Seven Years of Blooming Boulevards: How Native Plant Gardens Took Root in Mississauga

by Murray Moore

Seven years ago, Blooming Boulevards began with a simple but powerful idea: replace lawn grass on residential boulevards with native plants. What started in front of 13 homes across Mississauga neighbourhoods has since grown into a community movement rooted in stewardship, education, and care for the natural world.

Murray and Mary Ellen Moore with their soon-to-be first native plant garden site, prepared and waiting for BB plants, in 2019. Now seven years later, they have expanded the garden and their entire property is a magnificent native plant oasis.

Blooming Boulevards held its first annual general meeting in August 2019. As the organization marks its seventh year, some of the original 13 garden stewards reflected on what native plant gardening has meant to them—and what their gardens have brought into their lives.

From lawn to living habitat

Barry was ready for Blooming Boulevards before he even knew it existed. He had already removed his front lawn and created what he describes as a “wild garden,” although not all of the plants were indigenous. It was his Councillor, Stephen Dasko, who introduced him to Blooming Boulevards.

Barry planting his new boulevard garden in 2019.

For Barry, native gardening is both personal and collective. “A garden of native plants means I’m giving back to the planet in a small way,” he says, “and if we all give back in small ways it becomes a big way. Collective power.”

His garden has also changed how people experience his street. “People come by and comment that I have a park outside my front door,” Barry says.

Learning to see the yard differently

Punitha describes Blooming Boulevards as an important resource in her own journey toward naturalizing her yard. “Blooming Boulevards has been an excellent resource to help me naturalize my yard,” she says. “It started my journey of awareness about native plants. Planting a native garden helps restore our connection with the earth.”

That awareness has been central to Blooming Boulevards from the beginning. Native plant gardens do more than beautify a neighbourhood. They invite residents to notice the life around them: pollinators moving from flower to flower, birds returning to feed, and neighbours stopping to ask questions.

Sharing knowledge, plants, and neighbourhood connections

Angela, Blooming Boulevards’ first garden steward and a founding board member, says native gardening introduced her to the importance of native pollinators. “I appreciated the education and enlightenment and love sharing that knowledge,” she says.

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Her garden has become a source of pride and connection. “My garden is very precious to me and has brought me many new neighbourhood friends,” Angela says. “I am very proud to explain to walkers-by and visitors the origin and purpose of the garden—and, of course, share my plants and website information for Blooming Boulevards.”

A garden alive with pollinators

Catherine was also a founding board member, and in Blooming Boulevards’ early days she visited the other new gardens to observe their health. For her, the most noticeable change has been the return of life to the garden: “For me the most noticeable change my native garden has brought is the introduction of so many insects, butterflies, bees and birds into the garden,” she says. The activity begins in early spring. “This activity starts in April with the emergence of bloodroot and continues through summer and fall with penstemon, bee balm, milkweed, asters and goldenrod,” Catherine says. “It is a real delight to see these plants awash with so many pollinators.”

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Like the other stewards, Catherine has found that the garden opens conversations. “People walking by the garden are intrigued by this activity too,” she says, “and I get the opportunity to talk to them about the plants and their relationship with pollinators.”

Small gardens, collective power

In 2026, nearly 400 Blooming Boulevards gardens are spread across Mississauga. What began with 13 boulevard gardens has become a living example of how small individual actions can grow into community-wide impact.

Each garden tells a story of connection: to plants, to pollinators, to neighbours, and to the earth itself. Seven years on, Blooming Boulevards continues to show that a boulevard can be much more than a strip of grass. It can be habitat. It can be education. It can be community. And, as Barry put it, it can be collective power.