Nearest Address: 151 Carstowe Rd, Toronto, ON M4T 2G7
Meets: Monday 2:00-4:00 PM starting Apr 27
Transit: 27-minute walk from St. Clair subway station via St. Clair Ave. and Mt. Pleasant.
20 minutes from St. Clair station by bus, 88A South Leaside to Thorncliffe Via Overlea to Welland. Walk south 9 minutes on Welland Ave and McLennan.
18 mins from Rosedale station by bus, 82 Rosedale to Summerhill. 6-minute walk over railway tracks on pedestrian bridge.
Parking: There is ample free parking along Carstowe Rd.
TNS Carstowe Rd is a new addition for 2026. It is about one hectare of land along the north side of Carstowe Rd between Mt Pleasant Rd and the pedestrian overpass at MacLennan Avenue. The north boundary is the backyards of the houses on Ridge Drive.
The area is a south-facing slope that was the northern shore of Lake Iroquois until 12,000 years ago. It is adjacent to an environmentally sensitive area (ESA) to the east. The area was planted with native trees by the City in 2000, and some maintenance work and planting of native plants continued for several years. More recently, it has been sorely neglected. Vines are damaging the trees, and the understory is almost 100% invasive species.
The invasive woody species – buckthorn, Norway and Manitoba maple, non-native honeysuckle and spindle trees – should be relatively easy to remove. There are patches of phragmites and Japanese knotweed that are reasonably small and can be contained and eventually eliminated.
At ground level, there are masses of creeping bellflower, goutweed, English ivy, lesser celandine, garlic mustard, scilla, and dog-strangling vine. These will be exceedingly challenging. There are some small areas of Virginia waterleaf that need to be protected, and hopefully, an area of the sunny south-facing bank can be planted with sun-loving pollinator species and kept free of invasives.
The first priority will be to ensure that the native trees planted by the City flourish. During the first year, we hope to create a comprehensive plant inventory to support an application to extend the site south of Carstowe Rd and to allow planting in 2027.
More information and some pictures are available at https://oyston.com/blog/tns-carstowe-rd/
Join the Carstowe Road Stewardship Team
Site Document Archive
Note: Site Assessments and past Plant Inventory Reports are present for archival purposes. Site Assessments were prepared by volunteer Lead Stewards in the years indicated, while Plant Inventory Reports were compiled from data collected by volunteer Stewards and Lead Stewards. Site and management unit boundaries have shifted over time and may not necessarily reflect current site limits.
Plant Inventory Reports
No plant inventory reports currently exist for this site.
Site Assessments
No site assessments currently exist for this site.