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Dorte Windmuller
About
Passionate Gardener on two continents • Community Builder • Native Plant Advocate • Designer • Teacher • Composter & Soil Explorer • Entrepreneur
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Co-Founder of Cliffcrest Butterflyway
Owner of Pollinator Garden by Dorte Windmuller
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I work in the Greater Toronto Area and am based in Toronto's Bluffs. With an entrepreneurial journey spanning over four decades, I take immense pride in providing exceptional customer service and delivering personalized solutions.
My passion for native plants began in 2016, when I replaced some of my lawns with native plants. I was amazed at how quickly these few native plants brought abundant life back into the landscape. This experience opened my eyes to the profound, devastating impact we have on nature—and ultimately on ourselves—when we replace native plants, which are intricately connected and the foundation for all forms of life from caterpillars to birds, with lawns and ornamental plants. Recognizing the potential of native plants as a powerful solution to biodiversity loss and even climate change, I co-founded the Cliffcrest Butterflyway in 2019 and launched PollinatorGarden.ca in 2023.
Cliffcrest Butterflyway
Co-Founder and Volunteer:
Strategist, content and website developer, event planner, presenter and educational outreach.
Education
My teachers are the plants I grow from seed, the ones I planted in many gardens under different conditions, and the plants surrounding me everywhere I go. Years of observation and research have given me practical knowledge.
Studying the giants who laid the groundwork for our understanding today, and ongoing study with today's best practitioners, fast-tracks and deepens my understanding of the very complex natural world of plant communities. You can find some of the best teachers in the resources.
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Dr. Elaine's Soil Food Web School, Foundation Courses 2022
Western University, Connecting for Climate Change Action, 2023-24
Matt Powers, Regenerative Soil, 2024 -
Native Plant Trust, Designing with Native Plants, 2024
Kelly D. Norris, New Naturalism Academy, 2026
Speaking Engagements and Workshops
I frequently speak and teach at Garden Clubs, for the David Suzuki Foundation, school classes from kindergarten to grade 12, and at Cliffcrest Butterflyway. I have spoken at the National Home Show, Probus, and Toronto Nature Stewards.
I lead volunteer groups and workshops at Variety Village and Feed Scarborough.
With the Cliffcrest Butterflyway, we tabled at Seedy Saturdays, NANPS, TBG, and Master Gardeners. ​​
Photos
My garden photos have been published in Lorraine Johnson's and Sheila Colla's book 'A Garden For The Rusty-Patched Bumblebee' and in the work of the North American Native Plant Society, NANPS and the City of Toronto.
Podcasts
LAND ACKNOLEDGEMENT
We live, learn, work, grow food, extract resources, build cities and garden on the traditional land of Indigenous Peoples.
I want to recognize the enduring presence of Indigenous Peoples on this land and the historical and continued oppression of lands and cultures. It is a great privilege for me to live on Turtle Island, and I want to be very clear that we all profit from millennia of hard work and wisdom with which Indigenous Peoples have transformed this continent into a fertile and abundant land while keeping it clean and pristine.
Indigenous Peoples are still knowledge keepers of this incredible mastery through their deep connection to the land. Western Society and Science must start highly valuing and listening to Indigenous voices and stories to respect and honour Indigenous cultures, and for the good of humanity, to help find solutions to biodiversity loss and climate change.
I live in Toronto. The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River regions are areas that were diverse and densely populated by many nations for time immemorial, including the Anishinaabe meaning "Original People," the Haudenosaunee, "People of the Longhouse," the Mississaugas of the Credit, "People of the River of the north of many mouths," and the Wendat, "People of the Island." At least 700 years ago, the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee confederacies made a legal agreement, wampum, beautifully called "the dish with one spoon," to keep peace and to take care of the land. This entails taking only what you need, keeping the environment clean and leaving some for the future. The dish with one spoon is a powerful metaphor and teaching that invites us to reflect on all aspects of life and politics. Over time, subsequent Indigenous Nations and peoples, Europeans, and all newcomers have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship, and respect.
So, how can we reciprocate? For gardeners, this means putting native plants back onto their land and using no-harm garden practices, regenerating lost biodiversity and life. It means rewilding the land that we degraded as a consequence of our extractive Western mindset.
Since mindset is the root cause of the decline in human and planetary health, it is very important to be curious and open so we can rewild our own minds first. Only then can we be a good example and respectfully, patiently help those around us rewild their minds so that we, as a society, can move forward in a good way.
Clothing Mother Earth's skin with native plants again is one of the many needed acts of reconciliation. And that's why we are gardeners for wildlife. Let's plant more native plants!
