Sylvain Alie and Royann Petrell of the Stellar Raven Ecological Farm are hosting a Native Plant Garden Event with the support of BC Nature and Comox Valley Naturalists Society.
The event is set for June 15 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will feature tours of new and established pollinator and carbon sequestration gardens. Birders will enjoy the songs of the many birds nesting around many naturalized areas.
There will be gardeners and a recent graduate from the University of British Columbia on hand to answer questions about the merits of gardening with native plants, and how to construct and maintain a native meadow.
We will have David Suzuki Foundation Butterflyway Rangers and BC Community Bat Program bat ambassadors on-site with the Gone to Seed Little Library Pollinator Project. Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society will be there to show how they have successfully removed weeds.
CVN will be there to highlight their native and invasive plant projects. Be sure to visit their booths to learn more about these programs and purchase some locally grown native plants to help support the wildlife in the garden. Additionally, native grasses and flowering plants that fit the bill for carbon sequestration will be available. CVN is asking people to bring their own containers to transport their plant purchases home.
The world urgently needs ways to keep carbon out of the atmosphere and to build food security for a rapidly growing global population. Converting lawns into native plant gardens and soil can do both.
Building up soil carbon can help cut greenhouse gas concentrations in the air. This also improves soil quality in many ways: it gives soil structure, stores water and nutrients that plants need and feeds vital soil organisms. Growing deep-rooted and long-lived native grasses and flowering plants helps to build back organic soils and sequester carbon.
These native plants are also attractive to insects and birds, which will in turn control garden pests. Native grasses and perennials are adapted to local climate and soils so they require less care and watering, once established, than lawns do. Less care means fewer polluting emissions, and these plants provide sugar-filled nectar and protein-rich pollen for hummingbirds and beneficial insects like local butterflies and wild bees.
For more information, visit .
Stellar Raven Ecological Farm is located at 3177 Kentwood Road in Courtenay. Please park on the road. Sign up for tours at:
