How does your Garden Grow? A Canadian Geographic article, written by Michela Rosano.

“In an ongoing biodiversity crisis, a climate emergency and a reckoning with colonialism, the city continues to place barriers in the way of positive action undertaken by those who deviate from the lawn norm,” Lister, Johnson and others wrote in a 2020 letter to former Toronto mayor John Tory when Lister’s own naturalized lawn was cited for infractions.

In this article, Rosano brings attention to some of the many residents across the country who have decided to ditch their traditional grass lawns, in favor of more native planting, but continue to face conflict with municipalities, being slapped with fines or orders to remove their naturalized landscapes. 

Craig and Beth Sinclair of Smiths Falls Ontario are exemplary of this dispute, as the couple received notices of infractions of Smiths Falls’ property standards bylaw after their purposeful attempt at creating habitat to support local biodiversity.

For access to Rosano’s article, and to learn more about how the Sinclairs created a pollinator haven in their front yard, and how gardens can provide refuge for the country’s plummeting biodiversity, click HERE!