A New Chapter for Native Habitat in the Heart of Larkspur

Dana Swisher, Spring 2026

Larkspur Library Habitat Garden monkey flower

Behind the new library in downtown Larkspur, something quietly transformative is beginning to take root.

The newly-planted habitat garden, led by Refugia Marin, is turning a forgotten outdoor space into a living landscape filled with California native plants and opportunities for community connection. Designed in partnership with landscape architecture firm RHAA Landscape Architects and installed by California Native Landscapes (CNL), the garden will provide food and shelter for birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife while creating a welcoming public space for library visitors of all ages. The project represents an exciting example of collaboration between nonprofits, designers, civic institutions, and volunteers working toward a shared ecological vision.

The Marin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society provided meaningful support for the project ($50,000), helping make the garden a reality. Laura Lovett, a former Marin CNPS board member and passionate advocate for native plants, was deeply involved in shaping the habitat garden into the vibrant space it is today. Laura sadly passed away earlier this year, but her care and dedication will live on through the garden she helped create.

More than a decorative planting, the project reflects a growing movement to weave biodiversity into public spaces. The garden showcases earth-friendly gardening: sustainable landscaping that benefits the broader environment, while making things easier for the gardener. Earth-friendly gardening protects biodiversity by supporting pollinators and natural enemies, minimizes pollutants, saves water and energy, improves soil and recharges groundwater, and mitigates climate change.

Once an open space on the edge of the original town — and later left untended, its soil compacted over time — the site is now being reimagined as a layered native habitat designed as much for ecological function as for beauty. The transformation illustrates how even relatively small civic landscapes can become meaningful refugia for wildlife in increasingly urbanized environments.

A Habitat Garden at the Center of Community Life

Libraries are places of learning, curiosity, and discovery, and this garden extends those values outdoors.

Located behind the new library building, the habitat landscape is envisioned as a peaceful, climate-resilient outdoor environment where visitors can pause among native grasses, flowering perennials, and wildlife-friendly shrubs and trees. Meandering pathways, seating areas, and layered plantings will invite visitors into the space while creating shelter and foraging opportunities for wildlife throughout the year.

The planting palette will focus on species adapted to Marin’s temperate climate, helping reduce long-term water use while supporting local ecosystems. Species include plants such as Douglas iris, California fuchsia, coffeeberry, coyote mint, deergrass, and coast live oaks. Together, these plants will provide year-round structure, seasonal blooms, seeds, berries, and habitat resources for native wildlife.

The project also builds on Laura Lovett’s growing legacy of native public landscaping. Over the past several years, community leaders and volunteers have helped establish native plantings at locations throughout downtown Larkspur, including Magnolia Avenue medians and the landscape surrounding the Central Marin Police Authority headquarters on Doherty Drive.

The library garden represents the next evolution of that work: a highly visible civic landscape designed not only for beauty, but for ecological function, climate resilience, and environmental education.

Creating a Living Corridor for Biodiversity

Refugia Marin’s broader mission is to transform public land into connected habitat that supports wildlife, reduces water use, sequesters carbon, and inspires environmental stewardship. What began as a single restoration effort has expanded into eight gardens. The project at Larkspur Library has become part of that growing network.

In urban and suburban landscapes where habitat is increasingly fragmented, even relatively small native plant gardens can serve as important ecological “stepping stones” for pollinators and birds moving through developed areas. Located near the Corte Madera Creek watershed and Piper Park, the garden will help strengthen habitat connectivity through the heart of southern Marin.

Native plants evolved alongside native insects, birds, and other wildlife, making them significantly more ecologically valuable than conventional ornamental landscapes. Research has shown that native plants support substantially greater insect biodiversity and biomass, which in turn supports birds and broader food webs.

The planting design emphasizes host and nectar plants for native pollinators, with bloom succession intended to support insects across seasons. Native bees, hummingbirds, resident and migratory birds, and butterflies – including Western Monarchs, skippers, hairstreaks, and brush-footed varieties – are expected to benefit from the habitat resources the garden provides.

The garden is also intended to function as a demonstration site, showing residents, municipalities, and landscaping professionals how native landscapes can be beautiful, accessible, drought-tolerant, and community enhancing.

Stewardship Rooted in Place

Like many California communities, Marin County is facing the intersecting challenges of drought, biodiversity loss, habitat fragmentation, and climate change. Native habitat gardens offer one practical and hopeful response — landscapes that conserve resources while restoring ecological relationships that have evolved over thousands of years.

The project also reflects a growing recognition that public landscapes can express a stronger sense of place by drawing from the ecology of the region itself. Long before contemporary development, the area supported diverse native plant communities stewarded by Indigenous peoples including the Coast Miwok. Today, native habitat projects help reconnect communities with the ecological identity of the land beneath their feet.

Unlike conventional ornamental landscapes that often rely on intensive irrigation, fertilizers, and frequent maintenance, the library habitat garden is being designed with long-term ecological stewardship in mind. Once established, the native planting areas are expected to require significantly less supplemental irrigation while avoiding pesticides and supporting healthy soil systems and pollinator populations.

Education, Stewardship, and Hands-On Learning

One of the defining aspects of Refugia Marin’s projects is community participation.

Volunteer habitat work days bring together students, families, gardeners, and conservation advocates to help install and maintain native landscapes. Teens can also earn community service hours while learning about ecological restoration, watershed health, and local biodiversity.

Future plans for the library garden include community habitat stewardship work parties, the installation of interpretive educational signage about native plants and pollinators, outdoor environmental learning opportunities through library programming. Additional features will include plant labeling as well as potential art installations, and educational elements designed to engage children with the natural world.

The garden will become both a refuge for wildlife and a gathering place for people — a place where residents can slow down, observe seasonal change, and reconnect with local natural ecology.

A Growing Community Effort

Refugia Marin is a nonprofit organization fundraising to support both new habitat projects and the long-term stewardship of existing ones. Community involvement is central to the organization’s success, and the overwhelming support, volunteerism, and enthusiasm from the community so far has been deeply encouraging.

Residents can get involved by volunteering at future habitat work days, donating to support educational features, participating in long-term stewardship efforts, and helping spread awareness about the ecological value of California native plants.

As Marin communities continue rethinking public landscapes in the face of climate change and biodiversity decline, projects like the Native Habitat Garden at Larkspur Library demonstrate what is possible when habitat restoration becomes part of everyday civic life.

Learn more or support the project through Refugia Marin’s Native Habitat Garden at Larkspur Library page.