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Bee-friendly urban wildflower meadows prove a hit with German city dwellers
- techsupporter 5y agoThis is something that cities the world over should be doing, both from a bee and a people perspective. Density is a lot more nice if greenery is nearby. Doesn't really matter if it's a park or an allotment or a library with a wide area. Just plenty of "something" with a large "big something" every so often. In most cities I have experience with, high quality outdoor space is largely reserved for the parts of town populated by people living in detached, one-family dwellings. The more dense parts of town are clustered next to noisy streets or with pollution. Not much greenspace. The cities that have gotten it more right than wrong are usually in western Europe and parts of Asia. > Christian Schmid-Egger, who coordinates Berlin’s wildflower meadows on behalf of the German Wildlife Foundation, said any conservation effort would ultimate require broader changes in agricultural practices: “If we are going to save the bees, we won’t be doing it in cities.” He's not wrong, but he's also not fully right either. One of the biggest damages we've done to our biome is to pave so much of it, largely to make space for automobiles. Animals and insects need places to thrive all over and setting aside more space among our population for both people and insects makes for a better environment.
- rapnie 5y agoI do some "guerilla seeding" now and then where I live, scattering seeds in abandoned city spots that are waiting for new housing to be build (which can take years). It is so beautiful what flowers emerge, and when I see how both residents and tourists enjoy them, taking pictures and such, I felt it should be common practice to sow such spaces with flowers. Suggested it to our municipality, but after a "Maybe, we'll consider it" nothing happened. It is such low effort, low cost though.. it has a good ROI in terms of well-being for bees and humans alike :)
- TaylorAlexander 5y agoI’ve been doing something similar. Collecting native seeds from plants that grow well here after they bloom, and distributing them to barren spots that need more growth and color. I just started but hopefully next year there will be more Echium and Lupine around here.
- distances 5y agoSmall warning for Europeans: here Lupine is a introduced species that displaces endemic plants. It probably should be removed if it's growing in your lands.
- Rochus 5y agoDon't remove it; better a few foreign lupines than no more bumble or solitary bees.
- developer93 5y ago*replace it with native species
- Rochus 5y agoWell, what is native? The Lupinus polyphyllus is the most common lupine species in Central Europe and has been present here for more than a hundred years. It is also one of the better bumblebee plants. When farmers mow the meadows (cutting down most of the native bumblebee plants) the bumblebees can't find anything there and are grateful for any garden.
- _Microft 5y agoI know that nature conservation authorities had to do that here in Germany when these plants spread from people's gardens into natural reserves. Please use local species instead of invasive ones.
- developer93 5y ago
- Mediterraneo10 5y agoIn highly litigious cultures like the USA, wouldn’t a city be wary of attracting lawsuits from people with bee-sting allergies for putting them at supposed risk?
- dan-robertson 5y agoThe US may be litigious but judges and lawyers aren’t stupid. The key issue is that it would generally be pretty hard to find someone sufficiently culpable. Many cities plant lots of male dioecious trees (ie some individuals of the species only have staminate (“male”) flowers and others individuals only have pistillate (“female”) flowers, the city plants only the trees that produce staminate flowers) which produce twice as much pollen as they would if trees were selected more randomly. This is because they drop less litter. But it is bad for people with allergies. I don’t think any such people have had success suing their cities for this practice.
- nullc 5y ago> which produce twice as much pollen as they would if trees were selected more randomly. My understanding is that it's even worse than twice, because the female flowers of some species actually filter the pollen out of the air.
- croon 5y agoI know I'm not arguing the merits of this specific case, but a world with no bees is a world where basically everyone is dead. Living can be hazardous, but some (very slight) dangers are necessary in a world that makes living possible.
- dan-robertson 5y agoIt sounds like the “high quality outdoor space” you are referring to is something to be found in typical North American suburbia, but I would argue that this is typically a bleak crabgrass hell and not much higher quality or more alive than the road/parking-lot hell that surrounds it. But maybe you are instead imagining streets lined with elm trees (well elm was traditional but most died of Dutch elm disease—other species are used now). Occasionally one may find an undeveloped lot which has more native species growing there, but perhaps we just disagree on what a high-quality outdoor space is, and you have something much more human-focused than natural in mind. I would argue that these do exist in the dense parts of big American cities (think Central Park in New York, which has a lot of space but also serves a dense population and so can afford more gardeners, flower beds, and varied features in general; New York also manages to sustain two botanical gardens which have reasonable examples of natural habitat too.) Though I would imagine the typical US city with a hollowed-out downtown mightn’t have good parks or shared spaces.
- techsupporter 5y agoMy view of a high-quality outdoor space is one where humans can be without the need to pay, with the ability to sit, and some space for play or leisure. We should also plan for pets being present because no matter how many signs you put asking people to not bring their dogs, cats, turtles, or ferrets, people will bring them. So let's not assume otherwise. A water fountain would be great, a public restroom (like a Portland Loo) even moreso in larger areas. This same space should also have as much of its volume as possible given over to natural surfaces. Grasses and hardy flowers, in particular. We don't need a rose garden. Most plant species native to an area look quite nice if not mowed down or stunted with pesticides. We should encourage property owners to give over some of the massive amounts of space currently used for automobile operation and storage to these public spaces. Eliminate parking minimums so that grocery and other big box stores in urban areas are able to rip up the artificial paving and return that space to natural use, for example. Make more planter box seating in movement rights-of-way. Unused parcels owned by governments should not be fenced off but have some furniture plopped down and an "everyone welcome" sign placed here. I also want people and their cities to think about more than just downtown. Comparatively few people live in "actual" downtowns. We need to deal with that, too, so that downtowns are not just clusters of tall office buildings that empty out at the end of a workday. Nothing says that Downtown cannot be a vibrant neighborhood of its own, arguably even easier than trying to kickstart other neighborhoods. But just saying "putting green space in downtown is difficult" misses the many, many other areas of most cities and towns. (I'm sure someone will come along and say "but you can't possibly do this because the homeless" so yes, this does mean we are addressing environmental concerns at the same time we are addressing human concerns.)
- Rochus 5y agoThis is very important and worrisome. People usually know only the honeybees. But, for example, bumblebees are at least as important in pollination (even more diligent than honeybees because they fly even in bad and cold weather). But this year is extreme; here in Switzerland I hardly see bumblebees anymore, no idea why. I am far from being the only one who has noticed this. Here, for example, a detailed blog (in German), where an incredible planting in contrast to previous years is hardly visited by bumblebees: http://www.hummelgarten.ch http://www.hummelgarten.ch.
- snovv_crash 5y agoMaybe it was due to the very cold winter?
- Rochus 5y agoWell, I remember much harsher winters twenty years ago which apparently was no issue for the bees. And until some weeks ago I actually saw many bumblebee queens on the flowers, but then by end of May the number suddenly decreased sharply. Must be another reason.
- qayxc 5y agoI found many dead bumblebees this year and many of them were infected with mites. It seems as if varroa mites have carried viruses from infected honey bees to wild bees and are killing a lot them.
- neonate 5y agohttps://archive.is/IqKd9 https://archive.is/IqKd9
- Tomte 5y agoOur municipality even gave out such a seed mix for free. If you're buying somewhere (supermarket etc.): caveat emptor. Many of the flower mixes are neither native nor appropriate for common native insects, but designed for beauty. It may be a good idea to search for reputable vendors. There are "famous" standardized mixes in Germany, but I cannot remember the names.
- fredley 5y agoIn the city I live in we are lucky to have a lot of parks, but also they leave the grass uncut in large portions of them. It grows long, with flowers and other plants providing greater biodiversity and a habitat for many more insects and small creatures. Some short grass is good, but the overabundance of lawns—particularly as the default coverage for parks and gardens—is a big problem.
- sohkamyung 5y agoIn Singapore, during last year's Circuit Breaker to break a surge in COVID-19 infections, the grass verges were left uncut (grass cutters were not allowed to work). It led to a surge in butterflies in my local area. Sadly, it ended after the Circuit Breaker ended, but I did notice some local parks now having long grass that would have been cut in previous years. Here's a commentary about that period in the local papers. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/covid-19-circuit-breaker-grass-cut-frequency-biodiversity-nparks-13013956 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/covid-19-cir...
- germinalphrase 5y agoMinneapolis gave small grants to homeowners for this purpose. The program was well publicized before it began and all slots filled immediately. I know an entomology researcher that is studying the impact on native pollinators and (unofficially) they are feeling very bullish about the whole thing.
- Tomte 5y agoMany towns now let neighbours care about "Baumscheiben" (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumscheibe https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumscheibe) along their streets. In my town there are many that have been "adopted", and they are sometimes spectacularly beautiful. There are a few rules: the tree and its roots must not be damaged, you must not plant things that grow too tall, because it would create dangers in traffic. City dwellers get to garden a little bit, the town saves on upkeep. And today I'm in Muenster and I saw a nice addition to that: the town placed several large water containers along the sidewalk, so the people don't have to carry water from their homes.
- fy20 5y agoIn my city (not Germany) they've started ripping up the bricks between trees on pavements (because nobody walks on them), and making whole strips of plant beds between pavements and roads.
- DerSaidin 5y agoI first read the title as "beer-friendly urban wildflower meadows", and thought that would indeed make a lovely beer garden. Maybe these meadows could serve bees and beers? :)
- hangonhn 5y agoCan any Googlers confirm or deny if this is also what Google is doing near their campus? I was out walking my dogs near the Google campus and was just stunned by the landscaping that looks like a bunch of unmanicured wild flowers in bloom. It was simultaneously beautiful but very natural looking. There were definitely a lot of bees and “life” around them. As a resident of Mountain View, I really appreciated it but wasn’t sure if it was deliberate and if it was, if this is a new trend.
- sudesh 5y agoYes, it’s similar. Google maintains a few honey bee hives throughout their Mountain View campus, and several areas are landscaped with California endemic species to restore local biodiversity. It’s great to hear the pollinators are staying busy!
- BuyMyBitcoins 5y agoI live in Texas and I saw a monarch butterfly for the first time a few weeks ago. I hope more people let wildflowers grow - as the people who are currently doing so seem to be helping the biome recover.
- vhodges 5y agoFor readers in the Lower Mainland (of BC): https://www.westcoastseeds.com/products/bee-turf https://www.westcoastseeds.com/products/bee-turf and/or https://www.westcoastseeds.com/products/alternative-lawn-mix https://www.westcoastseeds.com/products/alternative-lawn-mix
- dan-robertson 5y agoThe biggest cause of these declining populations seems, to me, to be intensive agriculture which leads to both loss of habitat and various toxic chemicals (pesticides but also fertilisers and huge quantities of slurry). Another cause may be pollution but it seems to me that we’ve had pollution for longer. In the U.K. this intensive agriculture was started in the war as an effort to produce more food locally. It meant less land was left fallow and land which had been too poor quality to be viable was farmed (with low yields and lots of artificial inputs.) It also means that any agricultural runoff is worse for the environment it runs into (even fertilisers may cause algal blooms in rivers which can then remove the oxygen from the water.) Because farms have to stay competitive, there isn’t much choice but to continue these intensive practices. To some extent, switching to certified organic practices allows farms to stop such practices. It’s not so obvious what the solution is. There are a lot of people to feed and reducing the productivity of the land in a rich country puts pressure on land in other countries. One suggested solution is people changing to more land-efficient diets with less meat, but I don’t really see this happening much.
- pfdietz 5y agoHow do fertilizers kill insects?
- dan-robertson 5y agoWell insecticides and habitat loss kill insects. Intensive farming involves insecticides and habitat loss. And fertilisers in runoff may damage ecosystems causing further loss of habitat.
- darth_avocado 5y agoFertilizers are chemicals. Just because it helps plants grow doesn’t mean it’s not toxic to other living beings, including humans. Imagine you being an insect just chilling and suddenly you’re covered in urea. You’ll die instantly.
- hanoz 5y ago
- WalterBright 5y agoI've been trying to turn my lawn into a native meadow for years, with little success. But the thrum of bees motivates me to keep trying. It's the ugliest lawn in the neighborhood. But the local fauna like it.
- sunshineforever 5y agoI remember when this was just a proposal. Half of the users of the Facebook group that it was posted in declared that such gardens were ableist towards people with bee allergies. Yikes.
- ash_dev 5y agoWe had a no mow may in the uk, in city and town I live in it generally received positive feedback and has continued through june, subject to weather. It's makes a pleasant change to the square bland strips you'd usually see.
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- debacle 5y agoI live in a bee-friendly wildflower meadow. It is a 3 acre flowery paradise. I haven't seen a single honey bee this year. Not a one. Fewer carpenter bees and even wasps than usual. It's concerning.
- foxes 5y agoUrban sprawl catering to the car lifestyle is the mistake. Most major cities that cater exclusively for cars are hellscapes covered in concrete and parking lots. I truly despise car traffic. Cities should be higher density, feature plenty of parkland so you can ride and walk through it, plus end of trip facilities for those bikes, obviously you need some roads for necessary services, but then have an abundance of public transport.
- h4kor 5y agohttps://unevenearth.org/2018/08/the-social-ideology-of-the-motorcar/ https://unevenearth.org/2018/08/the-social-ideology-of-the-m...
- atoav 5y agoAs someone who wiped the black dust off his balkony once a week I can tell you the absolute worst I had from living at a major road was the noise. When I first slept in my new flat it felt like someone lifted a heavy rock off my chest. I hadn't realized just how much the noise affected me. And I am not a noise sensitive person, in fact Metal and Noise music are kinda a thing I like. I think cities first and foremost should look out for the people wjo actually live there. Widening roads is the polar opposite of that.
- leoedin 5y agoI spent a couple of years living next to a main road. Not a highway, but one of the main routes into London from the south east. The noise was terrible. It wasn't even that the road was particularly constantly busy, but because it was the "main" road there was always vehicles. And motorbikes. Motorbikes were the worst, by far. Being woken suddenly every hour by someone on a motorbike revving their engine wears down on you night by night.
- black_puppydog 5y agoLiving in a very walkable old-inner-city I have essentially zero cars going through the neighbourhood, especially at night. But motorbike and scooters (!) are able to go through and a single scooter is easily able to eradicate cumulative hours of sleep throughout the neighbourhood within seconds. How these things have not been regulated out of existence by now is beyond me. The only silver lining is that I see more and more electric scooters. As they're starting to make economic sense I hope that the others will phase out, but the old ones will have to be removed by force (of law) or they'll keep ruining people's health (air & sleep) for decades...
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- _pmf_ 5y agoGermans will generally buy any pseudo-ecological snake oil, but this is a fad I also want to get behind.
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- akie 5y agoAmusingly, one of the image captions in this article describes Kreuzberg as a "suburb". Kreuzberg is many things, but it's most definitely not a suburb. Depending on who you ask, it's either one of the most "dangerous" "immigrant" neighbourhoods in the country, or one of the creative centers of the Berlin art scene, or startup/hipster central. But suburb.... no.
- henryteeare 5y agoIn some countries, e.g. Australia or South Africa, suburb just means "neighbourhood" rather than specifically an outlying one.