Pollinator Garden

In the northeast corner of the community garden at Highway 99 and Mamquam Rd. you’ll find a quiet spot worth visiting from spring through fall. Our pollinator garden has evolved and matured over the past ten years, with a combination of cultivated and native plants.

Volunteer in the Garden

Volunteers ready to weed for an hour or more are always welcome.  Donations of pollinator-friendly plants are welcome too. For a list of some native plants we welcome, please see here. Here’s a more extensive list of suitable plants to donate to the garden.

Please complete our Volunteer Inquiry Form if you’d like to help.

Enjoy the Critters

Here are some of the critters we’ve seen in the garden:

  • 02 Not confirmed by en expert, and many species can look similar, but Sitka bumble bees do occur in our area.
  • 03 Yellow-fronted bumble bees (Bombus flavifrons) have many forms and can look much like Sitkas.
  • 04 Often seen around our area.
  • 05 It's a long story .... The Yellow-faced bumble bee is our most common species.
  • 06 Very common in our area.
  • 07
  • 08 Colours fading and right wing is torn. To be truthful, the butterfly was just outside the garden ... Another often seen.
  • 085 Not common in our area. This one has been confirmed by one of the world's foremost bee experts.
  • 087
  • 09 Watches over the garden.
  • 01 This dragonfly appears to be eating a very small insect it has found in the dried flower.
  • 02 The male has yellow markings on his face plate (clypeus). This sweat bee is common here April through September. .
  • 03 This tiny bee is common here May through October. It likes flat flowers like this daisy where it is gathering pollen by circling the centre of the flower. Species can't be determined from a photo.
  • 04 These female leafcutters collect and carry pollen in the hairs on the underside of their abdomens. This bee has very yellow/orange hairs - that is not the colour of the pollen.
  • 05 A very small bee that resembles a mason bee. A western species and we are at the northern boundary of its range. iNaturalist shows only 2 observations in Canada in summer 2021 and both are from Squamish.
  • 06 This is one of our most common bumble bees. The males emerge later in the season, are larger than the female workers, and have much more yellow hair.
  • 07 This is another male colour form of the same species as the previous photo. Notice the orange bands in the bottom part of his abdomen (at right in the photo).
  • 08 This is a member of the Flower fly family (Syrphidae): its name reflects the importance of many species as pollinators. This species was introduced but several other local species of Eristalis are native.
  • 09 This fly is a Tachinid, from the same family as our common house fly. Many Tachinids feed regularly on pollen.
  • 10 The small skipper butterflies tend to keep their wings closed when they light. This species took flight in our area in late July last summer.

Pollinator Garden Resources