Suzanne Clarke’s garden is filled with nectar- and pollen-providing native plants. She hosts the Sonoma County Butterfly Alliance page on Facebook where she provides help and information.
gardens. “You can have a few non-natives like lavender— which just happens to be an amazing, long-flowering pollinating plant,” Clarke says. “But then plant as many native plants as you can in and around those.” Basically, the structural plants would be native and those would be accented with non-natives so long as they’re useful in pollinating, she says. “A butterfly can get nectar from any kind of pollinating flowers, so that is absolutely true,” Clarke says. “But there are other kinds of insects that are plant specific. It’s just like the butterfly will only lay eggs on specific plants. That’s a critical thing. Without that plant the butterfly will cease to exist.” Even apartment dwellers can help support local native insects and birds by having native wildflowers in pots on their balconies and decks. Many cities are beginning to incorporate areas with native plants into their parks and other open spaces. These areas are beneficial for the native insects and birds and locals get to enjoy the more natural settings. On the eastern side of Marin County lies the more developed city center corridor. Last year was the 50th anniversary of the Marin Countywide Plan and, while looking ahead to the next 50 years, residents were considering how they could improve nature in that area. With that in mind, MarinBiodiversity, a collaboration of organizations working to support native habitat, have come together and are working on the Marin Biodiversity Corridor Initiative (MBCI) with a big push to create more habitat in that city center corridor. Dr. Paul da Silva explains that all of the MarinBiodiversity
member organizations support one another in efforts to increase native habitat across the county. The Marin Monarch Working Group is one of the member organizations and MarinBiodiversity is supporting their work in the coastal region as well. Da Silva is a trustee and professor emeritus at the College of Marin and a past president of the Pacific Coast Entomological Society. He is also a board member of the Marin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, which is collaborating with MarinBiodiversity. MarinBiodiversity encouraged the
update to the Marin County
general plan that includes a requirement for a minimum 70% native plant threshold in all new landscaping for new development. “This particular effort was initiated by members of the Marin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society and then supported by [Marin Biodiversity
Dr. Paul da Silva, of College of Marin and the local Native Plant Society. [Photo by Maria Alice Garcia]
March 2024
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