FOGs Pollinator Garden
Friends of the Garden (FOGs) is a volunteer group at Western made up of staff, faculty and student gardeners who have been maintaining the St. Mary's Cement Rock Garden for nearly 30 years.
Late 2021 FOGs began planning for the installment of a new Pollinator Garden on campus! The garden is located in the grass strip of Middlesex parking lot. FOGs volunteers grew the majority of the plants from seed in the Western greenhouses, and sourced others from local native plant nurseries. Most plants in the pollinator garden are native species to the Carolinian Life Zone, the ecological region we are situated within at Western.
After a successful first season through 2022, the Pollinator Garden was expanded in 2023 and became one of Western's Campus as a Living Lab projects.
This garden builds upon Western's commitment to pollinators as a designated Bee Campus by improving pollinator habitat. Most of us think about honeybees as a pollinator, but did you know that there are approximately 420 other bee species found in Ontario that pollinate? Plus the other types of pollinators like flies, butterflies, wasps, beetles, bats, and hummingbirds!
To get involved with the Pollinator Garden, email info@fogsuwo.ca or check out the FOGs Brochure for more information about current initiatives and how to support pollinators. Volunteers are always welcome to help maintain the garden and meet fellow gardeners on campus!
