As we all know, 2020 marked the beginning of tough times for humanity. Among the pandemic lockdowns, I like most, dove head first into new hobbies. I tried bread baking, painting and sewing. The one hobby that really stuck however, was my love for gardening.

While the pandemic was ultimately first and foremost a plague on humanity, there was a tiny silver lining. It caused my family to retreat to our cabins, giving me the opportunity to slow down and pay attention to myself and nature.

My first gardening goal was to transform our hill into a pollinator’s paradise. The area of the hill is about 1,900 meters squared. My partner mowed a path winding through the hill and I planted about five small garden beds along the path. My dream is to have a colourful cottage garden on the hill, buzzing with a variety of pollinators. It’ll take awhile, but every year I make some progress.

The hill already contains native plants to our area, such as chokecherries and goldenrod. I incorporated other natives like purple coneflower, black eyed susans, bee balm, smooth rose bushes, yarrow and asters. However, in the early days I planted non-natives such as day lilies, irises, grapes and a clematis (the latter of which I fried).

While most of these plants are still around, the native plants are thriving the best. One reason is because native plants don’t need as much water as their extensive root systems dig deep.

Here are select photos of my successes and failures on the cottage garden hill in 2020.