In a little pocket along the Trans Canada Trail, GreenUP Ecology Park serves as a wonderful example of nature’s ability to bring people together. Across five acres of demonstration gardens, a native plant and tree nursery, and spaces for play and discovery, visitors of all ages can explore the outdoors and learn how to make a difference right here at home.
This season, Ecology Park is growing in a few exciting ways. Those who have visited recently may have noticed some new additions to the park, including a 24 square metre greenhouse.
This project is bigger than just some upgraded infrastructure; it represents and investment in growing plants, hearts, and minds across the Nogojiwanong-Peterborough region.
Growing plants
This past season was a productive one for GreenUP Ecology Park Native Plant Nursery. Staff and supporters grew more than 5,000 plant specimens of 50 native species. Each plant is an opportunity to restore habitat, support pollinators, increase biodiversity, and bring nature closer to home.
The new greenhouse will help to build on this success. By starting plants earlier in the year, extending the growing season and protecting delicate seedlings, the landscape program team can grow stronger plants and get them into the community sooner.
While funding from the federal government’s New Horizons for Seniors program allowed the purchase of the structure, GreenUP is now seeking donations to furnish it. With some purpose-built shelving and tables, a potting bench, and a few other pieces of equipment, this greenhouse can support the propagation of up to 3,000 additional plants a year.
The plants grown here will become stock for GreenUP Ecology Park Native Plant Nursery — the sales of which support GreenUP’s charitable work in the area — or be planted in schoolyards, parks, and other naturalized spaces across the region through local partnerships. Every plant sown at the park offers the potential for a healthier, more sustainable community.
Growing hearts
Ecology Park is also a place where visitors cultivate meaningful connections and a sense of belonging. Working together, people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities can make a tangible impact right here at home.
With the help of the greenhouse, staff and volunteers will have a dedicated space to propagate and pot up native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers that can later be planted as part of other stewardship projects, such as Little Forests.
Over the past three years, GreenUP has established 11 Little Forests at schools and other community spaces throughout the Nogojiwanong-Peterborough region, with the most recent one installed in the heart of Ecology Park. This flagship Little Forest also serves as a living demonstration of what can be accomplished when community members work together — it was planted by a group of over 20 people in only a few hours.
Whether someone is an experienced gardener or planting their very first tree, Ecology Park offers a place for people to belong, learn, and work towards positive change for their local environment.
Growing minds
For children, families, and even adult workshop participants, Ecology Park is an outdoor classroom where curiosity takes root.
Hands-on activities and opportunities to explore living ecosystems help people connect to the natural world and better understand the importance of protecting it. The greenhouse offers a new location at the park for this hands-on work — extending the learning season, too.
These experiences go beyond learning practical things like plant identification or gardening techniques. They also show participants how their actions can contribute to a healthier environment.
Connecting people with nature early in life nurtures the next generation of environmental stewards.
Help GreenUP grow
GreenUP can’t do this work alone. Grants and project funding do a lot of heavy lifting, but don’t always cover the everyday overhead, staffing costs, and practical improvements that make the work possible.
Community donations are vital to fund things from greenhouse shelving and potting equipment to the supplies, tools, and materials staff and volunteers need to grow plants, care for the park, and welcome students and visitors.
Donations will help turn the new greenhouse into a productive growing space, expanding opportunities for people to participate in ecological restoration and environmental education.
A gift to GreenUP grows more than plants. It helps build a community where people feel connected to nature, equipped to take climate action, and inspired to create a healthier future.
Help GreenUP grow plants, hearts, and minds at Ecology Park. Donate today at greenup.on.ca/donate-now/.
