Do tiny native plant gardens make a difference?
We planted a native tree and filled it with native wildflowers in Philadelphia. While we didn’t notice a ton of native insects and pollinators, we certainly observed generalist pollinators like bumble bees, honey bees, and even a sweat bee. We also noticed a few moths, leaf-mining insects, and flies.
While these tiny gardens may not make a huge difference on their own, there is power in numbers. If a few people did this on each block, even in the densest urban areas, pollinators and other wildlife could be connected to larger areas of nature via these tiny gardens.
I encourage you to try this out – even if it’s just a few native plants grown in pots on your balcony or front porch, or a 9 square foot garden in your front yard. We need to put native plants back wherever we can get them!
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21 Comments
A lil can go a long way
Big fan of actions like this. How do those plants handle all the dog piss?
Could you post the species you planted?
My only hesitation in cutting holes in the sidewalk would be decreasing accessibility for disabled neighbors.
It seems to be a little tight between the plants and the stairs, which can make it hard for blind people with white canes to do their sweep, people with wheelchairs to turn and squeeze between, or folks with other limited mobility to avoid catching their foot on the corners.
Bravo! You are an excellent ambassador of nature and how we humans can be more in line with it.
Preach đ
This is a good idea generally speaking, but it would have been better just a few feet further away from those stairs
As is it would be a little precarious to squeeze a wheelchair (especially a power wheelchair) or even big stroller through there
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I miss Philadelphia.. đ˘
Come do this to my "front yard"!
As an addition, cover walls of buildings with Ivy, Wine or whatever. The more micro habitats are created the better.
Go birds, go BEES
Thank you Andrew, keep it up!
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Hi Andrew, can you please leave a link for that study you referenced? It seems really cool, and I'd love to give it a read. Thanks for all the work you do promoting habitat restoration!
it not just for the animals. humans gets happy when seeing flowers and greenery so thats a bonus too
Itâs prevents fragmentation in bee and butterfly populations.
The next time I visit philly I want to visit. This is so awesome! I'm going to buy my family there native plant seeds this year for Christmas
Look up a picture from literally any city in Europe. It really makes America look like one big shitty gas station.
I love this but I'm kind of concerned about the accessibility of that sidewalk now
wow you are so awesome! keep up the amazing work!