While this fanciful place doesn't represent most city dwellers' landscaping choices, a recent study conducted in Warsaw, Poland, begs a transformation of urban and suburban neighborhoods for the sake of the bees and butterflies.^{1 2} The study’s results suggest that converting even small spaces, like your yard, into a mini wildflower meadow could provide similar benefits to the big, blooming meadow you drive past on a country road in June!^{3 4 5} And pollinators need our support in every way possible, because their decline threatens our survival.⁶

The Polish researchers launched their study, published in the journal Ecological Entomology, to answer this question: Are intentionally planted wildflower meadows “as attractive to pollinator insects as natural meadows?”⁷ They focused the research on three types of pollinators: butterflies, wild bees, and hoverflies.⁸ Over two summers, across 10 locations in central Warsaw and one just south of it, they compared species richness and the number of insects found in naturally occurring meadows versus those planted around the city, which they refer to as “sown meadows.”⁹ Plants in the sown locations came from meadow seed mixes, which included grasses, native species, and perennials, and the sown meadows were much smaller—the largest were close in size to the smallest natural varieties.¹⁰

Intentionally planted urban meadows attract pollinators in similar concentrations to natural ones

The researchers found no significant difference in the composition of insect-pollinated plants or the diversity of butterfly, bee, and hoverfly species between sown and natural meadows.^{11 12} There was also no such difference in the number of bees and hoverflies visiting both meadow types.^{13 14} Butterfly abundance, however, was twice as high in natural meadows, indicating that butterflies prefer more space, as the larger sown plots were also positively correlated with butterfly abundance.^{15 16} Overall, these results led the research team to a delightful conclusion—replacing some mowed urban green spaces with flowery meadows may simultaneously enhance biodiversity and residents’ wellbeing, helping “alleviate the hostile environment of urban space for wildlife.”¹⁷ Pollinator-supporting urban meadows should be flower-rich and feature diverse seeds and plants, and mowing should be minimal.¹⁸ The Warsaw locations were only mowed once a year, in August, facilitating a long blooming period and allowing seeds to disperse, ensuring blooms for years to come.¹⁹

Wildflowers aren’t just a pretty face

Just one acre of a meadow in bloom can support almost 96,000 honeybees a day!²⁰ Wildflower roots also help retain carbon, and store water and nutrients in the soil, and meadows are biodiverse-rich habitats.²¹ Volunteers in the U.S. identified 126 wildflower species and 70 types of butterflies in subalpine meadows throughout five western states—did you even know there were 70 types of butterflies?²² I didn’t! So, who's ready to change the status quo of urban landscaping, starting with a mini meadow in your own yard? If you have a few square feet of soil to play with, take the "road less traveled" in your neighborhood! Perhaps your street will become the wildly beautiful, pollinator-sustaining kind that everybody wants to take, which in this case just might "make all the difference."²³

References