POLLINATOR GARDEN
LOCATION: Behind the Mississippi Mills Public Library, Almonte Branch, at 155 High Street
Established in 1992, this garden takes visitors on a journey of discovery through its extensive beds of perennials, grasses, bushes and trees. At its centre is the metal sculpture Anthophilia (ancient Greek for the love of flowers). Created by renowned artist/blacksmith Cairn Cunnane, it was installed in 2021 to mark the 100th anniversary of the A&DHS.
Designed to showcase perennials to educate the public on the varieties of plants that can be grown in our area, the medley of plantings continuously expands and changes as the beds grow and mature. The public is invited to visit often to see what’s in bloom at the moment, and to find out what’s new.
Following the growing interest in native plant gardening, a new demonstration bed of native plants was installed in 2025.
As part of Town Beautification Project the Pollinator Garden is funded through the our twice-yearly plant sales and from a grant from Municipality of Mississippi Mills, and is maintained by a fun group of dedicated volunteers.
HISTORY OF THIS GARDEN
The Origin Story
The A&DHS strives to educate the public on the varieties of plants that can be grown in our area in support of the vision of its parent organization the Ontario Horticultural Association. In the early 1990s, the A&DHS decided an impactful way to do this was to create an extensive new public garden in Almonte.
Creating the garden was a successful collaboration of many members of the community. The overall design of the garden was chosen by the executive at the time, while partners in the local horticulture industry were integral to bring the vision to life.
The A&DHS worked with the Mississippi Mills to find the perfect location for this important new feature for the community. The spot behind the library was selected and the A&DHS was granted permission to establish the new garden on this site.
To fund the project, the Society hosted a day-long workshop in 1992 at the Almonte Citivan Hall and raised over $3000. This successful day featured a line-up of local experts – Suzanne Patry of Whitehouse Perennials, Leonard Lee of Lee Valley Tools, and Ed Lawrence the now-retired CBC gardening guru.
Site selected and funding in place, all that remained was the big task of bringing the grand vision that the Society had to life. Many, many people were part of this process. Suzanne Patry, Whitehouse Perennials, took on the key job of selecting the plants and laying out the plantings. Allan Goddard and his crew of Almonte Landscape Services did the hard labour of digging, creating and filling the beds. They also outlined the inner beds with local stones and the outer beds with red brick. The final step was turned over to members of the A&DHS, who enthusiastically planted many of the perennials that you see and enjoy today.
A Growing Focus on Pollinators
In 2018 the A&DHS decided to renovate the gardens to create a more pollinator friendly environment. Many informative speakers at the monthly meetings have stressed the importance of encouraging native bees, butterflies and beneficial insects in all our gardens. Since 2018, the Society has added a large variety of herbs and flowers to support native pollinators, including agastache, monarda, tansy, thyme, lavender, asclepias, veronicastrum, sedum, echinops, echinacea, alliums and asters.
A Garden that Keeps Growing
The Pollinator Garden is now over 20 years old, and has grown and changed over time – as all gardens do. Since that original design we’ve added:
In 2021 a new highlight was installed to mark the 100th anniversary of the A&DHS, the center sculpture Anthophilia. The A&DHS contracted the talented Ottawa artist/blacksmith Cairn Cunnane to create this sculpture that is named after the ancient Greek term for “the love of flowers”.
In 2025 a new bed dedicated to native wildflower was installed.