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Update: Reminder of the importance of adequate property maintenance

Update: June 13, 2024

The City of Pointe-Claire is proud to highlight the success of the 2024 Dandelion Challenge among its citizens! Your participation in this annual challenge is greatly appreciated and provides pollinators with the food source that they need during the spring and summer seasons.  

However, it is crucial to remember the importance of maintaining your property and adhering to Pointe-Claire’s nuisance regulation in order to reduce the dangers for yourself and your neighbors.  

It is therefore your responsibility to maintain the vegetation and trees on your land, as defined in the City’s nuisance by-law. The by-law stipulates that:    

  • Building occupants or property owners must not allow branches to remain on the ground or harmful plant species to grow. This does not apply to flowers, shrubs, and plants in a natural garden. 
  • If the condition of your tree poses a danger to people on public roads, it is prohibited to allow or maintain such a plant species in this condition. As the owner or occupant of a residence, you are responsible for the vegetation on your property, as well as for pruning and maintaining it. 
  • Natural gardens must not encroach on or over an adjacent property or on a roadway or sidewalk. 
  • The ‘visibility triangle’ must be respected, which means that, a natural garden’s flowers, shrubs and other vegetation must not exceed the maximum height permitted (91 centimetres – 3 feet). 

Did you know that you can adjust the blade on your lawnmower? If you wish to keep your grass longer, you can modify the height of the blade to create a better environment for pollinators.    

How to continue to help our pollinators  

There are still plenty of ways of providing food sources and habitats for pollinating insects, including planting native plants in your garden. Among the plants and wildflowers of Quebec that attract pollinators are: 

  • Common milkweed 
  • Hair beardtongue 
  • Heart-leaved aster 
  • Seaside goldenrod 
  • Pearly everlasting 

Another great way to help pollinators thrive is having a water source in your yard. On very hot days, bees constantly seek out water to fuel their pollinating endeavors. A bird bath, decorative fountain, or a bird feeder with a place for the bees to land are excellent ways of attracting them to your garden.  

To find out more about pollinators and how to attract them, visit the David Suzuki Foundation’s webpage on pollinators.  

Pointe-Claire joins the 2024 Dandelion Challenge in the protection of pollinating insects

May 8 2024

The City of Pointe-Claire is proud join the 2024 Dandelion Challenge, an annual environmental campaign for the protection of pollinating insects. As part of the campaign efforts, the City will let dandelions grow in certain parks, to be identified shortly, to help provide pollinators with the food source and natural habitat that they need to thrive.

We encourage all our residents to also take on the Dandelion Challenge by letting your dandelions, wildflowers and grass grow throughout the summer.

How can I play a role in the protection of pollinating insects?

By simply holding off on mowing your lawn throughout the summer, you are already helping tremendously!

This small action allows the protection and preservation of the pollinating insects’ food source, environment and natural habitat. Dandelions contain nectar on which these insects feed, who then go on to pollinate other flowers and plants.

These insects are crucial to our ecosystem, as about 35% of our food is dependent on them, and yet the extinction rates are about 100 to 1,000 times higher than other animals.

Their protection is our responsibility. Let’s all make take on the Dandelion Challenge to protect the animal world’s hardest workers.

To learn more about this Challenge, visit their website.

The City will continue to focus significant efforts toward ecological sustainability and resilience in accordance with its 2023-2023 Strategic Plan.