Butterfly Garden – Transforming damage done by plumbers into something beautiful

In November 2020, I had to make an emergency call to the plumbers to solve a drain back-up issue in my basement. They used their camera and discovered that the old cedar hedge on the side of my house had finally grown roots deep and strong. They broke the sewer pipe taking our waste water to the city drains. We would need to dig up the foundation outside and replace the pipes. A few weeks later and many $$$ later the old ciders were cut down, removed, and my landscaping next to my house was destroyed! The snows were coming, so I chose to leave it until Spring.

When the snow melted, I found that all the gravel backfill and tons of rocks of all sizes were covering the uneven backfill job the plumbers did and I would have to redo the whole grading and landscaping. This is a really massive job for me and I wasn’t sure how much money I really wanted to invest. As I was drawing up possible plans and budgets, I was invited to join The Butterflyway Rangers, a subsidiary of the David Suzuki Foundation I support. I attended a seminar about butterflies and other pollinators, and decided to incorporate a pollinator friendly garden into my designs.

Stay tuned for the next steps…