Community gardens can serve as native habitat havens, connecting people with plants and soil, and connecting wildlife with the spaces needed to flourish. Join us for a virtual tour of the UC Master Gardeners Native Plant Demonstration Garden at Martial Cottle Park and learn about one of the dedicated volunteers who tends this garden, Ann Finney. We hope this talk will become one of a series that profiles volunteers and community gardens.

Learn when this garden was established in San Jose and enjoy captivating photos by Hank Morales showing the plants in the garden, seasonal highlights, and wildlife. What is most rewarding for Ann as she volunteers at the garden? What are the challenges to be learned from? What are her primary maintenance activities and what aspects of the garden fuel her continued volunteering?

The garden includes a pollinator garden that is 100% California native, an area dedicated for large California native shrubs and trees, and some spaces that are combinations of native and Mediterranean plants. This talk was inspired by an in-person tour of this garden last year. It’s a place worth exploring again with our virtual audience as we also ponder: what makes a volunteer?

Stephanie Morris is a Landscape Architect with a focus on Native Plant Design. Ann Finney is a Master Gardener who volunteers at UC Master Gardeners Native Plant Demonstration Garden at Martial Cottle Park.