The Ajax pollinator garden on the town’s waterfront is being mowed as part of periodic maintenance intended to protect the site’s role as an open meadow.
Town officials told Durham Radio News that the work is meant to prevent the garden from gradually becoming a forested area. Keeping the landscape open preserves the habitat and ecological function for which it was created.
Mowing is periodic, not a relocation
Ajax says pollinator gardens require cutting every few years. The waterfront garden is not being removed or moved to another location.
Without occasional mowing, shrubs and young trees can become established through natural succession. The maintenance resets that growth while allowing meadow plants to continue providing food and habitat for bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects.
The town maintains five pollinator gardens across Ajax. Municipal staff care for the sites during the summer by mulching and removing litter in addition to carrying out longer-term maintenance when required.
Ajax is a designated Bee City
Ajax is one of 95 Canadian communities designated through Bee City Canada, a program that recognizes local efforts to create, maintain and promote pollinator habitat.
The waterfront work may look more disruptive than routine garden upkeep, but the town says the mowing supports the long-term purpose of the site. The goal is to retain a meadow rather than allow the area to transition naturally into woodland.
The Ajax pollinator garden will remain at the waterfront after the work is complete.
