In the streets of Boston, revolution is once again in the air, and this time it’s in the front garden. While most homeowners opt for traditional lawns, some urban gardeners are creating oases for pollinators. A study by Murphy & Crone challenges what we thought we knew about creating pollinator-friendly spaces. By examining over 86,000 front yards, researchers discovered that small plots often pack the biggest punch for biodiversity.
The results were unexpected. Rather than sprawling suburban plots, it’s the smaller gardens that have the biggest impact. The team found that small gardens often harbour the richest diversity of flowering plants. with twice the variety of blooming species compared to traditional lawns. While higher-income areas tend to have more flower gardens, there’s a twist – more cultivated flowers but fewer wild species grow here.
Murphy & Crone began their investigation using Google Street View to examine front gardens across Boston. This allowed them to categorise over 86,000 locations into five distinct types – from traditional lawns to diverse flower gardens. Next, the team carried out detailed on-the-ground surveys, visiting 519 randomly selected gardens through the blooming season of 2021, documenting every flowering plant they encountered.
For a stratified random subset of scored addresses (N =562), we performed in-person surveys of front yard floral diversity… These monthly visits occurred approximately every 4 weeks for each site. We repeatedly visited the same sites instead of adding more sites because floral communities change over time and we wanted to capture yard diversity over the course of the season.
While we often think of cities as concrete jungles, research shows that urban pollinators can flourish when given the right resources. The front garden – a space traditionally dominated by uniform lawns – could make a staggering difference to wildlife. The gardens of the USA, all added together, cover an area the size of Georgia. It’s potentially a massive boost for wildlife.
Murphy, A.W. & Crone, E.E. 2024. Pollinator gardening is constrained by income but not lot size in urban front yards. Landscape and Urban Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2024.105271 ($)
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