Bayside Buzz: New Garden Sites by the Bay
You may have heard about Grassroots Ecology’s work restoring bird habitat along the bay, but two of our newest bay restoration projects are targeting another kind of winged wildlife: pollinators. While this group does include some birds, our primary beneficiaries are the six-legged variety including bees, butterflies, moths, flies, and wasps. Read on for more about our new pollinator gardens along the bay—one in Sunnyvale, the other in Menlo Park—and how you can get involved.
Sunnyvale Baylands Park
Our new native plant garden at Sunnyvale Baylands Park is one of several sites across Santa Clara County where we are enhancing pollinator habitat as part of our Pollinator Pathways Project funded by Valley Water.
This garden site is within a 175-acre park operated by the City of Sunnyvale that features recreational space—including trails, picnic areas, and a playground—alongside protected seasonal wetlands that provide valuable wildlife habitat. Sound like an ideal location for Grassroots Ecology? We thought so too!
Our soon-to-be-blooming pollinator garden is just steps from the parking lot next to the Animal Assisted Happiness “Smile Farm,” a petting zoo for children with special needs. While pollinators may not be as cuddly as the sheep or bunnies nearby, we’re confident the garden’s beauty and vibrancy will also elicit smiles.
Though no plants are in the ground just yet, the transformation of this site has already begun. Our City partners have been a huge help by mowing back weeds and delivering mulch, while our restoration team has meticulously spread cardboard and wood chips over the weeds—our foolproof sheet-mulch recipe.
Meanwhile our Native Plant Nursery has been busy growing plants that local pollinators love—ceanothus, golden yarrow, fuchsia, salvia, and goldenrod, to name a few—combined with plants specific to our local shoreline like beach strawberry, alkali heath, and saltbush.
With a cozy blanket of sheet mulch tucking away the invasive seed bank, our Sunnyvale Baylands Park pollinator garden is prepped and ready for planting.
All told, 200 different plants lie in wait at our nursery, ready to put down roots in their new home along the bay. With the help of volunteers, by spring their roots will be expanding and the first blossoms of purple, yellow, pink, and red will be open for business, attracting pollinators and human visitors alike.
Bedwell Bayfront Park
This 160-acre open space operated by the City of Menlo Park has the kind of backstory I’ve always found inspiring: a trash-to-treasure transformation—and its story is still unfolding.
A hawk awaits the big habitat reveal—and, potentially, some lunch.
Built over a former landfill capped in the mid-1980s, the park owes its existence as public open space to the will of voters, who safeguarded it against several development proposals over the years. Today, it is cherished by the community for its hiking and biking trails (which connect to the San Francisco Bay Trail), as well as its open grassy areas, perfect for kite flying and picnicking.
Wildlife also benefits from this space. Surrounded on three sides by the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge and reopened to tidal action through the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, it serves as a vital stopover for migrating birds. Soon, it will become a haven for pollinators as well.
Creation of a pollinator garden at this site is made possible with support from the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority as part of their collaborative SAFER Bay Project funded by Measure AA. Last year, volunteers—including students from Menlo Atherton High School and Cañada College—helped us sheet mulch and prepare the site for planting in 2025. Now we are poised to break through the layers of wood chips and cardboard to get our plants settled in their new home before winter is through.
What’s on the menu for pollinators at this site? It’s a local special: California fuchsia, buckwheat, wild rose, and sagebrush, sprinkled with some sticky monkeyflower, chaparral currant, yarrow, salvia, bluewitch, ceanothus, and toyon for good measure. Together, they’ll create a feast for wildlife and a vibrant display for park visitors. The transformation continues!
Cañada College students get our Bedwell Bayfront Park pollinator garden going by spreading reused cardboard, which will later be covered in wood chips and planted.
Come join us by the bay and see for yourself what all the buzz is about! Sign up for an upcoming volunteer event to help us get planting for pollinators, then stay to play, explore, and connect with your local shoreline. Your time and effort make a real difference—for pollinators, for parks, and for the people who need them!
By Alex Von Feldt, Co-Executive Director
