Butterflyway Garden @ CPL We are excited to support the David Suzuki Foundation; a volunteer-led movement growing habitat for bees and butterflies.

What's in the Library's Butterflyway Garden?

• Black Eyed-Susan

  These rays of sunshine, yellow blooming plants were planted in clusters in our garden to increase their visual attractiveness for our visiting pollinators. The bright yellow petals’ sole purpose is to attract pollinators. The brown center is made up of lots of individual flowers containing nectar and pollen.  Did you know? The brown flowers closest to the yellow bloom first and the ones in the very center bloom last. We will see these yellow blossom beauties show their faces early to mid-summer.

• Butterfly Milkweed

  Butterfly weed was a must-have plant to coax its namesake a beautiful winged insect into our garden.  These orange blossom, mid-summer blooming plants provide nectar so butterflies can build up their strength and fat reserves.   If you only add one plant to your garden this year, make it the Milkweed!

• Lance Coreopsis

  At maturity, we will see an alluring yellow flower on these plants from late spring through mid-summer. This cheerful plant self-seeds very easily and tolerate both heat and drought.  Deadheading these sun-flower like plants (removing the spent blooms) can keep them blooming throughout summer and into fall.

• Showy Tick Trefoil

  This beautiful garden favourite produces pink-purple blooms in the summer months. As a legume, this stunning beauty will put nitrogen into the soil (making its own fertilizer!) for the plant to use when growing.  To look their best, we have planted our Showy Tick Trefoils in clusters.  Fun fact: the trefoil is the Girl Guides of Canada logo.

• Wild Bergamot

  These charming violet, long and tubular petals are a perfect design for butterflies in our garden. Wild Bergamot is often listed as one of the top nectar plants for butterfly attraction.  You may recognize the floral scent as it is similar to bergamot orange or earl grey tea. These fragrant plants love a sunny spot, our garden is south facing and will bring all the sun these appealing plants desire.

• Wild Columbine

  These plants come in many colours, and some are even bi-coloured which our garden displays.  The nectar filled blooms are a brilliant red/yellow and have bell-shaped spurred petals. Being very fragrant, they are a favourite for lining garden beds.  Fun fact: the name Columbine “stems” from the Latin word Columba, meaning dove-like.

• Wild Strawbery

  These adorable, low growing wild strawberry plants have white blooms with five petals and a golden centre.  The distinctive red fruit looks like cultivated (store-bought) strawberries with tiny seeds on the outside.  Did you know these easy to grow wild strawberries are edible and sweeter and more flavourful than cultivated berries?