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.
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.
There’s nothing so rewarding about a pollinator garden as when we get to catch a glimpse of local bees and butterflies actually feeding from the flowers we’ve planted, watered and nurtured for the entire season.
As the growing season ends, our volunteer gardeners have been doing some mulching and weeding, but also collecting seeds for next spring. Here we are collecting seeds from some Joe Pye Weed, Stiff and Zig Zag Goldenrod, and some Bottle Brush Grass.
The Black-Eyed Susans are still flowering, lending a little bright yellow glow to this late autumn, Hunter’s Moon season.
In recent weeks, students from Grades 1 and 2 at the local schools have been visiting the Rosewood Community Pollinator Gardens to explore tree life cycles, the significance of native plants in enhancing Toronto’s biodiversity, and the roles of pollination and environmental stewardship. These visits will continue throughout the year as part of their studies on plant life cycles.
The students have shown great enthusiasm and curiosity, eagerly observing various pollinators like butterflies, bees, and birds at work in the gardens. After the holidays, garden group members will engage the students in winter sowing, helping them grow native plants that will be planted in the gardens in 2025 and shared with students for their home gardens. Additionally, the students will create their own sunflower patch in the gardens using seeds harvested from this year’s sunflowers. The Rosewood Pollinator Garden Group is also assisting Alexmuir Junior Public School in establishing a pollinator garden as part of the school’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
This September we were able to partner with our local elementary schools and have some of their students visit our gardens. The students did some planting and winter sowing of native plants, in the process learning about native plants and their importance in saving our pollinator friends.
We also received a very generous donation of tree stumps and mulch from Birch Cliff Tree Care, providing some additional mulching, habitat and seating.
Who we are: The Rosewood Pollinator Garden Group was established in September 2023. Our group of 25 gardeners are from the Rosewood Community. They are of different ages, cultures and backgrounds. While our group has expert and novice gardeners, we all learn from each other. We also offer volunteer hours to high school students and will involve local elementary schools to engage students in creating pollinator friendly gardens. The Rosewood Pollinator Garden Group is a proud recipient of the Certificate of Recognition, presented by Councillor Jamaal Myers, for outstanding contributions to the community.
What we do: Our main goal is to rehabilitate the Rosewood Community Gardens. These are located on the Northeast and Northwest corners of the intersection at Alexmuir Boulevard and Finch Avenue East. We are creating pollinator-friendly gardens to help preserve and increase the population of pollinators in our city. Some of the pollinators that we are trying to help are butterflies, bees, moths and birds.
the Rosewood gardens before the update
What we are growing in the community gardens: Most of the plants that we are growing are native to Canada. These include, Serviceberry trees, Black-eyed Susans, Echinacea, Golden Rod, Bee Balm, Sunflowers and Butterfly Milkweed. Native plants provide pollinators with food, nectar and nesting sites.
If you would like to join our group or need more information, please email us at: rosewoodpollinators@gmail.com
Our Proud Partners and Sponsors
We are grateful to the following partners and sponsors for helping us to create our beautiful community gardens:
– Scarborough Rosewood Community Association
– Canadian Tire, Agincourt
– Birchcliff Treecare: https://birchclifftreecare.com/
– Pollinate TO
– Cliffcrest Butterflyway, A David Suzuki Foundation Community Project: https://www.cliffcrestbutterflyway.com/
Scarborough Rosewood Community Association 