Growing Strong! The Pollinator Garden at Rosewood

The pollinator garden at Rosewood Nature Study area is an ongoing project, designed to incorporate native plant species and attract pollinators and native wildlife to the area. Reintroducing native plants to the nature study area helps with the overall restoration process. The garden was established in 2020 and has been growing ever since.

Initially, solarization was used to eliminate invasive species from the area. Solarization involves using the energy of the sun to heat up an area that has been covered by heat conductive cloth or plastic. It is an environmentally friendly way to kill microbes and bacteria in the soil and to treat a planting area for weeds. Solarization can be accomplished with tarp, solar ground covers, polyethylene covers, sometimes even paper. For our pollinator garden, we used greenhouse fabric over the area during the summer months. After the invasive plants and their seed bank were destroyed using the technique the area was ready for planting.

Our Pollinator Garden was initially planted by volunteers and AmeriCorps members. Planting was started in the fall of 2020 and a variety of pollinator friendly plants including Prince's plume, penstemons, narrowleaf milkweed, scarlet gilia, evening primrose, and golden currant have been planted so far. We have had multiple organizations help with the garden including Nevada Bugs and Butterflies and the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.

One goal-in-progress at the pollinator garden is to attract all types of pollinators! While honey bees are always a crowd favorite, there are many different species of bees. In Nevada alone we have over 1,000 different native bee species! That's not to mention the great and sometimes highly specialized pollinating work done by other flying insects, birds, bats, and even some rodents.

The garden is maintained and supported by our Wetland Restoration technicians. In addition to working with our Pollinator Garden, they serve at Rosewood Nature Study Area on restoration, invasive plant removal, native plant establishment, site monitoring, trail maintenance, and community education and more!

To learn more about our Wetland Technician positions or to donate to the Rosewood Nature Study, please visit our website at tmparksfoundation.org Plus, follow us on social media and be on the lookout for our Spring Plantapalooza announcement for your opportunity to come help us grow our pollinator garden!