Pollinator Garden is planted at Los Jilgueros Preserve

FALLBROOK – More than 40 native plants were installed at the Fallbrook Land Conservancy’s (FLC) Los Jilgueros Preserve on Jan. 4.

The FLC’s Native Plant Restoration Team (NPRT) was joined by members of the Pollinator Alliance, the California Native Plant Society, and California Fish and Wildlife. The Butterfly Farm of Vista donated the plants and mulch, all of which are excellent food sources for our native pollinating insects.

To help the plants survive through the drought years, Alden Hough of Sky Mountain Permaculture designed rolling berms to channel water off the trail and into a long, level-bottomed trench called a swale. Old wood was buried downhill from the swale (hugelkultur) so that rainwater could be absorbed and held into the soil for months following the rainy season.

These and other Permaculture techniques are being implemented by the NPRT elsewhere in the preserve. Plants that are particularly toothsome to rabbits and squirrels were protected with cages made from old chicken wire. Mulch was spread to keep the weeds from returning.

The Pollinator Garden is part of the wider Habitat Garden conceived by former FLC Chairman Gary Beeler, which included redesigning the area around Stuart Tucker’s sculpture "Always Aspiring."

Work will continue on the gardens as funding is obtained for new plants. To donate, please contact the Fallbrook Land Conservancy office at 1815 S. Stage Coach Ln. or call (760) 728-0889.