Closed for the Summer Season
March 31 – October 1
We are currently closed while we propagate and grow plants for fall.
We’ll reopen October 1 for the next planting season.
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Wildlife Habitat Gardens
Creating landscapes that support birds, reptiles, mammals, pollinators, and the larger web of life.
It all begins with the simple act of planting - one plant at a time. Each plant helps us remember where we are and connect more deeply to the natural world.
For many people, the gateway to wildlife habitat is a pollinator garden. Once you've gotten your toes wet with a few nectar plants, you're ready to take the next step - creating habitat that supports birds, reptiles, mammals, pollinators, and the larger food web.
What is a Wildlife Habitat?
Wildlife habitat is any place that provides the resources an animal needs to survive and reproduce.
Regardless of where you live, the basic components of a wildlife habitat remain the same. What changes are the plants you use to support the wildlife native to your region.
Instead of asking, "How does this plant look?" we begin asking, "Who does this plant support?"
A simple shift changes everything.
What Are You Really Growing?
When most people think about gardening, they think about plants. We choose flowers for color, shrubs for privacy, or trees for shade. But when we begin gardening for wildlife, something shifts. The plants are still important, but they become part of a much larger story.
A wildlife habitat garden is not just a collection of plants. It is a living community.
The flowers feed pollinators. Caterpillars feed birds. Seed heads feed finches. Fallen leaves shelter insects and enrich the soil. Lizards hunt among rocks and shrubs. Native bees nest in the ground while hummingbirds defend flowering territories overhead. Every plant becomes connected to dozens of other living things.
This way of gardening sometimes asks us to broaden our definition of beauty. A chewed leaf may be evidence that a caterpillar has found its host plant. Seed heads left become food for birds. Leaf litter becomes shelter for insects and the countless creatures that depend on them. The most vibrant habitat gardens often balance ecological function with thoughtful design.
Instead of asking, "How does this plant look?" we begin asking, "Who does this plant support?"
That simple shift changes everything.
Five Components of a Wildlife Habitat
Regardless of size, every wildlife habitat is built from the same basic components. Birds, pollinators, reptiles, mammals, and countless other creatures all need food, water, cover, places to raise their young, and a safe environment in which to live.
When these elements work together, even a small yard can become an important part of the larger ecosystem - providing resources for wildlife while creating a beautiful and resilient landscape.
Food
Native plants form the foundation of the food web. Nectar, pollen, seeds, berries, leaves, insects, and prey species all support wildlife in different ways. Remember that in a healthy habitat, some creatures will become food for others.
Water
Water
Water provides drinking, bathing, cooling, and important microhabitats. Even small water features can support a surprising diversity of wildlife.
Cover
Wildlife needs places to hide from predators, hunt for prey, escape extreme weather, and move safely through the landscape. Dense shrubs, brush piles, rocks, leaf litter, and garden structures all provide valuable cover.
Place to Raise Young
Host plants, nesting sites, burrows, hollow stems, dead wood, and dense vegetation help wildlife reproduce and complete their life cycles.
Sustainability
You don't invite your friends over for dinner and then poison them
Habitat must be safe as well as functional. Sustainable gardening practices help keep soil, air, and water healthy. Avoid pesticides, rodenticides, and other poisons that can disrupt food webs and harm wildlife.
Designing Habitat
Designing wildlife habitat is about more than simply adding a few native plants. The most successful habitat gardens combine a variety of plant types, natural features, and seasonal resources to support wildlife throughout the year. While thoughtful design provides the foundation, some of the most rewarding discoveries happen when we leave room for nature to surprise us. Even small spaces can provide meaningful resources for birds, pollinators, reptiles, mammals, and countless other creatures.
Layers
Wildlife uses every level of the landscape. Groundcovers, grasses, flowers, shrubs, trees, and vertical structure provide different food sources, shelter, nesting opportunities, and travel corridors. A layered garden can support far more species than a landscape made up of only one or two plant types.
Natural Elements
Plants are only part of a habitat. Rocks, logs, brush piles, seed heads, leaf litter, bare soil, and water features all provide important habitat value. These features create shelter, nesting sites, hunting areas, and microhabitats that many species depend upon.
Diversity
Different wildlife species need different foods, flower shapes, bloom times, nesting materials, and shelter. By planting a diverse mix of native plants, we create opportunities for a wider range of birds, pollinators, reptiles, and other wildlife. Biodiversity supports biodiversity.
Year-Round Resources
Wildlife needs food, water, cover, and nesting opportunities throughout the year - not just during peak bloom season. By providing resources across multiple seasons, habitat gardens continue supporting wildlife even when flowers are scarce.
Sometimes the best habitat features aren't planned.
What began as a pile of broken pottery waiting to be put away gradually became a refuge for lizards, puddling butterflies, rabbits, and other wildlife. I eventually stopped trying to turn the pot into a planter and let it serve the purpose nature had chosen for it. It's a reminder that while thoughtful design is important, some of the most successful habitat features are discovered through observation rather than intention.
Native Plants Create Habitat
A healthy pollinator garden provides resources in every season. In the desert, bloom cycles shift throughout the year, creating changing waves of color, fragrance, nectar, pollen, seeds, and habitat resources. While spring is often the most dramatic season, many native plants continue supporting pollinators well into summer, fall, and even winter. By planting for seasonal succession, gardens become more resilient and ecologically functional - supporting wildlife beyond peak bloom season.
Spring is the busiest season in many desert pollinator gardens, with wildflowers, penstemons, brittlebush, milkweeds, and flowering shrubs supporting migrating butterflies, native bees, hummingbirds, and countless other insects.
Even during the heat of summer, carefully selected native plants can continue providing nectar, pollen, shelter, and host plants for desert-adapted pollinators.
Fall bloom helps support monarchs, late-season native bees, and other pollinators preparing for cooler weather and winter activity. In the desert, fall can be an important season for nectar and renewed plant growth after summer heat.
Winter gardens may appear quieter, but seed heads, shelter, evergreen structure, and winter-blooming plants continue supporting wildlife through the colder months.
Biodiversity Supports Biodiversity
Food Webs and Living Soil
Pollinator gardens are about far more than flowers alone. A truly functional habitat also provides shelter, nesting sites, water, seed, shade, leaf litter, and places for wildlife to rest, hide, reproduce, and overwinter.
Even small urban gardens can become important habitat corridors, helping reconnect fragmented landscapes one yard at a time.
Creating habitat does not mean abandoning beauty or thoughtful design. Some of the most vibrant gardens are the ones that balance ecological function with intentional planting, seasonal structure, and a strong sense of place.
Shelter & Nesting
Many pollinators need more than nectar alone. Hollow stems may shelter native bees, while leaf litter, brush, and seed heads provide cover, nesting material, and overwintering habitat for insects, birds, and other wildlife.
Water & Puddling
Water is important for far more than drinking alone. Pollinators and other wildlife may use shallow water sources for bathing, cooling, hydration, and regulating body temperature - especially during extreme desert heat. Even small water features, shallow dishes, or damp areas can become important habitat resources.
Many butterflies also rely on shallow damp soil or mud for a behavior known as puddling, where they absorb minerals and nutrients from the earth rather than open water alone.
Foodwebs & Living Soil
Pollinator gardens also support larger food webs. Insects feed birds, reptiles, amphibians, and other wildlife, while soil organisms, fungi, insects, and burrowing animals help cycle nutrients and maintain healthy living soil through processes like bioturbation.
Planting Design
Planting in groups or drifts makes flowers easier for pollinators to locate and allows them to forage more efficiently while conserving energy. Repeating plant species throughout a landscape can also help create habitat connections across neighborhoods and urban spaces.
Threats to Wildlife
Human activity is one of the biggest threats facing pollinators today. Habitat loss, pesticide use, invasive species, large expanses of turf grass, urban development, and shifting bloom times linked to climate change all make it more difficult for pollinators to find food, reproduce, and move across the landscape.
More than 85% of flowering plants rely on animal pollinators to reproduce.
Even products marketed as “safe” or “organic” can harm pollinators, caterpillars, beneficial insects, and the larger food web surrounding them.
We cannot conserve one species at the expense of another.
Most of us are not going to save whales or tigers by what we choose to plant in our yard. But we can have a real impact on native bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, and other pollinators by creating habitat where we live.
Featured Habitat Plants
Pollinator gardens are most successful when they combine a diversity of bloom shapes, colors, flowering seasons, and habitat resources. The plants below are some of our favorite natives to the Coachella Valley and surrounding deserts for supporting pollinators while also creating beautiful, resilient landscapes.
Creating a Living Landscape
Pollinator gardens are often the first step toward creating a more complete wildlife habitat. As gardens mature, they begin supporting far more than bees and butterflies - providing food, shelter, nesting space, shade, cover, and seasonal resources for birds, reptiles, beneficial insects, and countless other species.If you're ready to move beyond nectar plants and begin creating a more fully functioning habitat garden, explore our Wildlife Habitat Gardens page.You don't plant for pollinators - you build habitat.