Arivaca Pollinator Pathway Project

06/20/2026

Love love love this type of change!!!

Minnesota will pay you to destroy your lawn.
Not in a metaphorical sense. The 'Lawns to Legumes' program literally deposits up to $350 directly into residents' bank accounts if they rip out chemical turf and replace it with organic clover. The state isn't asking nicely. It's cutting checks. The bee heavy with pollen on white clover blooms outside a rural Minnesota mailbox is what happens when policy stops pretending ecological change has to be voluntary.
For a century, American suburbs treated clover as the enemy. It was a 'w**d' to be sprayed, a sign of lawn failure, an embarrassment in a culture that demanded uniform green carpet. But clover is a legume. It pulls nitrogen from the atmosphere and fixes it in the soil through root nodules, feeding itself and everything around it without a single bag of Scotts. The bee in this photo is on a plant that used to be classified as a pest. Minnesota just reclassified it as infrastructure.
The program mechanics are simple and brutal in their effectiveness. Residents apply with a habitat plan. The state reviews and approves. The resident rips out the turf, plants clover or a native pollinator mix, and submits photos. The money hits their account. No tax credit. No rebate paperwork six months later. Direct deposit. Up to $350 per property. The state is treating residential land as part of the pollinator corridor network, and it's paying market rate for the conversion.
The second-order effect is soil-deep. Chemical turf is an ecological desert. Its roots are shallow, its nutrient demands are constant, and it supports almost no insect life. Clover is the opposite. Its roots dive deep, its flowers feed bees from April to October, and its nitrogen fixation means the soil improves every year without chemical input. The bee in this photo isn't visiting a garden. It's visiting a restored ecosystem that happens to be next to a mailbox.
Other programs ask homeowners to sacrifice. Minnesota asked what that was worth, wrote a number, and cut the check.

06/20/2026

The Merc sign restoration is complete, thanks to the kids at Arivaca Community Center! Amber and I did a little touchup and added a few more flying pollinators, and the sign is now triple-sealed and hung at the garden- check it out the next time you stop to shop!

06/17/2026

The Arivaca Pollinator Pathway Project is delighted to be helping the Gadsden Coffee Co./Monarch Cafe establish a new pollinator garden on their property in an existing L-shaped raised bed that wraps around their future outdoor seating area. This will be a perfect location for the garden and visiting pollinators to be enjoyed by future cafe patrons! 😊🌻🦋🐝🐞

Public donations made to the Arivaca Pathway Project in 2025, plus proceeds from the June 6th plant sale, have now paid for 1.5 yards of organic compost, and the remaining irrigation supplies purchased through our 2024 Endangered Species Coalition grant will equip the new garden with a drip irrigation system! 😊🌻🦋🐝🐞

This week, a great team of volunteers got started: Don Webster generously picked up and delivered the compost, then Wendy Dresang, Tassea Carrillo, and Emily Bishton helped Gadsden/Monarch owners & staff Amber Buckingham, Zach Buckingham, and Kelsey Ribbeck begin preparing the garden for plants. It's now all w**ded and half the compost moved into place! 😊🌻🦋🐝🐞

Later this summer when monsoon rains have cooled down the soil, a couple dozen donated pollinator plants will be installed, along with the irrigation system to keep them thriving while using water wisely. Three cheers for this newest addition to the Arivaca Pollinator Pathway Project, and to the wonderful volunteers and the Gadsden/Monarch owners & staff 😊🌻🦋🐝🐞

06/12/2026

Fun gardening and art classes the past couple of Tuesdays at the Arivaca Community Center! The kids have learned about the "jobs" of roots while planting perennials in their Pollinator Pathway Garden and creating a new herb garden. They've also made puddling ponds for the butterflies and bee baths for the bees who visit their gardens! Plus, they've made colorful laminated signs for their garden, as well as completely revitalized the big wooden Pollinator Pathway sign for the Merc, and painted a brand new sign for the Monarch's garden! Way to go, kids!!!

06/09/2026

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/the-surprising-science-backed-reason-being-in-nature-makes-you-feel-good/

Contact with the natural world appears to be linked to higher life satisfaction, in part because it helps people develop a more positive body image.

06/07/2026

More great news! Because of the 5 Arivacans that just joined, the Home Gardener Program portion of the Pollinator Pathway Project reached a huge milestone on Saturday: a total of 50 local properties registered! 🌻🦋🐝🦇🌸

Wow, in June 2024 when I had the idea to expand the Pollinator Project to include home gardens, this was the number I thought would be the ultimate... so to have reached it in 2 years is awesome!!! Welcome to the Home Gardeners Program Kim, David & Beth, Elizabeth & Adam, Kathleen & Craig, and R.D. & Jodi! 🌻🦋🐝🦇🌸

The number is only part of the story though, because the real goal of the Home Gardeners Program was having "mini-pollinator-pathways" in the areas around the townsite, and that has happened in a big way! 🌻🦋🐝🦇🌸

Besides the 12 public gardens that have been built by project volunteers since 2023, there are now clusters of multiple Home Gardener Program properties within the townsite, just outside town on either side of Ruby Road and Arivaca Road, trailing down Ilteka, Mesquite, Crooked Sky, Cedar Creek, and Hardscrabble Roads, and even a few further out in the hills. 🌻🦋🐝🦇🌸

With so many Arivaca "neighborhoods" intentionally growing plants to attract and nurture pollinators, being able to browse many nectar sources greatly magnifies the benefits for all the lucky bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and bats who call Arivaca home! 🌻🦋🐝🦇🌸

06/06/2026

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Farmer's Market to shop for pollinator plants today!!! You helped us raised over $200.00, to continue the Arivaca Pollinator Pathway Project's work, and your new plants will help our local pollinators thrive 🦋💐🌿🐝🐞 😍

Plus we now have 5 more Arivaca properties registered in the Home Gardener Program! Thanks again to all ❤️💛💚💜🩵🩷

06/05/2026

OK, here's the final list of plants that will be at tomorrow's Pollinator Plant Sale from 8am-11am at the Arivaca Farmer's Market! (shop early for best selection)

BTW, all are low-water-use once established, except for the Gregg's Mistflower and Coleus.

AGAVES: Standard (blue-leafed) Century Plant, Variegated-leaf Century Plant, Agave lechuguilla, and Artichoke Agave.

CACTI: Torch Cactus, Bunny Ears Cactus, Pinecone Cactus, Eve's Needle Cactus, Beavertail Cactus, and Barbary Fig Prickly Pear (which we will dig to order).

HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS: AZ Milkw**d, Gregg's Mistflower, Dwarf White Bearded Iris, Oregano, and Standard-height Purple Bearded Iris.

HOUSEPLANTS: Jade, Coleus, and Geranimum.

SUCCULENTS: Sedum 'Blue Spruce', Aloe barbatus, plus several other species that David Keller has generously donated along with some Pomegranate plants!

06/04/2026

A few more plants that will be at the June 6th Pollinator Plant Sale, I haven't yet mentioned yet: AZ Milkw**d, Purple Bearded Iris, Blue Spruce Sedum (a groundcover) and pads from my Pine Cone Cactus!

06/03/2026

Looking to add a houseplant or two? At the June 6th Pollinator Plant Sale, we'll also have a couple of Jade and Coleus plants, and a dozen rooted cuttings from these Geraniums! These all can be grown outside in semi-shade from spring to fall, and then be taken indoors (or put in a greenhouse) to spend the winter!