The SW corner of the garden borders on a seasonal wetland, we've wanted to turn it back to nature for a while but haven't had the time/manpower. Enter Alyssa, (web) (ucsbplannbee on Instagram) who is working on getting UCSB certified as a bee friendly campus / installing pollinator gardens in the community.We've had a number of workdays mulching the space, making gopher cages, etc. Planting will start in a month, here's our rough plan.
We are in the process of collaborating with CCBER and Alyssa from Plan Bee to put in a huge pollinator garden / native plant area in the SW corner of the garden. But a few years ago a CCBER employee / garden member named Scott put in the native plant area just west of the greenhouse patio. Garden member Anne-Marie ID'd the plants that have survived, here they are:
| Common Name | Scientific Name | Family |
| California poppy | Eschscholzia californica | Papaveraceae |
| Seacliff buckwheat | Eriogonum parvifolium | Polygonaceae |
| White sage | Salvia apiana | Lamiaceae |
| Jimson weed | Datura wrightii | Solanaceae |
| St. Catherine's Lace | Eriogonum gigantum var. gigantum | Polygonaceae |
| California aster/pacific aster | Symphotrichum chilense | Asteraceae |
| Narrow leaf milkweed, Mexican whorled milkweed | Asclepias fascicularis | Apocynaceae |
| Ragweed, western ragweed | Ambrosia psilostachya | Asteraceae |
| Solanum ssp. | Solanaceae | |
| California rose | Rosa californica | Rosaceae |
Here's some photo documentation of the old cactus area, a blast from the past. We took it out because it was rodent habitat which made it hard to garden for those nearby.
The first workday of the quarter, the day after the dorms re-opened. I gave advice on building a couple raised beds, Alyssa and Katja organized folks building gopher cages for the native plant area, and Hanna bounced between both groups and organized weeding abandoned plots. I enjoyed watching 2 freshmen who had never met before build a raised bed over the course of 2 hours and leave as friends :)
