Basin Recreation will unveil its brand-new pollinator garden Wednesday at Matt Knoop Memorial Park, a project that’s been over two years in the making.
The garden not only brings vibrant, native plant life to a once empty field, but it also works to preserve local ecosystems and teach the community about the vital role pollinators play in them.
The idea took root after the Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District was awarded a pollinator habitat grant from the Utah Department of Agriculture. This in turn helped the open space team source native plants to create a pollinator garden that would benefit and educate the community, both socially and ecologically.
“With changes in development and the urbanization of Park City and Utah in general, pollinator habitat is declining,” said Maddie Nelson, open space supervisor at Basin Recreation. “We’re really lucky here. We have about 1,200 species of native bees in Utah alone, around 300 species of butterflies, and just oodles of other bugs, like beetles, that are also pollinators.”
The five-person open space team built the garden from the ground up over the last two years. They broke ground in the spring of 2023, replanting topsoil and mulch for proper garden beds. The team then irrigated the entire garden so each plant would receive its own drip line to support it through the next year, after which the species should be able to survive on their own.
“In the first round, we planted close to 500 plants, but then we had a really extreme winter, and not a lot survived the conditions, but a lot of lessons were learned,” said Nelson.
Basin Recreation’s team of ecologists spent the past two years researching and planning the garden, with a lot of trial and error in between. With teamwork and some beginner’s luck, the group brought in an additional 300 plants last fall, which was supplemented with harvested seeds from the greenhouse at Trailside Park.
“We sustainably harvest native plant seeds from all across our open spaces. We lead native seed collection hikes, collect and germinate all those seeds and grow them in the greenhouse,” said Nelson. “We’ve got about 1200 plants growing in the greenhouse, and a lot of those will go to our pollinator garden.”
The garden, surviving two winters of preliminary growth, colors the rainbow with flowers specifically planted to benefit pollinator species like bees, butterflies, birds and bats. The garden largely features native penstemon species, which are flowering plants, as well as fern bush, stone crop and multiple species of milkweed.
One of Nelson’s favorites is the bright purple dusty beardtongue.
The team also brings diverse interests to the table. While all of them hold backgrounds in ecology, each person found a different realm of interest to research and master to help the garden flourish, from insect specific ideas to plant species.
“We have a crevice garden, which has little rocks and gravel in it that some bees will make their homes in,” Nelson said. “And we also have a water garden that has a big rock feature on it, so that provides the water and additional homes for some of the bees and pollinators in the area.”
Beyond ecological restoration, the garden serves as a community classroom. The idea stems from a need to support pollinator species in the area and combat the decline in their habitats across the state. It also engages visitors to learn about the bugs and the bees, which plants help them thrive, and why it is so important that they do.
“We’re number one public servants,” Nelson said. “We think this is a great way to engage the community. It’s a great space for us to share our love and knowledge about pollinator species and native plants as well.”
Visitors to the garden will find an interpretive sign at the entrance and educational plaques among the plant beds.
“We hope that people will come through, explore, use all their senses, whether that be sight, smell, touch, and read the little plaques on each of the plants to get an understanding of what they are,” said Nelson.
Basin Recreation also hopes to host at least one educational event per year in the garden, and wants to inspire others to plant native flora at home.
The grand opening of the pollination garden will be celebrated with a ribbon cutting at 12 p.m. on Wednesday at Matt Knoop Memorial Park.