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Gardening for Butterflies Handout
2025-11-24
Nearly 300 species of butterflies inhabit Canada, some cloaked in brilliant colours, others less noticeable. The presence of these graceful creatures in our gardens is a blessing of vibrancy and beauty.
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Gardening for Wildlife Handouts and Posters
2025-11-24
Download a variety of handouts including Gardening for Pollinators and Natural Insect Control. Or order a poster on Canada’s birds, bees, butterflies and much more!
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Helping Canada’s Pollinators in The Garden
2025-11-24
Canada’s pollinators play a critical role in our ecosystems, food production and economy through pollination. Some are also important in pest control. These tiny allies face many challenges, such as pesticide use and loss of habitat, making it more important than ever to support them. A great place to start is to ensure your outdoor space is pollinator-friendly.
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Monarch Butterfly Activity Sheet
2025-11-24
Did you know that Monarch Butterfly caterpillars can only eat milkweed leaves, the adults pollinate flowers, and in the fall they migrate thousands of kilometres to Mexico for the winter? See if you can spot an adult butterfly sipping nectar from a flower or a caterpillar on a milkweed plant in your garden or local park this year.
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Natural Insect Control Handout
2025-11-24
A garden is more than just plants. It may be tempting to reach for chemical pesticides. But while these products can be an effective short-term answer, they don't contribute to the long-term health of your garden.
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The Basics of Wildlife-friendly Gardening
2025-11-24
Gardening with wildlife in mind is a fantastic opportunity to not only help your garden flourish but to also support wildlife and ecosystems which provide us pollination and pest control services, among others. Best of all, it’s easy to do and beautiful too! The Canadian Wildlife Federation’s Gardening for Wildlife program has webinars, articles, tools, posters and more to help you discover, appreciate and support your local and migratory wild neighbours. CWF also has a Garden Habitat Certification where we give official recognition to those whose efforts are supporting wildlife.
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The Basics of Wildlife-friendly Gardening (printer-friendly version)
2025-11-24
Gardening with wildlife in mind is a fantastic opportunity to not only help your garden flourish but to also support wildlife and ecosystems which provide us pollination and pest control services, among others. Best of all, it’s easy to do and beautiful too! The Canadian Wildlife Federation’s Gardening for Wildlife program has webinars, articles, tools, posters and more to help you discover, appreciate and support your local and migratory wild neighbours. CWF also has a Garden Habitat Certification where we give official recognition to those whose efforts are supporting wildlife.
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Wild About Bats Poster
2025-11-24
Contrary to popular belief, bats are not blind, do not get caught in your hair and are definitely not flying rodents. Despite these negative associations, bats are important world-wide for a variety of reasons including insect control, pollination and seed dispersal. Canadian bats are nature’s night patrol, scouring the evening sky for moths, beetles, mosquitoes and other nocturnal flying insects. Our bats are particularly beneficial for agriculture as they consume tons of insect pests that devastate crop yields. So gaze up at the night sky and give silent thanks to the small winged wonders hard at work. White-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease c
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Wild About Bees Poster
2025-11-24
Approximately one-third of all human food is prepared from plants that depend on animal pollinators — and bees make the biggest contribution. The most familiar bee is the honey bee (Apis mellifera), which was introduced from Europe almost 400 years ago. Although we may first picture the honey bee when we think of pollinators, our native bees, such as the bumble bee or the mason bee, are often actually more effective and efficient pollinators. Unlike the social honey bee, which shares labour and caretak-ing of its young, most of our native bees are solitary. This means that each female prepares her own nest, provisions it with food (nectar and pollen) for her offspring, lays her eggs and provides little further care.
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Wild About Butterflies Poster
2025-11-24
The brilliance of our many butterflies adds beauty to any garden. The vibrant orange and black of monarchs or the dazzling tiger stripes of swallowtails add contrast among the blooms. Other species may lack some of this glamour but are welcome visitors none the less for the gentle cheer they bring.
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Wild About Pollinators Poster
2025-11-24
This illustration shows native pollinators from all over Canada interacting with their environment and foraging among cultivated and native plants at various times of the year. Some are favourites, others are less known or feared, but all are extremely important.Pollinators are animals that transfer pollen from one flower to another, mainly while drinking nectar and gathering pollen.
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Wild About Snakes Poster
2025-11-24
Snakes are a very useful addition to any garden. Red-bellied and garter snakes are major predators of slugs. Snakes also prey on grubs, mice, rats, snails, leeches, centipedes and other invertebrates. In this way they play an important role in keeping pest populations under control.Most of Canada’s snakes are non-aggressive and shy. They will avoid encounters with humans whenever possible. However, like most wild creatures, snakes may bite in self-defence if handled, so it is best to leave them in peace.
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Wild About Turtles Poster
2025-11-24
Turtles have been around for over 200 million years and look nearly the same today as they did then. They are unique creatures - the only living vertebrates with a bony shell which is their main line of defense against predators.Currently, twelve turtle species live in Canada or off of our coasts. Eight are found inland, in wetland areas and the remaining four are at sea. In the past an additional species, the Pacific pond turtle, lived in British Columbia but is now Extirpated and can no longer be found in Canada.
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Wild About Winter Poster
2025-11-24
Winter is a big deal for our wildlife. Snow covers the plants and soil, and it decreases mobility for many species. The days are shorter, leaving less solar energy for plant life. Temperatures are lower, decreasing available thermal energy (heat) for all lifeforms. Since growth and activity are at lower rates, less nutritional energy (food) is produced and available to both plants and animals. These deficiencies have caused winter to be an evolutionary challenge: to survive, successful organisms have had to balance the impacts of the cold season on their energy supplies, even if much less energy is around to sustain them. Even so, some wildlife has adapted and evolved in unique ways to survive seasonal changes, while still calling Canada home.
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Wildlife-friendly Gardening Guide
2025-11-24
Gardens come in all shapes and sizes, from small urban spaces to large country expanses. How we tend these spaces is affected by many factors including our time, lifestyle needs and budget. No matter the situation, all Canadians can benefit from incorporating some wildlife-friendly elements in their outdoor space. This guide will show you how to include these versatile features while still meeting your own needs and preferences.