It's a humid day, but the welcome breeze seems to please the brown-eyed Susans, swamp milkweed, meadow flowers and grasses.

White butterflies dip among a sweet-smelling, white-cupped flower that cascades over the earth.

This may look like a land's end between Simcoe Street East and Wellington Street North -- and in a way it is -- beyond the railway tracks, industries lie baking in the heat.

But the meadow in North End Hamilton near Jackie Washington Park has become an oasis for the neighbourhood. Volunteers have planted more than 1,500 meadow and prairie plants, trees and shrubs.

The Land's Inlet Nature Project was developed by program co-ordinator Alan Ernest of The Hamilton Naturalists' Club and its Head-of-the-Lake Land Trust that works to protect and enhance land for nature. About 10 different city groups also have been involved.

The goal is to create natural areas in industrial parts of the city. The project is funded by the Hamilton Community Foundation and named after Robert Land (1736-1818), whose family first settled what is now Hamilton.

A single tree, a pin oak, launched the project in the fall of 2006. The following spring, 1,200 plants went into the ground where bulldozing and regrading for the relocation of a pipeline had left an unsightly mess.

"We started out with a concept to create a small natural corridor in the city to involve the neighbourhood children and young people," says Ernest, who lives in Waterdown.

He is pleased to see the transformation and community involvement but the best part has been working with residents and seeing how much they value what they have created. Half of the 350 volunteers are from the area and half are children. Students from St. Lawrence Elementary School did soil testing and garbage pickup.

Nearly 175 new Canadians came for a look as part of a program to introduce families to Canadian gardening.

"Gardening has proved to be an international language that requires no translation," says Julia Kollek, a co-ordinator.

A garden party last month drew 150 to celebrate the project.

Ernest hopes the project will be extended to the north, west and south of the site.

Kelly Hilton hopes that Hamilton women in need will sit among the flowers and feel welcome.

When she launched Seeds of Hope last year, her aim was to create gardens using seeds from women's centres in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya and Pakistan. The global project is hosted here by the Women's Centre of Hamilton and brings together women from around the world to create awareness about women's issues and to build up community life.

"We are using urban landscape to create social change," says Kelly, a Hamilton writer and activist.

The idea of using seeds from other countries didn't work so horticulturists Peter Wickett and Shelley Van Dyke help with choosing plants donated by the City of Hamilton.

She wants visitors to note the plants' diversity and be reminded of the various situations of women around the world.

Kelly also wants them to think of the resilient seed and, in the garden's life cycle, see the potential for peace, renewal and growth.

The project is now growing more than plants.

Kelly realized women wanted to tell others about their lives and the work they do. That information is now available in booklets at the gardens. Signs also give the Women's Centre address and phone number for women to who need help.

"By using a public forum (the garden sites), we are working to eliminate the stigma of women in need who are seeking and receiving assistance and making that outreach part of the physical and psychological landscape of the community," she says.

The nine Seeds of Hope gardens include roses (a medicinal plant in Pakistan), rhododendron (Nepal's national flower), thyme (an essential oil in Cameroon), African violet (representing Kenya), and acacia (a famine food in Ethiopia).

You can visit the gardens at Hamilton Central Police Station, 155 King William St., Children's International Learning Centre, 189 King William St., Hamilton Artists Inc., 161 James St. N., The First Unitarian Church of Hamilton, 170 Dundurn St. S., Sky Dragon Community Development Co-operative Inc., 27 King William St., Unity on the Mountain, 21 Rosedene Ave., Workers Art and Heritage Centre, 51 Stuart St.

Call 905-522-0127 for more information.

sbourret@thespec.com

905-526-3305