© Photo: Bill & Helen Zebedee, Certified Property Owner

Certified garden of Bill & Helen Zebedee, Dartmouth NS

This Maritime garden brings colour to its suburban neighbourhood with its many blooming plants. It’s also appealing to local wildlife including hawks, hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, frogs and toads.

Did you know? CWF’s Backyard Habitat Certification program has nearly 1,000 certified properties! Help us pass this mark and apply today!

Blueberries

Sweet and juicy blueberries are one of the many joys of summer, especially when locally available. Growing them at home is even more fun where you can eat them right from the plant.

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© CWF

Staking Herbaceous Plants

With strong winds, heavy rain and some plants having a tendency to flop, staking can keep your plants tall and beautiful. Choose from stakes at garden centres or make your own with bamboo or strong sticks. Put in deeply enough to be sturdy. Place a few around a clump and encircle with twine or other strong string. Alternatively, you can grow tall plants close to a fence with medium sized-plants close in front for support.

Learn more gardening tips »

© Tanya Koob

Hiking Tips

When out on the trail, consider these points to help make the outing a successful and comfortable one for all ages. And for those of you with young children, consider joining a WILD Family Nature Club near you!

1. Go camping and enjoy summer weather by a lake, beneath tall trees, in a tent or camper. Have fun and be safe with these important tips, camp songs, recipes and more.
2. Watch for nectar and insect-eating birds beginning to migrate south such as warblers, hummingbirds and orioles.
3. Indulge in seasonal fruit. With new varieties the Canadian fruit season lasts longer than ever. This is good news for eating fresh local food…as well as making beautiful pies, jams and muffins! Take a look at a national availability chart or view provincial listings.

© Debbie Oppermann, Photo Club Member

Enjoy this month’s wallpaper of a damselfly resting on a fern by Debbie Oppermann.

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Funny Business

Q. How do you make a potato puff?

A. Chase it around the garden!

Gardening Calendar

Helpful Tip for August

Fertilize plants with a layer of compost or aged manure. You can also make tea by putting either in a bucket with water and let sit for a day. Strain, dilute and pour into pots or on garden beds around the base of plants.

For more seasonal ideas, visit our Garden Calendar.

We’re happy to announce the launch of Canadian Wildlife magazine’s Reflections of Nature Photo Contest, our annual photo competition that showcases your beautiful photography from across Canada. Exploring the beauty of Canada’s native and non-native plants of all shapes, sizes and colours.

Enter now »

With over 202,000 km of coastline along three oceans and 891,163 square kilometres of its total area covered by fresh water, Canada is a nation defined by its connection to water. Unfortunately, those waters are under threat from a growing environmental concern: microplastics.

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Let your love of conservation take flight, all the while helping provide healthy food for your favourite birds. Right now, when you subscribe to Canadian Wildlife, Biosphère or WILD for kids, you’ll instantly be eligible to win great prizes, including a year’s supply of Canadian Wildlife Federation’s signature line of birdseed.

CWF’s new Li’l Green Sprouts program gives families the tools to help their young children discover the wonders of nature in the garden, park and beyond. In buying a sturdy gardening kit full of tools, activities and more you will also get full access to a myriad of online resources for both adults and  children!

Join today

Check out our new gallery of photos from our certified gardens across the country. If you are certified and have new images, please send them along to help us show the world that wildlife-friendly gardening can be as fancy or as simple as you like.

Win a GROW WILD Family garden kit, featuring a gardening kit for adults, and one of our new Li’l Green Sprouts garden kits designed to inspire a love of nature and gardening in your kids! Just tell us what you like about Grow Wild or give a suggestion for improvement and we’ll put your name in for the draw too. Share this with your friends and family so that they too can sign up and enter contest.