Urban environments need both native and adaptive plants for biodiversity, and they help increase habit for birds, insects and other animals. This spring, TurfMutt has enlisted Professor Botany’s help to teach families the importance of living landscapes for pollinators and wildlife, such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.Nature starts in your backyard.
Yards, parks, schoolyards and other community green space are vital to the world’s ecosystem.

Pollinators & wildlife rely on living landscapes.

Grass, trees, shrubs and other plant life provide food and habitat for birds and small mammals. Insects, spiders and worms live among the grass blades and below the surface in the turf.

Lack of living landscapes = lack of biodiversity.
Replacing living landscapes with rocks, mulch, plastic grass and hardscapes forces birds, squirrels and other animals to forage for food elsewhere. By eliminating living landscapes from urban and suburban life, birds, pollinators and wildlife lose their home habitat.
So, what can families do to help insects and other important backyard critters? Professor Botany has some tips.

Know your climate zone and add more plants that do well in the environment, which will make our communities nicer places to live for families, pets and wildlife.

Seek a good balance of climate-appropriate, drought friendly grasses, plants trees and shrubs. This will benefit not only the local wildlife and the environment overall.

Add some pollinator plants to your yard to attract bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinating wildlife.