Sierra 2 Center for the Arts & Community was awarded $10,000 from the Sacramento County TOT Grant program to build a native plant demonstration and learning garden at the front (West) entrance of the center on 24th Street.

Sierra 2 partnered with Miridae Living Labs, a non-profit that promotes the ecological role of native plants and insects and local volunteers to create the garden, The garden includes bug and butterfly-friendly, low maintenance and drought-tolerant native plants, interpretive signage, a seed-disbursing sculpture, and educational opportunities through the Learnery at Sierra 2. 

Seed Spires

These Seed Spires are compressed earth sculptures that contain a variety of native plant seeds. At nature’s pace, the seeds sprout and grow, bloom and reseed, supporting local pollinators and wildlife.

The Seed Pile Project

The goal of this project is to learn about how some of these native, local ecotype seeds disperse and establish in extreme, human-dominated environments.

Learn About the Plants and Insects in our Garden

Thank you Volunteers!

We could not have built this garden without your help! In the fall of 2021 we hosted a number of volunteer workdays where neighbors helped 

• clear grass, pull weeds and roots,
• convert sprinklers to drip lines,
• remove concrete and signage,
• dig holes and plant native plants and 
• mulch our new plants!

Turf Conversion at Sierra 2 Center

Garden Classes at the Learnery

Look out for garden-related classes, lectures, and workshops around our new garden! Community members can learn about garden design, plants, and ecological science through garden-based classes at the Learnery. Classes will include arts and crafts like building a birdhouse, bat box, insect hotel, or bird feeder, and landscape photography and portraits in the garden. Self guided tours will include signage and QR codes to web pages about native plant benefits, care, and habitat notes. Future programming may include lectures and classes on how native plant fragrances are used in nature, edible plants and their uses, and identification of backyard bugs.

Meet Our Partner, Miridae Living Labs

Miridae Living Labs aims to promote the crucial ecological role of native arthropods and plants through hands-on mobile science education, “living lab” gardens throughout the region, California native arthropod propagation, and an on-site insectarium. They seek to encourage native arthropod communities in human-occupied ecosystems and regional conservation goals. Learn more at www.miridaelivinglabs.org.