By Marg Campbell, for The Garden Club of Toronto
On September 5 and 6 2025, volunteers from the Garden Club of Toronto, United for Literacy, and Project Swallowtail came together with shovels, plants, and lots of heart to transform the front garden at 35 Jackes Avenue.
Together, we planted a beautiful native garden that will welcome visitors, support pollinators, and add a touch of nature’s magic to our community space. As all gardeners know, a lot of planning is required to create a warm and inviting space.
However, we worked in partnership and made it happen! United for Literacy cleared out the old garden beds and with RAINscape TO’s expertise a new design was created; appropriate plants were chosen and then they landscaped and prepared the paths and garden beds.
Next came 1200 plants and Junaid Khan and Adam Barnes brought Project Swallowtail’s expertise to help purchase the plants at a very reasonable cost and map out the planting so we were ready and organized for over 25 volunteers. As always, even small projects have several hurdles to overcome…such as the truck being unavailable for delivery day! Nothing a rental truck can’t fix.
As you can gather this project was only made possible thanks to the teamwork, encouragement, and support of so many generous hands and kind spirits
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed—this partnership created a native garden that will grow, flourish, and inspire for years to come.
Photos: Garden Club of Toronto
For more information on our partners go to Garden Club of Toronto
https://thegardencluboftoronto.ca
or United for Literacy https://www.unitedforliteracy.ca/
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Response from Mélanie Valcin
President & CEO / Présidente-directrice générale
United for Literacy / Littératie Ensemble