resources

Park Partners

Seattle Parks and Recreation

The Parks Department manages all the parks and landmarks throughout the city, and oversees the P-Patch Community Gardening program. The site now known as Kirke Park was first purchased by the City as part of the 2000 Pro Parks Levy.

Seattle Parks Foundation

Seattle Parks Foundation connects donors with community-led park projects — spanning almost every neighborhood in the city — to champion thriving and equitable parks and public spaces.

Groundswell NW

Groundswell NW is an all-volunteer organization with the mission to “Empower NW Seattle to create, activate and care for parks, open space, and habitat.”

Garden Partners

Seattle P-Patch Program

Kirke P-Patch is one of 89 community gardens scattered across the city of Seattle. Originally started in 2012, Kirke has 28 garden plots of 100 square feet each. The P-Patch program was established in 1973 and is administrated through the Department of Neighborhoods. Any Seattle resident can apply for a p-patch by contacting the p-patch office.

City Fruit

City Fruit helps residential tree owners grow healthy fruit, harvest and use what they can, and share what they don’t need. FOKP depends upon City Fruit to help us maintain the orchard in the park. Whenever possible, City Fruit fruit tree maintenance sessions will be open to the public so we can all learn more about growing fruit.

Seattle Tilth

Seattle Tilth inspires and educates people to garden organically, conserve natural resources, and support local food systems in order to cultivate a healthy urban environment and community.
The Seattle Tilth Demonstration Garden features edible plants, herbs, and plants that attract beneficial insects. Seattle Tilth aims to teach you how to grow fresh organic produce using organic methods, drip irrigation, cover cropping, mulching, and composting.

WSU Extension Master Gardener Program

The Washington State University (WSU) Extension King County Master Gardener program provides a multitude of resources for home gardeners. This gardening information is available to the public, research-based, and focused on environmentally friendly and sustainable gardening practices.

Simple Gardening and Nature Activities for Children and Youth

WSU suggests fun garden ideas for kids; everything from bug races to scavenger hunts, plus activity sheets to download!

Gardening in the Pacific Northwest

Edible Gardening

Seattle Tilth    |    tilthalliance.org
Tilth Alliance works in community with Washington farmers, gardeners and eaters to build a sustainable, healthy and equitable food future.

Ornamental Gardening

Great Plant Picks    |    greatplantpicks.org
A comprehensive palette of outstanding plants for maritime Pacific Northwest gardens, chosen by local experts.

e-GardenGO    |    egardengo.com
Darcy Daniels gives Northwest gardeners plant combination recipes for every skill level. Explore plants and/or combinations and learn from blog posts on hot topics — you can also purchase planting plans or become a member!

Northwest Horticultural Society    |    northwesthort.org
NHS provides inspiration and education to the Northwest gardening community through an ongoing series of webinars, lectures, symposiums, workshops and classes

Swansons Nursery    |    swansonsnursery.com
Blog posts, quick guides, and great information to help you create a pollinator-, bird-, and wildlife-friendly garden. 

Sky Nursery    |    skynursery.com
An independent destination nursery in North Seattle, offering plants, products, and classes.

West Seattle Nursery    |    westseattlenursery.com
An independent destination nursery in West Seattle, offering plants, products, and classes.

Pollinator Gardening

Floret: Attracting Pollinators    |    floretflowers.com
This is a great blog post about attracting pollinators at the Floret Flower Farm — lots of pictures!

Ava’s Flowers    |    avasflowers.net
Learn how to identify some of nature’s more common helpers and encourage them to visit your garden. (This link was suggested the Lakeview Nature Conservancy’s environmental club — thanks for the tip, girls!)

Plants for Bees    |    www.greatplantpicks.org
Great Plant Picks (GPP) tests and recommends outstanding plants for the maritime Pacific Northwest; navigate to their Plant Lists page and check out the list for Pollinator Plants.

So! Many! Resources!    |    xerces.org
The Xerces Society has tons of resources, including
• downloadable Pollinator-Friendly Native Plant Lists for regions all over the U.S. (including the Maritime Northwest);
• a Pollinator Conservation Resource Center, full of resources for establishing pollinator habitat for 17 regions across the U.S. and Canada (including the Pacific Northwest);
• a Habitat Kit Program, which provides native pollinator-friendly plants at no cost to a diversity of community partners in several regions of the U.S. (their excellent plant lists are viewable, even if you don’t qualify for the program).

How to Plant a Meadow    |    Northwest Meadowscapes
Meadows are excellent pollinator habitat (plus they sequester carbon and filter the water), but they’re not as easy as they look! Northwest Meadowscapes offers a general roadmap to meadow-making, as well as Xerces-Society-approved seed mixes.

Bee Friendly Gardening    |    pollinator.org/bfg
Pollinator Partnership’s Bee Friendly Gardening program aims to help people convert their outdoor living space — whatever size! — into much-needed habitat. Download out their guide to Creating a Pollinator Garden (PDF), use their Find Your Roots tool to create a plant list for your project, buy regional seed mixes, download their Selecting Plants for Pollinators ecoregional planting guides, donate to support their work, and/or join BFG to register your garden and earn a spot on the BFG Map.

Nature & Ecology

Birds

The Great Backyard Bird Count    |    birdcount.org
Every February, the world comes together for the love of birds. Over four days, citizen scientists are invited to spend time in their favorite places watching, counting, and reporting as many birds as they can find. These observations help scientists better understand global bird populations before one of their annual migrations.

Pollinators

Bees, in particular

Pollinators 101: Bees    |    kirkepark.org/bees
Gardeners at Kirke Park love bees, and we want you to love bees too! This page is a-buzz with information to help you Bee an Advocate!

Washington Native Bee Society    |    wanativebeesociety.org
A supportive community where bee enthusiasts make connections and relationships while collaborating, sharing resources, and generally “geeking out” about bees. Monthly meetings online every fourth Thursday evening.

Getting to Know Our Native Northwest Bees    |    Arboretum Foundation
Basic bee information and profiles of some of the major bee groups in our region.

Crown Bees    |    crownbees.com
A one-stop-shop for everything you need to learn about and raise healthy, gentle, cavity-nesting, solitary bees. A local business!

Life Cycle of a Mason Bee     |    “Rent Mason Bees” YouTube channel
A video — two years in the making — that chronicles the entire life cycle of Mason Bees.  

The Bee Conservancy    |    thebeeconservancy.org
The Bee Conservancy works to protect all bees and secure environmental and food justice through education, research, habitat creation, and advocacy.

Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA    |    beecityusa.org
A fantastic Xerces Society initiative, created to inspire community-led pollinator protection.

Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas    |    pnwbumblebeeatlas.org
A Xerces Society-led effort to collect scientific-quality data in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and contribute to the global understanding of bumble bee distributions.

Bumblebees of Washington State    |    washingtonbumblebees.org
Information on native bee conservation, gardening for bumble bees, and tips for bumble bee ID.

Bumblebee Watch    |    bumblebeewatch.org
A collaborative effort to track and conserve North America’s bumble bees. They have an app!

My Garden of a Thousand Bees, a ‘Nature’ documentary on PBS
A wildlife cameraman spends his time during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown filming the bees in his urban garden. You will love watching this!

OMFG, BEES! by Matt Kracht
A book full of playful illustrations, helpful guides, and cool facts to show you how super cool bees are.

Our Native Bees by Paige Embry
A fascinating look at the varied, fascinating, and useful native bees of North America. 

BeeSip.com
Expert Krystle Hickman shares the wonders of native bees with videos, articles, and incredible photos! Get yourself a set of Native Bees of the Western United States Flashcards to learn your bees.