Community Spotlight: Rosanne Swalwell

Volunteer Spotlight: Rosanne Swalwell

Volunteers are essential to Oakvillegreen's success and we wanted to highlight one of our dedicated volunteers from 2021. We asked Rosanne what it means to volunteer with us and she did not disappoint. Read about her experience volunteering with Oakvillegreen, in her own words, below.

"Year after year, Yellow Swallowtail butterflies appear by the stream that flows through my backyard. I’m always in awe of their ‘spot on schedule’ return and watch as their yellow/black wings swoop and flit among the cedars and pines. But... naturalists’ warnings of the impact of climate change clouds my pleasure and I wonder how much longer these yellow enchanters will return bringing such joy and wonder?

This spring an edition of the Oakvillegreen Conservation newsletter arrived in my ‘Inbox’. Volunteers were being solicited to help construct pollinator gardens in Oakville. ‘Serendipity’, I thought and enthusiastically I signed up! 

I arrived at Kingsford Gardens for my ‘first hands-on’ experience! But I saw only a dry, hard-packed-clay plot of land overflowing with weeds! This couldn’t possibly become a butterfly garden! If anything this was ground in need of something strong, like a tractor! I saw volunteers weeding… by hand! I joined in but with reluctance. Surely there had to be an easier way! However, I followed the lead of grade school and high school kids and elders already on site, as we slowly, oh so slowly, pulled up weeds with very long roots. Ugh! What little progress, I thought.

Weeks later I returned to Kingsford Gardens and couldn’t believe my eyes! First, the ‘plot’ was teeming with Oakvillegreen volunteers: teens, families with young children and elders with trowels and plants in hand. They were planting dozens and dozens of pollinator-friendly native plants. Oakvillegreen staff and volunteers had worked their magic by adding mounds of rich hummus into the former weed infested land transforming it into a meadow. A pollinator garden had become a reality and I was hooked! 

As summer moved along, I continued to volunteer following a rotation working at various sites. At [Butterfly Wing Garden at Oak Park (beside Wellspring)], the transformation was happening once again. Weeds became a forgotten bad dream and a meadow slowly appeared sending a native-plant, flowery greeting to all those passing by.

As I worked with other volunteers and Oakvillegreen staff members, I learned about native plants and mini eco-systems both of which I knew little. I was the beneficiary of a very knowledgeable staff and what wonderful teachers they proved to be, answering questions with ease, sharing their unique and broad-based knowledge of native plants and so much more. 

Although my concern for the future of the Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly continues, pollinator gardens are now an awe-inspiring reality in Oakville. Now for the next step…."

Thank you for your dedication to Oakville's pollinator gardens, Rosanne! You were quite the helping hand this year.