The Pollinator-friendly Garden at Pixieland

Blue elderberry, Pacific aster, and mulefat are thriving in the Willow Pass Park Pollinator Garden.

Two monarch caterpillars dine on narrowleaf milkweed in the Willow Pass Park Pollinator Garden.

On November 23, 2024, with a lot of help from the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District and the City of Concord, we Friends of Concord Creeks planted a pollinator-friendly native plant garden in Willow Pass Community Park. It’s next to the pond near Pixieland Amusement Park.

From the tiny young plants that went into the ground that day, the garden has grown into a thriving community of shrubs, herbs, and grasses. Now, narrowleaf milkweeds, California roses, and other native species offer food and shelter to butterflies like the monarch and the gray hairstreak.
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But butterflies are not the only reason we started this garden. The plants in our garden give Nature a helping hand in many ways.

The Web of Life
All the living things on Planet Earth—plants, animals, fungi, and microbes—work together in very complicated ways as part of the great Web of Life. We human beings are part of this web, and we depend on it for our lives. It gives us fertile soil, clean water, and even the air we breathe. And this whole environment is made possible by plants.

Plants take carbon dioxide from the air and “exhale” the oxygen that fuels our bodies. Combining the carbon dioxide with sunlight and water, they make their own food. Through this miraculous process, called photosynthesis, plants provide food not only for themselves, but also for all animals, including us. They give us fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains like rice, wheat, and oats. They also provide food for the animals we eat.

Plants give us wood for building, paper, and fibers like cotton to make fabric. The roots, bark, or leaves of many plants give us medicine for healing our bodies.

In short, humans can’t live without plants.

Pollinators help plants
Like every kind of living thing, plants need to produce a new generation before they die. Most plants have flowers and reproduce with the help of animal pollinators. Pollinators include insects like bees, flies, moths, and butterflies, as well as birds. As the insects and birds move among the flowers gathering nectar and pollen, they deliver tiny pollen grains from one flower to the next.

When a pollen grain combines with the seed inside a flower, the seed can start to develop. If conditions are right, the seed will eventually find its way to the soil and sprout. A new plant is born!

Plants and pollinators need our help
Flowering plants and pollinator species have evolved together over millions of years. Together, they form part of a functioning local ecosystem where everything works together so the living beings can thrive. An ecosystem is like a jigsaw puzzle; every piece contributes something to the whole picture. For example, in a forest ecosystem, oak trees give squirrels a place to build their nests, and squirrels bury acorns that will someday grow into big oak trees.

Unfortunately, we humans have done a lot of damage to Earth’s ecosystems. Here in Concord, land that used to be covered with forests and meadows is now covered with buildings and streets. And most of the trees, shrubs, and flowers that humans have planted are not native to this area; they were brought here from other parts of the world. Like pieces from a different jigsaw puzzle, they don’t contribute as much to a healthy ecosystem as native plants do.

Plants that give native insect pollinators a place to live and grow are called host plants. Some native pollinators can only use certain natives as host plants; that’s why native plants are so important. The photos below, taken during the Pixieland garden’s first year, show some of the host plants there.

You can learn much more about native California plants and insect pollinators by visiting calscape.org, a wonderful resource created by the California Native Plant Society. Select the photo of each plant below to visit its page on Calscape.

Bee Plant (Scrophularia californica)
California bee plant produces tiny red flowers in late winter and spring. As the name suggests, the flowers provide food for many species of native bees. The bee plant is a confirmed host for seven species of butterflies and moths.

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Blue Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana)
The elderberry, a large shrub, is well known for its blue berries that many birds depend on in the fall. Its abundant spring flowers provide food for bees and butterflies. It’s a likely host plant for 23 species of butterflies and moths.

California Aster (Symphyotrichum chilense)
This plant hosts several species of butterflies and moths, including the northern checkerspot butterfly. It blooms in summer and fall, providing insects with food when many other plants are no longer flowering.

California Goldenrod (Solidago velutina ssp. californica)
Goldenrod’s tall stalks of golden flowers attract pollinators in late summer and fall. It likely hosts more than three dozen species of butterflies and moths.

California Wildrose (Rosa californica)
This native rose blooms in spring and summer. It’s a confirmed host for the gray hairstreak butterfly and a likely host for seventy species of butterflies and moths.

Great Valley Gumweed (Grindelia camporum)
Gumweed is a host plant for several pollinators, including the sunflower moth and the orange tortrix moth. Blooming from spring to fall, it also provides food for the American painted lady butterfly and many native bees.

Narrowleaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis)
Narrowleaf milkweed is one of a few species of native milkweed growing in the garden. It’s a key host plant for the endangered monarch butterfly; it also provides food for native bees and other pollinators.