Idaho’s EfflorescentPollinator Gardens
Across Idaho, fields once overrun by cheatgrass and goatheads are being transformed into thriving havens for butterflies, birds, bees, and bats. At Boise’s Warm Springs Park, a collaborative effort between the City of Boise and the Golden Eagle Audubon Society has turned a neglected lot into a flourishing pollinator garden, and it’s just one of many. From Lucky Peak State Park’s Adopt-a-Garden program to a unique partnership that brings pollinator education and hands-on gardening experience to the South Boise Women’s Correctional Center, these gardens are blooming with purpose. Fueled by passionate volunteers, native plant advocates, and creative community partnerships, Idaho’s pollinator gardens are not only supporting biodiversity, they’re also nurturing connection, resilience, and renewal across the state.
At Lucky Peak, pollinator gardens are flourishing with the volunteers and staff who care for them; they are blooming with native plants like showy milkweed, blue flax, lavender, and yarrow. The park recently launched an Adopt-a-Garden program, inviting community members to help maintain their garden space for a month. “Pollinator gardens provide stable food sources for our fellow pollinators, who are the real stars of the show,” said Lucky Peak Park Ranger Courtnee Radar. “Butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and even bats are so incredibly important to our ecosystem, agriculture, and our economy.” Lucky Peak also is the proud home to a Certified Monarch Garden, completed in September 2023 by Girl Scout Troop 627.
In Boise, pollinator gardens are flowering citywide, thanks in part to the City’s Pollinator Posse, a volunteer-driven initiative launched in 2020 by Boise Parks and Recreation. What began with gardens at Terry Day and Warm Springs Parks has since grown into a network of nine official gardens—and counting—along with informal pollinator spaces throughout local parks and open areas. “Our goal is to support pollinators year-round by planting native species that provide reliable food and habitat,” said Alyssa Uhl, community volunteer specialist for the city. “These gardens are not only ecologically vital, they’re beautiful and deeply meaningful to the community.”
What was once a desolate lot, the Warm Springs Pollinator Garden is now a thriving habitat for birds, butterflies, and beneficial insects, made possible by strong community partnerships and dedicated volunteers. “It’s satisfying to be part of an amazing transformation,” said Jo Anne Lafferty, a Golden Eagle Audubon Society board member who has been involved since the beginning. “The fringe of willows between the garden and the pond attracts many western swallowtails and mourning cloak butterflies. You’ll see Red Winged Blackbirds, Wood Ducks, and Mallards in the pond. Say’s phoebes are busy catching insects as we work, and song sparrows and house finches provide the music.”
Another incredible example is the Sagebrush in Prisons program at the South Boise Women’s Correctional Center. Holly Hovis, owner of Sego Lily Native Gardens, helped transform the Sagebrush in Prisons program into an efflorescent space of blooming plants and flowers. “The women in the Sagebrush in Prisons program enjoyed growing and tending sagebrush plants so much that I wanted to diversify their gardening experience with native pollinator plants,” shared Hovis. She has since turned the program over to a new coordinator but continues to volunteer with the women in the garden through a pollinator group. “We combine classroom learning sessions, botanical illustration of the plants in the garden, collage art, seed propagation, bee habitat construction, landscape design projects, and of course lots of weeding and planting,” Hovis said.
One bloom at a time, Idaho’s pollinator gardens are cultivating more than habitat—they’re nurturing hope, healing, and purpose. Whether in a city park or a correctional facility, these spaces remind us that with care, community, and connection to the natural world, transformation is always possible.
