our age you are able to learn new things and still have a few tricks up your sleeve.
What difficult circumstances? What tricks up their sleeve? Time for you to read the book for yourself or listen to the audio version.
Our next read in January will be Proof written by Beverley McLachlin.
Don’t know what to prepare for dinner today? Let our Rosewood community help you out with recipes they enjoy preparing at home. Click on image to access instructions. All images belong to the original linked website creator and not Rosewood. Enjoy!
Judy’s Raspberry Marzipan Torte
1-1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup raspberry jam
Blend dry ingredients in large bowl & cut in butter with egg(or pulse in food processor). Mix well and press into a 9 inch greased springform pan. raise the crust on the side of the pan. Spread 1/4 cup jam over dough and refrigerate with plastic wrap until filling is prepared.
FILLING:
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup blanched ground almonds
Cream butter and sugar. Add almonds and continue to beat. Add eggs one at a time and beat well together. Mix in almond extract. Pour mixture over dough and jam. Bake at 350 for 50 min. Check after 30 minutes of baking, if top is too brown reduce temperature to 325 degrees for the last 20 minutes. Cool in pan until lukewarm; remove sides and let cool completely. Spread remaining jam over top. You may top with toasted sliced almonds .
Scarborough Rosewood Community Association 