Spring has arrived, blossoming after a long period of winter clouds and rain at De Anza College.
Flowers flourish on stairs, between buildings, in pots and along walkways all around campus.
The Kirsch Center garden contains a wide variety of native California plants, such as the matilija poppy, California poppy, purple petunia and California native spicebush.
“We don’t try to introduce any non-natives (plants) throughout (the community garden), especially in the Cheeseman Environmental Study Area garden,” said Diana Martinez, environmental studies lab technician at De Anza.
De Anza’s Environmental Science department also runs a Monarch Butterfly Conservation Area at the Kirsch Center, where students who volunteer and staff, hatch and release monarch butterflies.
Last year the department released 1,500 butterflies.
“This year we’re hoping that we’ll release a lot,” Martinez said.
