If you're lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the wild orange tiger lily, or the yellow of the prairie lady's slipper, growing in the ditches across the province then you've seen a very special part of Manitoba; our wildflowers! From the pinks of the Prairie Smoke to the soft purples of the Prairie Crocus our province has a list of beautiful wildflowers each exotic in their own way.
And each comes onto the Manitoba landscape in their own season, and their own yearly cycle according to weather conditions and other factor. For example, one year there might be a lot of Echinacea (purple coneflower), and the next year, there could be many wood lilies.
The Brandon group of volunteers with Bee City Brandon who are passionate about pollinators know the importance of the prairie wildflowers to these fuzzy buzzing friends. There are over 390 species of bees in Manitoba and 24 bumble bees. In June volunteers will be rolling up their sleeves to plant more wildflowers at the newly revitalized Eleanor Kidd Park located just north of the Assiniboine River near Brandon's skating oval.
"Our prairie isn't just agricultural fields; there are wildflowers that grow, which support wild pollinators," shares Bee City Brandon Chair, Sherry Punak-Murphy. "Birds feed on the insects that pollinate the plants, and then animals like badgers eat the birds. It's an amazing ecosystem that many people don't even know about."
Last summer a host of dedicated volunteers contributed over 400 volunteer hours on the Eleanor Kidd Park project with over 1000 native wildflower and grass plugs planted. More plugs are coming this spring!
"We purchased the plugs from John Skinner at Skinner Native Seeds," shares Murphy. "We also grew some seed of our own with the generous support of Brandon University by allowing us to use their Greenhouse. Now in June we are purchasing more native plant plugs and we will need volunteers to help us plant them in the Park as well as helping us weed and water the plants."
The problem with a native prairie garden is that many people think some of the plants we planted are actually weeds, says Murphy.
"We need to educate visitors about which plants are wildflowers and shouldn't be picked. It would be helpful to have a summary of what to look for when weeding, like portulaca, to avoid confusion," she says. "Currently, there are only about three or four people tending to the garden, and it would be nice to have a larger group of volunteers to help throughout the summer. It's a labor of love for those who are maintaining the garden."
Brandon is an officially dedicated Bee City, being the 15th city in Canada to be designated. Currently, there are over 80 Bee Cities across the country. The orange-belted bumblebee is Brandon's official bee of the city.
(photo credit Lutz Mattfeld)
For more information on volunteering to help plant, or be a regular tender to the gardens at Eleanor Kidd Park, please visit the Bee City Brandon website and Facebook Page. Email: beecitybrandon@gmail.com