What it takes to earn a Monarch Award
The ideal garden is a beloved asset to your neighbourhood
A Monarch Award-winning garden is more than just beautiful plants — it is an ecosystem. It starts from the soil, encompassing the plant communities and water, and how they nourish the wildlife that visits. It includes materials thoughtfully selected to accent this sanctuary, and even involves how it is enjoyed by ourselves and others. If your garden flutters with life, if you care for the soil, use native plants, capture rainwater, and follow sustainable practices, you deserve recognition. Apply for a Monarch Award at monarchawardshamilton.org.
The Monarch Awards began in 2016 and it’s now a standard of excellence to recognize gardeners who are consciously creating places where nature can thrive. It strives to raise awareness about biodiversity and to increase habitat available for wildlife in the city while encouraging creativity and personal expression. It promotes the value of sustainable gardens for community awareness and resilience in a changing climate.
Entrants are assessed on six components of their garden’s ecosystem; how they care for the soil, select the plants, manage the water, tend the garden, choose their materials, and create an anesthetically beautiful paradise. Here are some tips to foster an award-winning garden for nature.
Soil — Your soil is full of life and should be treated with the same care as the most beautiful flowers. Select appropriate plants to thrive in existing soil texture and pH. Make use of organic matter, especially with backyard compost. Be careful not to over-mulch, and be aware of what kind you use: sourced on-site and readily decomposing is best. Leave patches of bare soil for ground-nesting bees, and minimize soil disturbance, which disrupts the ecosystem beneath the surface. Don’t use herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
Plants — While you don’t have to get rid of your favourite non-native plants, a great garden will be at least 70 per cent native species and showcases natural native plant communities. Remove invasive plants; these negatively impact the ecosystem beyond your garden. Select plants so something is always blooming, providing a continuous food supply. Choose a variety of species with many forms, flower shapes, colours, and heights, and allow for dense growth with minimal lawn. In the fall, make sure you leave the seeds for birds, and resist the urge to tidy up, as the leaf layer insulates your garden over the winter and provides warm habitat for those pollinators.
Water — A Monarch Award garden sources all its water on-site. Disconnect your downspouts and direct them to your garden or use a rain barrel to harvest this free, abundant source. You could incorporate a rain garden to maximize infiltration and prevent run-off . Ensure a clean water source is provided for insects, birds, and other wildlife, including small shallow puddles with gentle sloped edges.
Cultural Practices — All systems and creatures, from microbes to mammals, are interdependent. Develop a food web approach, providing for all parts of an insect’s life cycle, including logs and bare soil for sunning and nesting. Appreciate
that all creatures must eat — a nibbled plant is doing its job! Nature doesn’t fuss or primp and neither should you. The tending you do should be a labour of love, done with awareness of both neighbours and emissions.
Materials/Hardscaping — While building your garden, be sure to use sustainable practices, materials that decompose or can be recycled, and products that are locally sourced. Minimize impermeable surfaces on your property.
Aesthetics — Your paradise is meant to be experienced and enjoyed. Incorporate winding paths, creating an invitation to explore. Plant in curves and design for visual interest. Add your personal touches. The ideal garden is a beloved asset to your neighbourhood streetscape, inspiring others to take notice, ask questions and integrate these traits into their gardens.
Making these changes is easier than you think. If your garden is a paradise for pollinators, apply for the Monarch Awards by June 21. For gardeners shifting toward this ecosystem approach, or for small or young gardens, you may qualify for a Caterpillar Award. If you are new to gardening for nature, check out the free online tool kit from the Hamilton Pollinator Paradise project to help you get started. Many native nurseries now deliver bringing plants to your door. Gardening is a wonderful and safe way to connect with nature and be outdoors this summer. Get in the garden and create your own paradise.
Carolyn Zanchetta is the stewardship and education co-ordinator for the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club, a partner in the Monarch Awards. Visit hamiltonnature.org or find us on social media @hamiltonnature to get involved.