Miwok Park Climate Resilient Garden

📍1098 St Francis Dr, Petaluma, CA 94954

WELCOME TO A CLIMATE RESILIENT NEIGHBORHOOD GARDEN ON THE EAST SIDE OF PETALUMA

When entering the park from Saint Francis Drive, this garden is situated to the right hand side. Tall Milkweed and Anise Hyssop will greet you with a slow wave of their long stalks in the wind.

HISTORY OF THE GARDEN

Prior to April of 2024, Miwok Park was a large expanse of lawn with only a handful of trees and little support for local pollinators. Daily Acts wanted to change that. We worked with the City of Petaluma Parks and Recreation Department to assess and approve a section of lawn to be converted to a water-wise and climate resilient garden that could inspire folks who frequented the park. This was Daily Acts’ first public water-wise landscape installation through the Petaluma River Watershed Land Resilience Partnership.

To start the transformation, ReLeaf Petaluma planted 30 trees which will increase the shade canopy after a few years and create habitat for birds and other wildlife. After that, Daily Acts spent 2 days working with Conservation Corps North Bay, to sheet mulch 9,300 square feet of lawn using layers of compost, cardboard, and mulch to prepare the space for planting and reduce weed growth. On a hot day in May of 2024, 63 volunteers joined us to install 1,100 water-wise and native plants in hard clay soil. With the help of Conservation Corps North Bay, this site was then fitted with a drip irrigation system.

Since the soil wasn’t draining well, many of the drought-tolerant plants struggled to survive and we replanted 250 plants. Before that could happen, the soil needed to be amended to allow for better drainage and a swale was dug running the length of the garden to help channel extra water into a rain garden. This was completed in November of 2025. We are happy to share that this site is now providing habitat for pollinators while also saving 236,100 gallons of water each year!

PLANT LIBRARY

Take yourself on a tour of our demonstration garden by using our plant library below to identify plants as you go! If you’re interested in using some of these plants at your home garden, this is a great opportunity to see what they look like once they are established. Learn all about our favorite water-wise plants including whether they fruit and/or flower, their sunlight needs, and their watering needs.