Planting pollinator-friendly gardens in Oakland
Discover our 1% for the Planet project : volunteering with Pollinator Posse in Oakland. As part of our commitment to creating pollinator-friendly gardens, the Alvéole team in San Francisco heads to Oakland monthly to volunteer at The Gardens of Lake Merritt with Pollinator Posse.
Meet Pollinator Posse
We’re shining the spotlight on Pollinator Posse, a non-profit organization that creates pollinator-friendly landscaping and fosters appreciation of local ecosystems through outreach, education, and direct action.
With eco-friendly landscaping techniques at the heart of their work, they teach respect for the creatures which keep Oakland– and the world– blooming. Their mission is to help ensure thought-inspiring, pollinator-friendly gardens grace every corner of the world.
What is a pollinator?
Butterflies, wasps, hummingbirds, bats, and bees are all types of pollinators working as a team to pollinate many of the fruits and vegetables we consume each day. Our beloved honey bee, for example, collects pollen that sticks to her hairy legs when coming down for a sip of nectar.
Pollinators on duty, visiting one flower after the next, move pollen from the male to the female part of the flower. This important process helps to fertilize the plant, supports the reproduction process and, in time, helps our fruits and vegetables to grow bigger and tastier.
What the Alvéole team does to help
Once a month, our San Francisco beekeeping team heads out to weed, seed, and maintain different areas of the garden such as planting bee-friendly flowers along the garden’s new entryway.
We love how Pollinator Posse advocates for pollinators in their local communities and around the world. It’s inspiring to see how they bring people together to create pollinator-friendly gardens in urban landscapes, offering thriving havens for our little pollinator friends.
“Tora, who is one of the founding members of the Pollinator Posse, came to my San Francisco Beekeepers Association meeting to give a presentation and I totally fell in love with the mission and the work they were doing. I think they’re very happy to have some fit, able, young bodies [from our Alvéole team] to do the heavy lifting.”
– Erin Jackson, Alvéole Beekeeping Team Manager, San Francisco
ABOUT 1% FOR THE PLANET
In 2021, Alvéole joined 1% for the Planet, an international movement of organizations that donate 1% of their annual sales to nonprofits working to protect the environment.
