Kim Chacón

Kim Chacón loves helping people connect with the plants around them. As a garden educator, professor, and landscape designer, she specializes in pollinator habitats and believes that building “landscape literacy” can empower students to see their surroundings in new ways. Whether teaching at the Mount Diablo School District, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, or Merritt College in Oakland, Kim’s classes offer students hands-on opportunities to explore ecology, horticulture, and design with a focus on environmental stewardship.

Originally from Edmonds, Washington, Kim is a first-generation college student who earned her B.S. in Landscape Architecture and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Geography from UC Davis. Her research explored how California’s urban and suburban spaces function as novel ecosystems—complex, evolving environments where people and pollinators coexist. She brings this curiosity into the classroom, where students learn to see bees, gardens, and landscapes not as static, but as vibrant, living systems.

Kim enjoys designing pollinator-friendly landscapes, discovering new plants, and sharing recipes made with things she’s grown. You can learn more about her work at beelandscapes.com.