Meet Chelsea Gastelum | Native Plant Enthusiast

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chelsea Gastelum and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chelsea, let’s talk legacy – what do you want yours to be?
I do a lot to promote native plants in my community. Taking things to the next level by helping install the gardens elevates it to a conservation level. People don’t always realize the connections of native insects to native plants. It feels good to put in the effort of personally planting, and all the volunteers that help with our program can see the difference. I feel I am creating my legacy here in Lemon Grove. It is helping to install as many native pollinator gardens as possible. Teaching people about the benefits of native plants, providing free plants and seeds for the community, and creating spaces where people can see the beauty of native gardens in action. This will keep native plants growing in our area for years to come. One of the projects I am most excited about is the native plant demonstration garden going into San Altos Elementary School.
I think I would want them to remember that I truly care about the environment, and the benefits of native plants to help our native pollinators. When they see butterflies flitting through the air, or native bees pollinating the flowers, I hope they think of me. There may be a day when someone tells their kids or grandkids about a lady who helped bring so many butterflies to Lemon Grove.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The garden conservation work I do is all volunteer based. I have full-time job in the insurance industry. My gardening for native plants and pollinators is a passion project, and I am grateful that my enthusiasm spills over to the other volunteers that show up to help. I feel like I am doing things that other people were not doing, or maybe I just hadn’t heard about them. Everything is very much grass-roots, and roots in the ground conservation. For instance, the Busy Bee Garden Co-op invites volunteers to come out to our projects to install native gardens. This can be in neglected areas around town or someone’s front yard. This is totally asking people to come clean up and weed areas that are not theirs. That takes a certain kind of person, and certain motivation. One of the ways we motivate people is that our volunteers are then able to put up their front yards for us to do a make-over. They buy the plants, and we bring the manpower. More impressive is that we have people show up time and time again to keep helping, even after we have done their yards, or without us working in their yards at all. These are people who want to make our city a little better and come out to put in hard sweat equity into improving our city one garden at a time. This in turns helps keep me motivated. I organize the events, but it couldn’t happen without the rest of the volunteers.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Technically, Lemon Grove is my city. I would have to take them to lunch at the Lemon Grove Bistro, which hosts one of the earliest Busy Bee Gardens. The gardens have filled in nicely, and when you sit outside in the beer garden on a sunny day, you can watch all of the butterflies going by. It is such a magical time.

I would also take them on a Saturday to the Lemon Grove Historical Society’s Parsonage Museum. The museum has a lot of interesting artifacts and history about Lemon Grove, and we have started some butterfly gardens over there. It is only a couple of blocks from the Lemon Grove Bistro, and makes a perfect stroll before or after lunch.

Luckily my best friend likes to get out and hike, so we would take the short drive up to Mt. Laguna to take in the Sunset Trail Loop with my dog. Then we could head down to Lakeside and visit Ken at Caterpillar Chow and view the activity in the gardens there.

I would also take in the San Diego Zoo. It is one of the most beautiful zoos in the world and deserves a day of exploring. They’ve done a fabulous job remodeling the Children’s Zoo, and the bug houses can be super fun to explore.

Since this is my best friend, we don’t have to spend too much time going out. We like to be chill and just talk about life. The Dartmoor Naturehood Project or Mariposa Lane both have wonderful gardens that are enjoyable to just hang out and watch the butterflies and bees busily working. Having someone to share slowing the world down to enjoy the little things is one of the best feelings.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I don’t think there is any one person to give a shout out to. I definitely appreciate that my parents kept me up close to nature. When I was young there were often times we would just go explore various regions of Southern California for a day or a weekend. We would just get in a car and explore back roads and small towns. We would take hikes in the deserts, the mountains, and along the coast. I was taught to appreciate the natural beauty and plants of those regions vs trying to recreate a look or garden where it didn’t belong. There are certain plants that grow in certain areas, and then those have particular wildlife that grows up around them. It all makes sense. What we often do at our homes is have lawns devoid of life, and then put in a bunch of plants that don’t belong in our area.

As I got older I could explore on my own, read books, join groups and so on, and learn even more about nature and the importance of creating mini-ecosystems in our gardens. Doug Tallamy has several great books, and groups like the Xerces Society, CNPS, Wild Ones, the Audubon Society and more help teach us more about the value of native plants and wild spaces. I continue to learn and observe everything around me.

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