Thank you to everyone who participated in our two-part pollinator gardening workshop series, January 14 and February 4, 2017. We learned all about insects and pollinator-plant interactions! Workshops were led by habitat gardening expert and California Native Plant Society’s long-time member Charlotte Torgovitsky. Lessons on nature journaling and how to keep track of who visits your garden were led by long-time nursery volunteer and Zen Weeding and Woodacre’s Oval Park Garden caretaker, Nancy Hanson. We enjoyed delicious refreshments courtesy of Equator Coffee and Sweet Things Bakery.
Nancy and Charlotte walking the group through a useful gardening tools tutorial.
We accomplished a lot – workshop participants put more than 100 native plants into the ground! These included 30 different species that are native to California and attract pollinators, including 22 species of butterflies.
The pollen and nectar of these plants attract bees, bumblebees, predatory wasps (which prey on some pest insects), ladybugs, tachnid flies, and hoverflies.
Many of the plants were placed in the demonstration garden near the native plant nursery. Other plants were distributed “wild gardening” style around the TIRN office area and at our restoration site across the street from the office. Nearly all of the plants were grown by the native plant nursery and by Home Ground Habitat Nursery.
Local Marin County teachers came out to learn at our SPAWN’s Pollinator Garden Workshop February 2017.
Several teachers participated, and we are hoping that they are inspired to add more native plants to their schoolyards. Many of the workshop participants left with new ideas, and some left with concrete plans and plants, ready to create more habitat space in their yards.
The new pollinator garden will serve as a demonstration garden and also provides a welcoming entrance to our plant nursery. We invite you to stop by our nursery to watch our newest garden grow! Contact audrey@tirn.net for more information about the SPAWN pollinator gardening project or for general information about habitat gardening.
