About the Richmond Hill Butterflyway
The Butterflyway Project is a citizen-led movement growing highways of habitat for bees and butterflies across Canada.
In 2019, the David Suzuki Foundation partnered with the City of Richmond Hill to create a citywide Butterflyway!
To launch the program in Richmond Hill, the Foundation partnered with the city to distribute native wildflower kits to more than 200 households. The kits were picked up at the city’s annual Healthy Yards event, which was unseasonably rainy and cool, but very well attended. Each participating household received a Butterflyway garden sign and a flat of native plants that will help feed local bees and butterflies.
At the end of the summer, residents helped plant the city’s first Butterflyway canoe garden during the Envirofest event at Mill Pond Park. The canoe was filled with soil and native wildflowers that will feed local bees and butterflies. The canoe was provided by Nova Craft Canoe, which donates canoes that have manufacturing defects and aren’t fit for service on the water.
Richmond Hill Butterflyway locations
Use the interactive map below to explore the locations of butterfly-friendly pollinator patches that volunteer Butterflyway Rangers established in Richmond Hill with the support of local residents, groups, schools, city officials and Foundation staff.
It displays the over 200 households that have new pollinator patches and the site of the canoe garden. Together, these wildflower-filled gardens are helping to ensure wild bees and butterflies have reliable sources of energy-rich nectar and protein-filled pollen from spring through fall.
The city and the Foundation hope to plant more wildflower-filled canoe gardens this year and continue building on the amazing work the city has done for many years, encouraging residents to make their yards pollinator-friendly.