A Win for Monarchs!

Garden Selected to Receive Pollinator Habitat Kits

by Maddy Kangas, Grateful Gardens volunteer

Image from Xerces.com (Lance Cheung / USDA CC0)

Grateful Gardens is the recipient of a Habitat Kit of California native plantings from Xerces Society. We receive the kits in fall 2025.

From a nature reserve in Los Angeles to tribal land in the Sierra Foothills to an urban community garden in San Jose, over 200 habitat projects creating safe places for monarchs and other pollinators will be made possible through the Xerces Society’s Habitat Kit Program in California this year.

The Habitat Kit Program was launched in 2019 in response to alarming declines in the number of migratory monarchs overwintering in California. Getting habitat into the ground to support these butterflies became increasingly urgent.

Since the program began, the Xerces Society has distributed more than 100,000 plants across the state by offering free plants to partners wishing to create pollinator habitat. The plants are all native species and selected to be regionally appropriate, drought-resistant, and preferred by monarchs and other native pollinators.

Project partners putting these kits onto the ground include community groups, conservation districts, public agencies, farmers, ranchers, and other individuals and organizations. Joining the list of partners this year is Grateful Gardens! The Garden was selected to receive two kits from Xerces which will, in total, include 72 native plants like Narrowleaf Milkweed, Coyotemint, Sticky Monkeyflower, Checkerbloom, and more.

Details of Xerces Society’s Habitat Kit Program can be found at https://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/habitat-kits

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation protects the natural world by conserving invertebrates and their habitat. Established in 1971, the Society is a trusted source for science-based information and advice and plays a leading role in protecting pollinators and many other invertebrates. Our team draws together experts from the fields of habitat restoration, entomology, plant ecology, education, community engagement, pesticides, farming and conservation biology with a single passion: Protecting the life that sustains us. To learn more, visit xerces.org