Urban Forest Demonstration Gardens

This spring, LEAF, Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), and the Canadian Healthy Communities Initiative (CHCI) held a special ceremony to unveil a stunning new art installation by Ojibway Woodland artist Thomas Sinclair at the LEAF Urban Demonstration Garden at Bathurst Station. Read on to discover what this mural means to Thomas and the powerful message of healing and hope it brings to the community.

Supporting pollinators through native gardening is a climate action we can all get behind! Through a two-part workshop series led by Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla, LEAF volunteer garden stewards learned strategies to build more resilient pollinator gardens. Read more on how you can incorporate these approaches into growing your own pollinator garden.

Our volunteer Garden Steward Teams recently gathered to celebrate the longer days and warmer weather by waking up our Urban Forest Demonstration Gardens. From planting and dividing perennials to chopping dead plant material to use as cost-effective mulch, our Garden Stewards had fun working together for a successful start to the gardening season!

A new year brings new volunteer opportunities to steward, connect with and learn about the urban forest. Our volunteers play a critical role in supporting our community programs and helping us improve the urban forest. As a result, we strive to ensure that every volunteer that participates with LEAF – no matter the role – has a meaningful, fulfilling and fun experience! To highlight some of our upcoming volunteer opportunities, we chatted with three LEAF volunteers to get a first-hand account of their adventures.

Have you ever wondered how plants get their names? On a sunny Saturday morning, our Stewardship Coordinator met with a group of garden stewards at the LEAF Learning Garden for a look into the facts and folklore behind plant names. The group explored the use of scientific vs common names, how plant names can lend clues to their identification, as well as the history, stories and meaning behind some of the most common native plant species found in the LEAF Learning Garden. Here are some highlights from the workshop: