In the spring of this year, we began an exciting project made possible thanks to a Treemendous Communities grant through Tree Canada and their wonderful sponsor Reactine! Our four Lawn Conversion Tree Guilds at our Base of Operations invite the rethinking of your front or backyard. These four guilds demonstrate how you can transform your lawn into a lightly maintained forest garden that is urban-neighbour and pollinator friendly. These forest gardens are designed with one or a small number of focal trees, surrounded by complementary understory species. You can see what was planted in each of the guilds by visiting our Resources page!
These spaces typically require less water and effort than lawns that occupy the same area. The plots have many benefits, from providing fresh produce to buffer a household from unpredictable food prices, to being small but beautiful biodiversity havens attracting beneficial pollinators to the space. The guilds contain various food-bearing trees, shrubs and plants including apples, pears, hazelnuts, plum, paw paw, frost peach and a multitude of berry bushes. While trees, shrubs and perennials reach maturity, they are interplanted with many edible annual vegetables and herbs for immediate productivity and consumption.
The plots exist to serve as inspiration and motivation for others to convert their own spaces no matter the size. If you are interested in converting your yard, please come visit these spaces. Help us inspire and guide community members to start their own tree guilds. You can support these guilds and future projects similar to this by donating to our fundraiser page.