California Native Plant Society Announces New Calscape Pollinator Hub

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Amina Sharma, California Native Plant Society, asharma@cnps.org

One in five pollinator species in the United States is at risk of extinction. The Pollinator Hub helps gardeners, farmers, and land stewards support the pollinators and natural communities upon which we all depend. 

September 24, 2026, Sacramento—Today, the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) announced the launch of the new Pollinator Hub, now available on the organization’s gardening website, Calscape.org. With the Pollinator Hub, California gardeners, farmers, and land stewards can take science-based action to help pollinators by growing native plants that support them. 

“Supporting wildlife is the number one reason people get into gardening with native plants,” said Lila Higgins, CNPS director of Education and Horticulture. “California is a global biodiversity hotspot for native plants, which translates to supporting thousands of  pollinators, too. Nearly half of the native bee species in the United States live in California. Converting even a small number of lawns and farm edges into pollinator habitat provides food, shelter, and the wildlife corridors that are essential to migration.” 

Pollinators are often associated with nectar, but they also need plants to feed and shelter their young. Gardeners, farmers, and land stewards can search by pollinator to find the local native plants that support pollinators in their area. By answering a few questions on the Pollinator Companion Tool, gardeners can also quickly get a native plant list based on their criteria, whether they are looking to build a butterfly garden or plant in small spaces. The scientific foundation of the Pollinator Hub was developed through the Morpho “Plant Prioritizer” Working Group, convened and hosted by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). 

“Almost 90% of flowering plants, including many crop plants, rely on pollinators,” said Patricia Bohls, biodiversity coordinator at the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “By growing the native plants that California’s pollinators need, gardeners and farmers can boost pollination while also supporting the web of life in our state.”  

Using the Pollinator Hub, farmers can match pollinators for commonly grown crop plants with the native plants that also support them. Interplanting native plants among crops or creating native plant hedgerows can support a diverse native pollinator community, which has been shown to improve crop yields. 

“Not only do fruits and vegetables rely on pollinators, but so do wildlife,” said Jessica Woodard, Calscape product manager. “Caterpillars are a crucial food source for baby birds. Yet most butterfly and moth caterpillars can only eat the native plant species they co-evolved with—about 90% can’t overcome the defenses of an unfamiliar plant. The monarch butterfly, for instance, lays its eggs only on milkweeds.” 

Land managers and stewards can also use the Pollinator Hub to select native plants and their companion plants that best support “specialist” pollinators—those that rely on a particular plant species to survive. These groups will benefit from research-based recommendations for planting and habitat restoration that support pollinators. 

The Calscape Pollinator Hub is the result of years of collaboration among the participants of a working group convened by the NCEAS at UC Santa Barbara, which brought together researchers, conservation and horticulture practitioners, and community partners. Primary financial support for the Calscape Pollinator Hub comes from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)’s Office of Agricultural Resilience and Sustainability. 

Find a PDF of the news release here.

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California Native Plant Society is a statewide nonprofit organization that protects California’s native plants and their natural habitats through science, education, stewardship, gardening, and advocacy. CNPS has more than 13,000 members and 35 chapters supporting its mission throughout California and Baja California, Mexico. Learn more at cnps.org.