The Bring Back Bay Area Bees Butterflies & Birds Garden

In January of 2021, we removed our lawn and started planting drought tolerant California native plants. These native plants co-evolved with other native species over thousands of years. In the process, they became the only source of food for the caterpillars that feed baby birds, and serve as the foundation for the bulk of our local ecosystem. We were inspired by Doug Tallamy's lecture, "Nature's Best Hope" (also a NY Times bestselling book) You can read more about this in my welcome post, and watch his video here: https://bit.ly/Tallamy-CAPlants 

Fast forward to today, with unexpected rains that provided a reminder that the fall native California planting season is just around the corner. This inspired me to do a bit of weeding in between the showers and start to imagine the next steps for each garden area.  Since we started over a year and a half ago, the front yard has been transformed from lackluster lawn to four garden 'rooms': 

1) The Courtyard Garden between the sidewalk and driveway

In the foreground, manzanita Louis Edward and to the left of it, a delicate grey California fuchsia. Behind the chairs, flowering currants and carpenteria replaced non-native maples (the trees we removed not only do not feed any species, they were also a fire hazard so close to the house). Note that there are maples native to California that do feed the ecosystem: Home > Maple (all) for California (calscape.org) 

California Fuchsia - Salmon colored variety, possibly Sierra Salmon; these, and most red tubular native flowers, are hummingbird magnets. Since bees don't use red flowers generally, these have much more nectar for the hummingbirds. 

Red Flowering Buckwheat waiting to get planted. Buckwheat flowers attract a wide variety of insects, the leaves host many species of butterflies. More info is here: Red-flowered Buckwheat, Eriogonum grande var. rubescens (calscape.org)

2) The Meadow on the left and, 3) The Swale Garden on the right, both on the other side of the sidewalk

This beautiful ancient Valley Oak (Quercus lobata) has nourished this land for centuries. The leaves feed the soil and protect thousands of insects that feed the birds, salamanders and many other species. The acorns feed deer, racoons, squirrels and thousands more insects. We saw a hummingbird hovering near this oak, its tiny tongue flicking gnats out of the air. We subsequently learned that 80% of a hummingbird's diet is insects, which are also the primary food source for its babies. 

Red Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum) in foreground, with native asters (Aster chilensis) in between following the curve of the swale

 The gorgeous Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) is beloved by hummingbirds for its nectar and many other birds for its berries. 

It is tucked into a quiet corner of the swale garden, as its thorns are not beloved by humans. It is a nice plant for places where you want

to discourage people/dogs/or anything else that might trample your garden.

Manzanita "Dr. Hurd" underplanted with red flowering buckwheat in the Swale Garden

Close up of Pacific Asters (Symphyotrichum chilense) in the Swale Garden

- these are a bee magnet!

California native Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) in the Swale Garden

Elsewhere we have Beach Strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis) that prefers

 a bit more sun.

4) The Cafe Garden adjacent to the front door: 

To the right in the picture above are the native plants that are just becoming established this year. To the left are well established non-natives: in the foreground is Pieris japonica (from Japan), and on the other side of the birdbath is Sarcococca humilis (from China/India). I love these plants, and look forward to seeing them someday in their native countries, feeding the caterpillars and other insects that build the food webs in those local ecosystems. In the meantime, I need to remove them to make room for plants that will feed mine. 

Coffeeberry "Eve Case" - this compact coffeeberry feeds many species of butterflies and moths, and does well in shade 

Hummingbird sage seedlings - these do well in the shade of oak trees and are very popular with hummingbirds and bees

Birdbath with rocks for bees and butterflies

This is another view of the Cafe Garden: California natives include Coffeeberry, Hummingbird Sage, three Dark Star Ceanothus, and Dutchman's Pipevine seedlings along the trellis. Non-native azalea is in bloom. In the distance part of the Swale Garden is visible. Note: Dutchman's Pipevine is the only host plant for the caterpillars of the gorgeous Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly. It loves shade so will hopefully do well here. Learn more here: Pipevine Swallowtail, Battus philenor (calscape.org)

As I buzzed through each of these garden rooms, tidying up, I was amazed at some of the changes we've seen in just a year and a half. For instance, this past year was the first time we followed the Xerces Society's guidelines to "Leave the Leaves" - just sweeping them from hard surfaces, and from the 'meadow' and into piles around our plants. https://bit.ly/Leave-the-Leaves  

This serves to provide habitat for thousands of insects, including butterfly and moth pupae, that feed birds (especially the babies). The decomposing leaves also put nutrients back into the soil, soften the native clay so it is easier to pull weeds, and breed beneficial mycorrhiza - a fungus that live in plant roots and provides essential micronutrients, helps with water absorption, and secretes chemicals to kill soil pathogens. You can read more about it here: Planting Guide (calscape.org).  

I had to pull very few weeds today, and the ones that I did pull came up easily as the ground was soft.  In contrast, the ground in the meadow where we removed leaves was as hard as a rock and I'll need to use a hoe to get the weeds out.  There are thousands more insects that flit up when I disturb any space in the garden, such as pulling the few weeds that showed up. And as a result, I'm seeing more birds.  

The leaves also provided a nice environment for acorns to germinate so we have some oaks popping up around the yard. I'm going to leave some of these in place as they may someday replace the ancient Valley Oak we have in the garden now. Doug Tallamy also mentioned coppicing oaks, which is more commonplace in the Eastern United States. It keeps them smaller but still provides food to the ecosystem. https://bit.ly/Nature-of-Oaks

I'm looking forward to starting some more seeds and trying out some more plants in each of these garden rooms. It is exciting to see the birds, bees and butterflies start to increase as we add more natives and walk away from the stressful and noisy mow and blow approach to gardening that we had in the past.  

We've surpassed our goal of having at least 70% native plants by volume, and are closer to 99%.  Here is the current plant list:

California Native Plants:

Trees:

Valley Oak (Quercus lobata) 

Blue Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana)

Redbud (Cercis occidentalis) Wegman's Nursery (lg); Watershed Nursery (sm).

Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia "Davis Gold") - grown from seed 

Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) CNL Nursery

Shrubs:

Ribes: 

    Red Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguinium) CNL Nursery / Wegman's Nursery

    Catalina Currant (Ribes viburnifolium) - Summerwinds Nursery

    Golden Currant (Ribes aureum) - Watershed Nursery

    Fuchsiaflower Gooseberry (Ribes speciosum)

Manzanita 

    Arctostaphylos manzanita "Dr. Hurd" - Wegman's Nursery

    Arctostaphylos bakeri "Louis Edmund" - Summer Winds Nursery

    Arctostaphylos edmundsii "Carmel Sur" - Yerba Buena Nursery

    Arctostaphylos Pacific Mist - California Native Landscapes (CNL) Nursery

California Lilac

    Ceanothus "Dark Star" -  Wegman's Nursery / CNL Nursery

    Ceanothus (white) - CNL Nursery

Coffeeberry (Frangula californica "Eve Case") - Summer Winds Nursery

Coffeeberry (Frangula californica "Mound San Bruno") - CNL Nursery

Monkeyflower (Diplacus aurantiacus) - Yerba Buena Nursery

Sages:

    Hummingbird Sage (Salvia spathacea) CNPS - SCV Nursery

    Black Sage (Salvia mellifera) - Regional Botanic Garden

    Salvia "Pozo Blue" (a hybrid of s. clevelandii and s. leucophylla) - gift

    Cleveland Sage (Salvia clevelandii) - gift

Perennials:

Bee Plant (Scrophularia californica) - CNPS - SCV Nursery

Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum) - Wegman's Nursery

California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum) - Murphy's Nursery

California Hedgenettle (Stachys bullata) - Yerba Buena Nursery

Cliff Maids (Lewisia cotyledon) - Yerba Buena Nursery; Summerwinds Nursery

Foothill Penstemmon (Penstemon heterophyllus) - Wegman's Nursery

Iris (Iris "Pacific Coast") - Regional Botanic Park Nursery

Island Alum Root (Heuchera maxima) - CNL Nursery; Summerwinds Nursery

Pacific Aster (Symphyotrichum chilense) - Murphy's Nursery

Red Flowered Buckwheat (Eriogonum grande var. rubescens) - Yerba Buena Nursery

Soap plant (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) - Native Here Nursery

Verbena (Verbena lilacina "De La Mina") - CNL Nursery

Wooly Blue Curls (white version) (Trichostema lanatum) - CNL Nursery

Yampah (Perideridia kelloggii) - Native Here Nursery

Ground Covers:

Yerba Buena (Clinopodium douglasii) - Yerba Buena Nursery

Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) - Yerba Buena Nursery / Summerwinds Nursery

Beach Strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis) - friend's garden

Sand Dune Sedge (Carex pansa) - Summerwinds Nursery Palo Alto

Vines:

Dutchman's Pipevine (Aristolochia californica) - Yerba Buena & CNL Nurseries

Hairy Honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula)

Grasses:

Meadow Barley (Hordeum brachyantherum)

Purple needle grass (Stipa pulchra) - Regional Botanic Park Nursery

Mendocino Reedgrass / Leafy Reedgrass (Calimagrostis foliosa) - CNL Nursery

From Seed:

California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) - Larner Seeds

Elegant Clarkia (Clarkia unguiculata) - Larner Seeds

Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa) - Larner Seeds

Non-Native:

Lawn (removed 11/25/21 - thank you, Doug Tallamy for the inspiration!)

Chilean jasmine (removed 9/13/22) 

Pierris japonicus (removed 10/2/22)

Sarcaccoca humulis (removed 10/2/22)

Japanese Maples - by house (removed 11/15/22)

Box hedge (removed 1/15/23)

Azelea (bird cover, will remove when ceanothus and coffeeberry mature)

Japanese Maple - (by oak, used as bird perch, will remove when toyons mature)

Camelia - by window, used as bird perch; will remove when sambucus matures

Lavender (popular bee and hummingbird nectar source; seeds for finches, keeping it)

Australia - Birds of the Blue Mountains and Sydney

A recent trip to Sydney and the nearby Blue Mountains region with the family provided the opportunity to explore the ways that Australians are promoting habitat gardening and biodiversity in this region.  

We stayed at a lovely AirBnb in Leura, NSW, in the Blue Mountains. Most of this area is a massive wildlife reserve and is rich with biodiversity. The variety of birdsong, especially in the mornings, was amazing. Here are a few of the ones that we captured on camera, though we could hear hundreds more. They are the most active before dawn and at dusk, so images were hard to capture. If you go, I highly recommend staying in a place that has an adjoining wild space so you can fully experience the wildlife here.

Grandson, Charlie, took a picture of this red and green King Parrot in the back yard:

I jumped up in the middle of a conversation in the living room so I could capture this image of the Eastern Spinebill in a (non-native) flowering quince. This bird returned to this bush regularly to nectar on the flowers, so if I lived here, I'd actually consider planting it as part of my 30% non-native garden area.

At a lookout near Leura, I saw these beautiful birds but have not yet identified them. 

This Sulphur Crested Cockatoo was in a eucalyptus tree on Lindeman Road in Leura. We often saw flocks of these flying around this area in the morning, though they seemed to head east for the middle part of the day. 

This was as close as I could get to this Australian magpie, though the throaty songs of these birds was ubiquitous in the morning and evening bird choir. 

We returned from a long walk along Lindeman Road to find Crimson Rosellas in the garden at our AirBnb. This one perched in the same quince mentioned earlier. 

We went into Sydney for a day and met up with relatives Alice and Scarlett for lunch at the Sydney Botanical Gardens. The regal black and white ibises were everywhere, but as they forage for food in urban environments, they have earned the unfortunate nickname 'bin chickens'.  I still think they are lovely!

Nearby, a Kukaburra perched on a high branch and surveyed the scene.

We walked from the Botanical Garden to the Circulary Quay where we saw many of these gulls, with their bright orange beaks and feet and light golden eyes. 

It's Working! The Leafcutter Bees Have Arrived!

 

At last!  We have leafcutter bees in our garden!  We have been busy and traveling, so did not actually see them take some of these leaves for their nests, but we are so happy to see that they have found our garden in any case.  We're watching for them now, noting that leafcutter bees are striped like a honey bee, but carry pollen on their abdomens (see image below). 

They are solitary bees that cut circular pieces of leaves from plants such as Western redbud, rose and azalea. They then use these pieces to line their nest and also plug the spaces between their egg cells. You can find them nesting in wood, hollow stems from plants, or in other natural cavities. It is easy to encourage them to nest in your garden by providing them with some of these natural materials or even a 'bee hotel': https://beegarden.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/How-to-build-and-use-bee-blocks.pdf

California is home to over 1,600 species of native bees - more than any other state.  These bees have evolved to specialize on certain native plants, and play unique roles in our complex ecosystems.  Learn more about the types of bees here: https://arboretum.sf.ucdavis.edu/blog/beyond-honey-bee-learn-more-about-california-native-bees

I hope you'll be inspired to grow some native plants to benefit these amazing beneficials!

Happy (native) gardening!

Jennifer

Close up of Leafcutter Bee markings on leaves (c) Jennifer Dirking

   Leafcutter bee nectaring in a California native Cobweb Thistle 

(Circium occidentale) (c) Jennifer Dirking 

Remember: Never use pesticides.  Even the organic ones kill bees that pollinator our plants.  Encourage your neighbors to stop using pesticides that will kill your butterflies and bees when they visit those gardens as well. Avoid herbicides which will damage the ecosystem you are trying to build, and pose health risks for humans, too.

Grow Caterpillars, Feed Baby Birds

     Chickadee with caterpillar © Alok Singhal some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)

Our local birds are in serious decline. The adult birds that are visit our feeders in fall and winter will start nesting in early spring. When they do, they will seek millions of caterpillars to feed their young. That’s right – the babies don’t eat seeds. Their throats are tender and they need thick, soft, nutritious caterpillars (think of them as ‘sausages’ for baby birds).  But caterpillars are increasingly rare, and many of our local baby birds face starvation each spring. How can we save them?

Caterpillars grow primarily on native plants like the ones listed here: https://bit.ly/Feed-Baby-Birds. Just as monarch caterpillars need native milkweed, checkerspot caterpillars need bee plant (scorophularia californica) and monkeyflower, acmon blues need buckwheat and lupine, sphinx moth caterpillars need clarkias.

In short, we need to grow the plants that grow the caterpillars that grow the baby birds.  Here in the SF Bay Area there are several hundred native butterflies and moths that specialize on particular native plants (see item #3 below), let’s get started and grow them!

Five Ways to Save Baby Birds in the Spring (start now!)   

1)   Read: If you have just 10 minutes, read this New York Times article about the issue and solution: If https://bit.ly/Chickadees-Guide

2)    Watch:  Check out this talk by New York Times Bestseller Doug Tallamy, who wrote “Nature’s Best Hope” that will inspire you to grow caterpillars:  https://bit.ly/Tallamy-CAPlants

3)   Plant: Whether you have a garden or simply a balcony with a pot of soil, you can start growing ‘baby bird food” in the form of caterpillars. 

      Here is a super-colorful guide to the "Fabulous  Fifteen" - the very top performing California natives that will provide the greatest number of caterpillars in your garden: https://bit.ly/Feed-Baby-Birds

      You can find a longer list here:  https://bit.ly/Tallamy-Bay-Area-Natives  and then learn more about the plants here: https://bit.ly/Calscape.  

      See the Audubon Society’s database of plants that provide insects, berries and seeds for adult birds: https://bit.ly/Native-Plants-Audubon-USA 

4)      Share: In just a few moments each day, you can share information, native plants and native seeds with friends and neighbors. Build a “butterfly corridor” in your area. Butterflies, moths and bees sense plants by the natural chemical compounds those plants emit, so patches of plants spread over an area will “send out a signal” and draw them to your garden! 

     Chickadee © Zoe Ferraris some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)

Remember: Never use pesticides.  Even the organic ones kill caterpillars that feed baby birds. And even aphids serve as baby bird food, so try to leave them on your plants as much as possible. Encourage your neighbors to stop using pesticides that will kill your butterflies and bees when they visit those gardens. Avoid herbicides which will damage the ecosystem you are trying to build, and pose health risks for humans, too.

Chickadee with fledgeling © wingedtoad some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)

Easy To Grow California Native Plants That Feed Caterpillars (that feed baby birds):

As mentioned above, you can click on this handy guide with interactive links to the TOP 30 California native plants that support the most caterpillars.  Most of these are drought resistant, many are evergreen, all of them are beautiful and will dramatically increase biodiversity in your garden:

https://bit.ly/Feed-Baby-Birds

These plants also provide nectar and pollen to butterflies, Moths and Bees

Details: The interactive guide enables you to click the plant name to see some of the butterflies and moths that lay their eggs on them (and be sure to choose the variety that grows naturally in your area, using the Calscape.org address field). 

The titles also include generic name, Latin name, precise species and total number of butterflies and moths that lay their eggs on them per Doug Tallamy, Entomologist at University of Delaware and author of New York Times Bestseller “Nature’s Best Hope”

Pictured below: Manzanita (Arctostaphylos species) (c) Jennifer Dirking;  California lilac (ceanothus species) (c) Jennifer Dirking;  Bolander's Sunflower (Helianthus species) (c) Klamath-Siskiou Seeds; California Buckwheat (Eriogonum species) (c) Kueda iNaturalist

Grow Wildflowers, Grow Butterflies and Moths - Wildflower Packet Info for a Sunny Wildflower Mix

 

Free Wildflower Seeds!

Sometime in November 2021, I stumbled upon a simple model for inspiring people to try native gardening - give away free seeds, and leverage social media in the process. In the beginning, I simply gave away seeds to friends, family, and people on my block. But the most successful seed giveaway was on Nextdoor, which made distribution easy (I'd drop off seeds at a Little Library near my house or mail out to people). The seeds were popular but by themselves were not going to inspire people to create habitat gardens. So, I included a handout (below) with the images and info below, and also invited people to join the "Bring Back Bay Area Bees, Butterflies and Birds." group that I started on Nextdoor. I heard from many people that they found the resources very useful. And, within 8 months, over 325 people had joined the Nextdoor group and started sharing plants, seeds and tips with each other.

grow wildflowers - grow butterflies!

Butterflies and moths hosted by contents of one packet of 

“Hills of California Native Wildflowers” from Larnerseeds.com

This packet contains California native wildflowers in rich hues of gold, orange, pink, purple and blue that will cover a 25 square foot area if scattered thinly and allowed space to grow to their natural dimensions.  The flowers will bloom in succession from early spring through late summer, and can also be mixed with native grasses for a meadow effect. 

We all enjoy the flowers for their beauty, but to the bees, butterflies and birds, they are an essential source of nourishment for their survival. The flowers provide pollen for bees, nectar for butterflies and moths, and essential food for their young, the caterpillars. 

Butterflies drink nectar from many different types of flowers, but lay their eggs on just one or two types of host plants that will feed their offspring. The Variable Checkerspot, Silvery Blue, and other butterflies and moths listed on the next page rely on the plants in this packet as a caterpillar food source. The caterpillars, in turn, are essential for the survival of our local birds, since 96% of the birds that visit your yard depend on caterpillars to feed their young.*

Scattering this packet of native wildflower seeds is a joyful way to restore lost wildlife habitat while enhancing your gardening experience. I hope you revel in the beauty of the flowers, colorful caterpillars, variety of pollinators, baby birds, and the dance of life in your garden. 

Enjoy! 

Jennifer Dirking ~ EcoGardenista@gmail.com

PS: Spread the word to your friends and neighbors. Some neighborhoods are creating “butterfly corridors” with patches of wildflowers and native plants in each of their gardens.

*See NY Times Bestseller “Nature’s Best Hope” by Doug Tallamy or tune into the video:

https://bit.ly/Tallamy-CAPlants

Photo Credits:© Savannah Smith, Larner Seeds Demonstration Garden (from top left: Goldfields, Blue Flax, Arroyo Lupine; from top right, Lacy Phacelia, California Poppies)

Hills of California Wildflower Mix Contents

(with butterflies & moths they host)*

Farewell to Spring, Clarkia amoena (hosts White Lined Sphinx Moth, Clark’s Day Sphinx Moth)

Mountain Garland, Clarkia unguiculata (hosts White Lined Sphinx Moth, Clark’s Day Sphinx Moth)
Chinese Houses, Collinsia heterophylla (hosts Variable Checkerspot)
California Poppy, Eschscholzia californica (useful to pollinators)
Globe Gilia, Gilia capitata (host to Fairy Longhorn Moth)
Goldfields, Lasthenia glabrata (hosts Small Heliothodes Moth)

Tidy Tips, Layia platyglossa (hosts Small Heliothodes Moth)
Blue Flax, Linum lewisii (hosts Variegated Fritillary)

Miniature Lupine, Lupinus bicolor (hosts Painted Lady, Acmon Blue, Gray Hairstreak) 

Sky Lupine, Lupinus nanus (hosts Orange Sulphur, Painted Lady, Acmon Blue, Gray Hairstreak) 

Arroyo Lupine, Lupinus succulentus (hosts West Coast Lady, Painted Lady, Acmon Blue, Gray Hairstreak)

Five Spot, Nemophila maculate (hosts Funereal Duskywing)
Baby Blue-Eyes, Nemophila menziesii (hosts Owlet Moth)

Lacy Phacelia, Phacelia tanacetifolila – (hosts Bilobed Looper Moth, beloved by bees)

NOTE: A more comprehensive list of the number of butterflies each plant hosts, and details about the plants and butterflies, can be found at Calscape.org

*”Host” = key food source for the caterpillars of these particular butterflies, that co-evolved to specialize over thousands of years. Butterflies die out without these plants. 

Photo Credits: © Savannah Smith, Larner Seeds Demonstration Garden - From top left: Purple Chinese Houses, Five Spot, Baby Blue Eyes, Bird’s Eye Gilia; from top right: Mountain Garland, Tidy Tips, Farewell to Spring

From top left: Variable Checkerspot © photojuls, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) Spotted Sun Straw Moth © icosahedron. Mariposa Forester © catchang  from top right: Clark’s Day Sphinx Moth, © Daniel George Funereal Duskywing © BJ Stacey; Annaphila depicta © Paul G. Johnson. Some rights reserved. White Lined Sphinx Moth © chicagoman some rights reserved, Bottom: Variegated Fritillary © skitterbug, some rights reserved (CC-BY)

Right side: Gray Hairstreak © Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC-BY) Painted Lady  © Shirley Zundell, some rights reserved (CC-BY); Acmon Blue © icosahedron, some rights reserved (CC-BY); West Coast Lady, © Don Loarie, some rights reserved (CC-BY) White-lined Sphinx © Greg Lasley, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)Acmon Blue © dickwood, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC) Orange Sulphur © Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC-BY)

Planting instructions

Fall through winter is the ideal time to start growing California native wildflowers as these have adapted to capitalize on the fall and winter rains (October-February is best).  

Choose A Site & Prepare Your Soil. Choose a spacious site in full sun. Prepare your soil (or several very large pots), by removing all existing growth and debris. If your soil is clay, break it up with some compost or cactus soil (sold at nurseries). 

Water thoroughly to help seeds settle into the soil. Continue to water a few times a week, unless it rains, so they don’t dry out after germinating. 

After you plant your seeds, let the area ‘go natural’ by leaving the leaf litter on the ground. While many butterflies go into chrysalis on stems or other hard surfaces like branches, many others go into chrysalis in the debris. If you rake or blow it, you could accidentally throw them away. Use stepping stones so that you won't crush native bees and other insects that will set up their homes underground as you develop habitat.

Avoid using pesticides anywhere in your garden, it will kill the beneficial insects such as bees, butterflies, moths, and ladybugs that you are trying to attract. Try to ignore bugs, as they are part of the ecosystem (for instance, hummingbirds eat aphids). If you hose the plant or try to remove pests you may dislodge butterfly or ladybug eggs or kill tiny caterpillars.  Avoid using herbicides as they also poison the ecosystem you are trying to nurture. 

Questions? Contact Jennifer Dirking – EcoGardenista@gmail.com

Resources for Growing Native Plants for Butterflies and Bees

Check out the California Native Plant Society (CNPS). It is the leading organization with reliable information about native plants, and has great resources including YouTube videos, chapter gatherings, online plant sales. https://bit.ly/CNPSChapters

Want to find more California Native plants specific to your area, and the butterflies that use them as host plants? Then check out this amazing, colorful database, filled with pictures and links to nurseries:  Calscape.org

Seek answers to these questions (some of my favorite videos):  

Why should we grow native plants to save birds and butterflies? NY Times Bestseller Doug Tallamy’s inspiring call to action is here: https://bit.ly/TallamyCNPS2020 

How can you restore nature in your garden? Dennis Mudd shares his ingights: https://bit.ly/DennisMudd

When should you plant, water, prune, or leave things alone? Helen Popper shares a month-by-month guide for California gardeners: https://bit.ly/HelenPopper

What planting methods and soil will ensure success? Haven Kiers from UC Davis shares research: https://bit.ly/HavenKiers

Looking for more native seeds? Check out the great selection of native seeds and seed mixes at Larnerseed.com, klamathsiskiyouseeds.com PCSeed.com (also botanicalinterests.com sells “California Color” and “Narrow Leaf Milkweed”).

Need Plants? Find nurseries and plant sales at: https://bit.ly/CNPSnurseryList   Also: CNLnatives.com, YerbaBuenaNursery.com, AnniesAnnuals.com, WegmansNursery.com, SummerWindsNursery.com

Great Books:  https://bit.ly/Native-Plant-Butterfly-Books

Field Trip! Check out ideas at: https://bit.ly/Field-Trip-Ideas

  

Join the movement! Register your native garden (or the section that is native, like this milkweed) as part of the Homegrown National Park (it is free!). Or go the extra mile by making a gift to help recapture 20 million acres for native butterflies, bees, and birds:  https://bit.ly/HomeGrownNationalPark

© Jennifer B Dirking 2022