Peralta Community Garden
Berkeley
Years gardened at this location: 9 years
Garden size: 0.25 acre
Showcase feature: The peaceful and artful Peralta Community Garden primarily contains 30 individual vegetable plots. However, it also has an extensive collection of plants native to the East Bay, as well as natives from throughout California. This garden contains a remarkable collection of native bulbs, such as Mariposa lilies and Ithuriel’s spear. The native plants are located in the parking strip out front, and in the borders of the garden, as well as in the central community beds near the amazing snake mosaic benches. Plants were mainly acquired from Tilden Park Botanic Garden sales and the Native Here Nursery and subsequently propagated on site by volunteers. The garden was the subject of a documentary aired on KQED-TV.
Other garden attractions:
- A variety of outdoor art exhibits includes the six-foot slate red-tailed hawk
- An attractive pond with a solar powered waterfall (planted with exotics)
- A native plant propagation area
- A bamboo trellis with a huge California native grape offers shade
Gardening for Wildlife: A variety of native wildlife friendly plants can be found in this garden. Several species of buckwheat, assorted grasses, milkweed, ceanothus, manzanita, salvia, coyote mint, buttercups, and clarkia offer habitat for bees, birds, butterflies and moths as well as their larva. The Peralta Community Garden also has the greatest diversity of native bees of any garden studied by entomologist Dr. Gordon Frankie. (For more on bees and Dr. Frankie’s research on plants that attract bees, see and visit the Bee Garden in Berkeley.)
Garden Talk: 11:00 and 2:00 "Native American Uses of California Native Plants" by Dave Drummond; 12:30 "Propagating California Natives" by Dave Drummond and Carole Bennett-Simmons