While this garden is open all year round, visiting it during the tour day provides an opportunity to ask the docents about any particularly interesting plants or features.

Address: Briarwood Drive at Wawona Drive, San Jose (click the address to show it on a map).

Directions: From Meridian Avenue, go east on Foxworthy Avenue. Turn left on Briarwood Drive and go about a block. The park is on your left. Park along Briarwood Drive. The garden is along the cement walkway that parallels the north edge of the park.

Showcase Features: Beautiful native pollinator plants now grace the northern perimeter of this public neighborhood park. Begun in 2022, the Kirk Park Native Plant Pollinator Garden is designed, planted and maintained by community volunteers under the auspices of San Jose's Adopt-a-Park program and with the support of CNPS-SCV, Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County, Happy Hollow Foundation, BeautifySJ, Xerces Society and the local community. The garden is a biodiversity hot spot and a source of inspiration, learning and community. The plants were chosen to provide habitat for butterflies, bees and birds, with a significant area dedicated to Monarch Butterfly habitat. There are over 120 different plant species that showcase the beauty and diversity of our California native plants; visitors can view a variety of plants so that they can choose what will work in their own gardens. The many plants in the garden include 9 species of bunch grasses, 9 species of buckwheat, 8 species of ceanothus, 6 species of manzanita and 5 species of milkweed, all California natives. The garden is intended to be a model that others can use to develop similar volunteer-run projects in public areas.

Other Garden Attractions: A few stands of large redwood trees remain from a long-ago landscaping project. Logs have been placed in the shade of some of these redwood trees for visitors to sit and play. Four young valley oaks were planted in 2023 near the garden. The oaks are keystone species for biodiversity and are locally native and better adapted to San Jose's climate than the struggling redwood trees.

Gardening for Wildlife: Plant species were carefully chosen to provide year-round resources for native pollinators. There are blooms in all seasons to provide nectar for native butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. Host plants, including native milkweed species, provide food and shelter for invertebrate pollinators in all phases of their life cycle. The abundant milkweed and other host and nectar plants chosen for the endangered Monarch Butterfly also provide resources for other struggling invertebrates and food for baby birds. The plants provide seeds and shelter for many bird species. Lizards are also finding the garden attractive.

❀ Plants Available: Volunteers will be giving away FREE native milkweed and other pollinator plants while supplies last so that you can create your own monarch butterfly habitat!

Years of CA Native Gardening at this Location: 3

Garden Size: 10,000 sq. ft - 3500 sq. ft planted in 2022; the rest was planted in 2023

Designer: Kathy Kleinsteiber + Community Volunteers
Installer: Community Volunteers

Click here to display the plant list in a printer-friendly format (from year 2024).