Sowing California Native Seeds

Come enjoy some seasonal planting with us on a Friday morning!

Join Arlington Garden, Altadena Seed Library and the Horticulture Team of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County for a free hands-on germination workshop at Arlington Garden focused on how to care for and plant various types of CA native seeds.

Learn about cold stratification, hot water scarification, and smoke-stimulated germination, as well as techniques to sow your wildflowers in-ground - as well as a short plant stroll in Arlington Garden!

You will leave with a seedling of your own and an experience of how wildflower seeds germinate through natural processes found in California climates.

About Altadena Seed Library

Altadena Seed Library is a growing network of seed exchange boxes and educational and conservation resources. Through the distribution of free seeds, we are working to expand equitable access to shade and green spaces, increase food sovereignty, connect neighbors, and restore local ecosystems. Following the Eaton Fire, we are providing free seeds and seed education to affected residents, remediating toxic soils, and working to establish conservation seed banks throughout the region.

While Altadena Seed Library also facilitates long-term seed conservation through decentralized seed banking, our little free seed libraries are intended to act as dynamic, living resources that can function autonomously if they are tended to by their communities. In order to build capacity for stewardship, Altadena Seed Library provides various educational resources, including videos, zines, and workshops.

About the Natural History Museum Horticulture Team

The Horticulture Team operates the Nature Gardens at the Natural History Museum, a 3.5 acre former asphalt parking lot planted with 600 species of native and nonnative plants that mirror the SoCal semi-arid Mediterranean climate. Established in 2013, it was an inspired collaboration between NHM scientists and landscape architects, Mia Lehrer and Associates, who designed the Nature Gardens landscape to celebrate the Museum’s 100th birthday.

“The Nature Gardens were built as an invitation to local wildlife, through carefully selected plantings, to populate a new green space where visitors and scientists can study and experience our urban ecosystem and learn about the amazing biodiversity that surrounds us,” says Daniel Feldman, Senior Manager of Horticulture who oversees the Nature Gardens.

 About Arlington Garden in Pasadena

Located in a residential neighborhood, Arlington Garden is a public habitat garden and 2.5 acre host to climate-appropriate plants, trees, fungi, root systems, animals, birds, bees, bugs, and people. The Garden is not a public or municipal park, and is a community-founded non-profit 501c3 organization that is largely supported by donations and grants. We are open, with general attendance free of charge, during daylight hours 365 days a year.