Native plants highlighted at Kingsville’s ‘Get In Touch with Nature’ event

By Paul Forman

Kingsville’s Communities in Bloom had a huge turnout for their ‘Get In Touch with Nature’ event as gardening enthusiasts packed the Grovedale Arts and Cultural Centre in Kingsville on May 27. Twenty-five vendors were on hand offering a wide variety of plants and garden accessories and six speakers presented on top-ics relating to the importance of sustaining the flora and fauna in our region.

Chair of Kingsville’s Communities in Bloom committee Carol Dunn said, “The focus of the show is native plants and we strive to educate and inspire the community as Kingsville is a Bee City.”

The committee, proud of their recent Five Blooms Gold designation, has been involved in a number of cleanups recently and is in the midst of a fundraising campaign to bring a meditation element for stops along the Greenway. For those seeking to add a native plant element to their own garden, the Kingsville Library Branch will be holding a Plants for Pollinators event on June 3 at 11 a.m.

Purple Martins are a love for John Balga. He spoke about ways to attract purple martins to your backyard and how to encourage the birds to be return visitors.

Leo Silvestri was on hand as both a speaker and a vendor sharing his passion for creating habitat for monarch butterflies. He stressed how important it is to plant ten to 20 milkweed plants in a patch to have a significant impact on monarch survival.

Five-year-old Charlie Price was focused as he created a nature collage out of bark, needles and moss at the craft table for kids.