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Habitats at Home

Creating Backyard Spaces That Support Pollinators, Wildlife, and Biodiversity

What makes this garden a habitat?

  • Food
    Native and pollinator-friendly plants provide nectar, pollen, and seeds for wildlife like bees, butterflies, beetles, and birds.
  • Shelter and nesting sites
    Dense foliage, decomposing logs, and leaf litter offer safe places for wildlife to rest, hide, and reproduce.
  • Water
    A shallow basin carved into a large basalt rock gives birds and insects a place to drink.

How you can help wildlife at home

You don’t need a big yard—or even a yard at all—to make a difference. Start with just one or two ideas:

  • Plant native flowers, shrubs, and grasses.
  • Let some leaves and stems stay through winter to provide shelter for wildlife during colder months, and delay garden clean up to late spring to provide nesting material in early spring.
  • Provide clean, shallow water.
  • Avoid pesticides.
  • Choose plants that bloom in every season.

Additional resources

Habitats at Home

A Demonstration Garden That Supports Pollinators, Wildlife, and Biodiversity

A Garden with a Message

Pollinators like bees and butterflies are in trouble. So are birds, bats, and many other wild creatures. One big reason? Habitat loss. As natural areas disappear, wildlife must rely more and more on gardens and developed spaces. The Habitats at Home demonstration garden was designed with that in mind. It shows how a typical garden bed can support a wide variety of life.

Whether you’re gardening in containers on a small patio or balcony, or in a large back yard, your garden can be a place that native pollinators and wildlife also call home.

Created by the WSU Extension King County Master Gardener Program in partnership with the Bellevue Botanical Garden and supported by a grant from King Conservation District, this vibrant garden showcases practical, beautiful solutions to support plant and animal life throughout the seasons.

A Garden Designed with Purpose

This exhibit combines beauty with function. Visitors move through a progression of bloom color and form—beginning with cool spring tones and ending in a warm summer crescendo. Carefully chosen natives and other pollinator-friendly plants provide food and shelter for wildlife.

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Slide show photos courtesy of Chelsea Shipp.

“We invite you to take inspiration from this new bed, and consider adding native plants, food, shelter, and water to your own garden.”
-WSU Master Gardeners

Decomposing logs provide shelter and nesting habitat

A shallow basin carved into a large basalt rock gives birds and insects a place to drink.

Fast Facts

  • Installed: March 26, 2025
  • Location: Courtyard Bed (across from The Trillium Store)
  • Duration: 3-year exhibit

Project Partners

The Bellevue Botanical Garden is a successful partnership between City of Bellevue Parks and Community Services and the Bellevue Botanical Garden Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

© 2026 Bellevue Botanical Garden Society. All Rights Reserved. | Website photography courtesy of Joseph Abken, Michele Burton, Bob Cerelli, James Gagliardi, Brian Hart, Darcy McInnis, Rebecca Randall, Lisa Wissner-Slivka, Jil Stenn, Anita White, and Zhong Zheng.

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