Los Alamos pollinator garden applications close Friday night
Los Alamos residents had until Friday night to snag one of 40 native-plant pollinator kits. Pickup was set for the Los Alamos Nature Center, with upkeep and volunteer hours required.
Los Alamos County residents had until 11:59 p.m. Friday to claim one of 40 Backyard Pollinator Garden Program kits, a small but practical way to turn home yards into habitat for native bees and other pollinators. The free kits were built around native plants grown without pesticides or fertilizers, and the species were selected for both hardiness in the Jemez Mountain environment and their value to local pollinators.
The program was a partnership between the Pajarito Environmental Education Center and Bee City Los Alamos, with funding from a Carroll Petrie Foundation grant. Selected applicants were to be notified June 30, and kit pickup was set for the Los Alamos Nature Center. The arrangement made clear that the giveaway was only the start: recipients were responsible for planting, watering, weeding and caring for the gardens after they took them home, and they were also invited to volunteer three hours with Bee City Los Alamos to support pollinator conservation work.
The effort fit into a larger local strategy that has been building for years. Bee City Los Alamos, an affiliate of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation’s Bee City USA network, says its work is aimed at increasing pollen, nectar and habitat resources while improving connectivity for native pollinators. Bee City USA describes its affiliates as communities that commit to creating habitat, reducing pesticide use and educating the public, a model that has spread to hundreds of communities nationwide.
The local project has already shown what that looks like on the ground in Los Alamos County. PEEC’s participant page says the 2024 project provided 40 backyard Pollinator Garden Kits to residents, and all of the baby perennials and shrubs found homes among county households. In 2025, Bee City Los Alamos said it distributed more than 700 native plants to 45 local households, while also logging more than 338 observations of pollinators and native plants through iNaturalist and the Pollinators of Los Alamos Project.
That work has not stayed confined to private yards. Volunteers have also put time into the Pollinator Demonstration Garden near the Betty Ehart Senior Center on Bathtub Row, where the group has spent time watering, weeding and mulching. With another native plant sale planned for May and a third year of the Backyard Pollinator Garden Project underway in 2026, Los Alamos is treating backyard gardening as a piece of countywide conservation, not just a springtime perk.
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