The Native Guild

Image by Judy Beth Morris on Unsplash. Monarch butterfly taking in some nectar from a butterfly bush cluster and a blurred background.

Image by AJ Joy of a monarch caterpillar eating its way through a milkweed leaf.

🦋Only ONE monarch at Goleta’s Butterfly Grove today

Storm damage has been rough, but habitat restoration is happening there - preparing for new native trees and plants

🌿At your home, please plant a native plant if you can - it truly helps
#PollinatorGarden #GrowNativePlants #MonarchMilkweed

Dense thicket of plants with pink flowers spiking upwards. Image by Dennis Mudd.

🌿Hummingbird sage has deep roots with the Chumash people, the indigenous inhabitants of the Santa Barbara region

They used the leaves to make a medicinal tea for treating lung congestion and sore throats⚕️
#GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild #HummingbirdSage

🗽No Kings - No ICE!🦋🌎
#NoKings #NoIce

Buddhist monks walking along the highway on their "Peace Walk" across the country. Image by Gene Gallin

🕊️The Buddhist monks completed their 2,300-mile “Walk for Peace”

One of the monks who lost a leg in a serious accident early in the journey didn’t let that stop him — after recovering, he rejoined the group and completed the full pilgrimage with them & their dog🐕
#WalkForPeace #BuddhistMonks

Close up of stinging nettle leaves in a bunch Image by Paul Morley

🌿Despite its painful sting, California’s native nettle is an important host plant for several butterfly and moth species

Caterpillar species like the Milbert’s Tortoiseshell and the Garden Tiger Moth rely on it as a food source

🍵And we make tea with it
#GrowNativePlants #Nettle #PollinatorGarden

Old book open to the title page, "On the Origin of Species" with handwritten notes to the left Image by Fernando Venzano

🪱Happy Darwin Day

He spent over 40 years studying earthworms

His final scientific book, The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, argued that earthworms are major geological agents, slowly transforming entire landscapes through their constant burrowing and digestion
#earthworms

Image by Patti Black. Pruning equipment in black and white with a blurred background.

🌿Prune for Shape

By mid-to-late March, many birds begin nesting

Pruning now ensures you won't disturb a family of hummingbirds or bushtits later

Sages: If you haven't already, cut back woody sages by about a third

Fuchsias: These should be cut back hard (nearly to the ground) to encourage growth

Ceanothus "California Lilac" blossoming in nature

🌿It's Ceanothus season

Indigenous Californians used the flowers and seed pods as a gentle soap for centuries

Pick a small cluster of blossoms

Add a little water and rub your hands together

Result: It creates a natural, fragrant lather!
#GrowNativePlants #Ceanothus #TheNativeGuild

Mixed garden with some native plants, non-natives, and succulents

🌿Start small

This parkway garden has one young GLORIOUS Ceanothus 'Ray Hartman' mixed in with succulents and alyssum

The pollinators love the sweet Alyssum nectar that provide a vital "bridge" food source during winter, as well as the lilac blossoms from Ceanothus
#PollinatorGarden #GrowNatives

Two ravens enjoying a moment together on a wire.

🌿Crows and ravens cache food—nuts, acorns, seeds—and often forget some of their hiding spots

Those forgotten caches sprout into new plants, helping native shrubs and trees spread naturally

Oaks, pines, and many chaparral species benefit from this behavior
#PollinatorGarden #GrowNativePlants

Cleveland Sage close up that has dusty green foliage and purple flowers

A corner yard filled with bushy native plants full of blossoms

🌿Cleveland sage

My favorite💖 native plant.

It smells soooo good and is always teaming with pollinators! 🦋🐝🐞
#PollinatorGarden #ClevelandSage #GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild

Your palettes are always sooo delicious💖

Bumblebee getting intimate with the yellow center of a white flower. Background is blurred. Image by Kristine Zale.

🐝Bumblebees perform "buzz pollination"

They grab onto a flower & vibrate their flight muscles at a high-pitched middle C frequency, shaking the pollen loose

Without it, many of our favorite native plants wouldn't be able to reproduce!
#GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild #Bumblebees #PollinatorGarden

Two story house with chairs and a bench in front and a perfectly mown yard.

House with front yard filled with native and non-native plants and trees.

If you were a hungry butterfly, bee, bird, or other critter - which yard would you prefer?

Left house:
Absolutely no nutritional value
Constant care - water, pesticides, mowing, edging

Right house:
Plentiful habitat & food sources
Minimal care once established & even less water
#PollinatorGarden

Blue-eyed grass growing in the garden.

Blue-eyed grass growing in the garden.

Blue-eyed grass growing in the garden.

🌿Blue-eyed Grass

🐝 A Pollinator Favorite
Native bees adore them. Open during the day and close at night, offering nectar and pollen to a variety of small pollinators.

🌼 A Surprisingly Tough Wildflower
Many species tolerate drought once established, making them great for native gardens
#GrowNatives

Monarch butterfly enjoying a pink puffball clover flower with a blurred background. Image by rfotostock.

🦋In early February, Migrating Monarchs are shifting from "survival mode" to "action mode"

Leaving overwintering sites to find water and nectar

The "super generation" (which has lived for 6–9 months!) is preparing for its final mission

Ready to lay eggs as soon as they head north
#GrowNativePlants

I love dandelions💖

Image by Victoria Orozco. Native California Poppies wide open

Dense field of California Poppies in the sun.

🌿California Poppy is EVERYWHERE already

Every evening, or even on particularly cloudy and cold days, California poppies curl up their petals and "go to sleep"

They only open back up when the sun is bright and the temperature is warm enough to attract pollinators
#CaliforniaPoppy #GrowNativePlants

Single white, purple, and yellow Douglas Iris blossom fully open in the sun with a blurred background

Deep purple Douglas Iris blossom with a honeybee gathering pollen. There's a blurred background.

Soft purple Douglas Iris blossoms in the wild with a blurred background.

🌿Douglas Iris

A genetic wild card

In a single meadow, you might find petals ranging from deep royal purple and sky blue to creamy white or warm yellow

Each flower features intricate "honey guides"—darker veins and a yellow splash on the sepals—that act like a landing strip for bees
#DouglasIris

Dudleya succulent with new arms raising toward the sun

Dudleya succulent with new arms growing and lots of shadows

🌿Dudleya "Live-Forevers"

They are a perfect example of the Fibonacci sequence in nature

Their leaves grow in a tight spiral pattern that ensures every single leaf gets maximum exposure to sunlight and channeled water without shading out the ones below it
#GrowNativePlants #Dudleya #TheNativeGuild

Smallish toyon tree filled with red berries

Toyon tree filled with red berries

🍒Toyon - Wildlife Magnet

Clusters of bright red berries feed mockingbirds, robins, cedar waxwings, coyotes, and even bears

Its bright red winter berries once covered the hills around Los Angeles so vividly that early settlers called the area the holly woods
#GrowNativePlants #Toyon #TheNativeGuild

Tidy tips growing in the sun. Yellow flower with white edges.

🌿Native CA Tidy Tips

They are:
Easy to grow
Attract pollinators
Their succulent-like stems store water
Require very little maintenance
Bloom reliably in cool spring weather
So beautiful that British gardeners help spread their popularity
#GrowNativePlants #TidyTips #TheNativeGuild #PollinatorGarden

Happy Wednesday!

We here at The Native Guild are broken and outraged at the lawless insanity happening all around the country

ICE must be ABOLISHED NOW!!!

And, please stay peaceful

We won't have an election in the fall if he goads us into Civil War
#AbolishICE

Yard with grass/weeds behind a white picket fence, and a house in the background

Yard with Manzanita, sage, and ceanothus growing behind a white picket fence.

🌿Both yards look nice

Left yard:
Needs to be mowed & weeded
Needs consistent watering
Provides nothing for pollinators

Right yard:
Provides habitat for all kinds of pollinators
Provides food for pollinators
Once established, requires little care, and even less water
#GrowNativePlants #Pollinators

Pink flowering currant bush blossoming in the native garden

Verbena de la Mina in full bloom in the native garden

Red Sage blooming in the native garden

Dara's Choice Sage blooming in front of a Ceanothus tree.

🌿What's flowering in the native garden right now?

Here are a handful of beauties to bring color to your garden during the winter in Santa Barbara County:

Cleveland Sage

Red Sage

'Dara’s Choice' Sage

Verbena 'De La Mina'

Pink Flowering Currant

Pollinators are happy here 💖🐝
#GrowNativePlants

Close-up of a manzanita tree with 'little apple' blossoms all over it

Sculptural beauty of a young Manzanita tree growing in a yard with a fence

💖Manzanita - Winter Hero

On a sunny winter day, they often give off a delicate, honey-like fragrance - attracting pollinators

The primary food source for California's non-migratory hummingbirds (like the Anna's Hummingbird) and early-emerging native bees 🐝
#GrowNativePlants #PollinatorGarden

Bumblebee enjoying the sweet sweet nectar from Manzanita blossoms this winter

🐝Bumblebee enjoying the sweet sweet nectar from Manzanita blossoms this winter
#PollinatorGarden #GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild #Invertebrates #Manzanita #Bumblebee #NativePlants

stunning💖

Monarch butterfly on Goldenrod flowers Image by Michael Barrick

✨Trends for 2026

Connectivity & Community - Link your pollinator garden to your neighbor's, creating a wildlife corridor

Shrink The Lawn - Replace thirsty turf with 'mini prairies'

Plant "high impact" Keystone Plants - Goldenrod, Native Aster, and Oaks (if you have space)
#PollinatorGarden