Abby Quillen

Freelance Content Marketing Writer and Editor

Biodiversity

3 Powerful Reasons to Plant Flowers

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Whether they’re in the ground, in window boxes, in pots, or in a vase on your living room table, there’s such a thing as flower power.

Often the way our environment looks gets pushed to the bottom of our to-do lists. Yes, it would be nice to add a little beauty to our homes or yards, but there are more practical things to take care of, such as procuring food and keeping the children alive. For that reason, flowers once ranked low on my gardening to-do list. But I’ve changed my mind, and here’s why.

Flowers are Healing
[clickToTweet tweet=”Flower power is real. Indoor flowers are linked with health, energy, happiness, and compassion.” quote=”Flower power is real. Indoor flowers are linked with health, energy, happiness, and compassion.” theme=”style1″]

In one study, people who have flowers in their living area reported less anxiety and worry, more energy and happiness at work, and more feelings of compassion toward others. In another study, surgical patients with flowers or potted plants in their environment had lower blood pressure and reported less need for pain medication, better moods, and less anxiety and tiredness than patients without flowers.

 

3 Powerful Reasons to Plant Flowers #gardening

Flowers Breed Biodiversity

Moreover, planting flowers is a small way to begin to change the devastating story of species loss.

What do flowers have to do with species loss?

We’re currently in a biodiversity crisis. (Biodiversity is the term scientists use to describe the abundant variety of life on Earth.) Alarmingly, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warns nearly a third of known species are threatened with extinction.

The culprit?

Us.

Especially our cities.

Urban sprawl is one of the leading causes of species endangerment; it contributes to the collapse of honey bee populations and the dramatic decline in Monarch butterfly colonies.

We need biodiversity. Plants and animals clean the air and water, create soil, pollinate crops, and recycle waste. It’s our life support system.

Feeling hopeless yet?

Don’t worry, I’m getting to the hopeful part.

A big part of the problem is that our cities are remarkably homogeneous. Ever wondered why nearly every city in the U.S. is covered in Kentucky bluegrass, even in the desert Southwest? We’ve transformed wide swaths of our country into relatively lifeless corridors, and pollinators have dwindling places to live, eat, and drink.

But we can make a difference. The Biodiversity in Urban Gardens (BUG) research project, a large-scale, eight-year British study, indicates what we plant in our yards and gardens can significantly impact the biodiversity of a city. By designing outdoor spaces to attract and accommodate birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles, and other small animals, we can create safe corridors for wildlife and protect endangered species.

Biodiversity depends on bugs.

Insects are food for a large number of species, including amphibians, reptiles, rodents, spiders, and birds. Plus, insects are pollinators, so they’re necessary for plant biodiversity.

How do you feed and attract insects? First, put the pesticides away! Then, plant flowers!

That’s right, those very same lifeforms that are healing to us can turn a lifeless lawn into a humming, buzzing, biodiverse place of life.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Don’t underestimate flowers. They’re powerful, healing, and essential for healthy ecosystems.” quote=”Don’t underestimate flowers. They’re powerful, healing, and essential for healthy ecosystems.” theme=”style1″]

Flowers Help Your Vegetable Garden Thrive

If you have a vegetable garden and you’re thinking the last thing you want to do is welcome more insects into your life, I can relate. But trust me, you want to plant flowers. Flowers have been shown to increase veggie yields and minimize pest damage because they attract beneficial pollinators and predators. In one study, farmers reduced cereal-leaf beetle damage in winter wheat fields by 62 percent by planting flower strips within rows of wheat. In another, farmers increased mango harvests by 40 percent when they planted native flowers nearby.

Flowers are Good for Everyone

When we plant flowers, everyone wins.

Humans have a disastrous track record when it comes to the environment, and it’s natural to feel paralyzed, grief-stricken, and angry about it.

Meanwhile, let’s plant flowers!

Welcoming biodiversity into yards and cities creates a welcoming space for all life.

People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us. - Iris Murdoch #quote

If you liked this post check out these related posts:

Do you have a flower garden? What kind of insects and wildlife do you see in your yard?

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Wildlife-Friendly Food

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“Eating is an agricultural act.” – Wendell Berry

As you fly over the Midwest, you can look down on the seemingly endless patchwork of plots that make up much of our country. From the air, it’s striking how organized, clean, and antiseptic the nation’s farms look – almost more like factories than farmlands.

Humans have been farming for 10,000 years, but few of us have to think much about agriculture these days. Ninety percent of colonial Americans made their living in agriculture. Today less than two percent of us are farmers. Thus many people don’t think much about how farming has changed in the last 200 years.

For most of human history, farmers had no choice but to care for the health of the soil and ecosystems to some extent. Compost, manure, conservative tilling practices, crop rotation, beneficiary insects, and other natural allies were farmers’ only ways of ensuring healthy crops. But in the last century, petroleum-based fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides enabled farmers to buy fertility in bottles.

Today many consumers are concerned about the dangers of fertilizers and pesticides to human health. But one factor is often ignored: they and the “sterile” farming methods they’ve engendered have been disastrous to wildlife and ecosystems.

Today agriculture is the single biggest cause of habitat loss and endangered species. In the last century farmers across the nation have ripped out vegetation, cut down forests, eradicated insects, shot and killed predators, and filled in wetlands and streams. Wilderness is something increasingly contained in designated areas, not something tolerated on the farms and ranches that make up 40 percent of our nation.

Does it have to be this way? Can we protect the health of ecosystems and grow enough food to feed the world? Can we combine the unpredictable, fertile disorder of the wilderness with our craving for predictable, high-yield agriculture? Can farms be wilder?

I’ve been grappling with these questions for an article assignment over the last month, and in the process learning much about conservation and agriculture. I’ve gotten to talk to many interesting people on the subject and have been pouring over the writings of Wendell Berry, Aldo Leopold, and other thinkers, who’ve challenged notions of wild and tame.

I’ll share more about my article after it’s published. In the meantime, I thought you may like to know how you can support farmers who are protecting ecosystems, wildlife, and natural areas. A handful of eco-labels help consumers purchase food grown on farms that protect biodiversity. Some people call these labels “beyond organic”. If you don’t see them at your grocery store, consider asking the owner or manager to stock food certified by these organizations.

The Food Alliance

The Food Alliance launched its certification program in 1998 to designate producers and processors dedicated to social and environmental responsibility. To gain certification, farmers and ranchers must:

  • Conserve soil and water resources
  • Protect biodiversity and wildlife habitat
  • Provide safe and fair working conditions
  • Practice integrated pest management to minimize pesticide use and toxicity
  • Continually improve practices

To find Food Alliance Certified farms, ranches, processors, and distributors in your area, click here.

Salmon Safe

Salmon Safe certifies vineyards, ranches, and farms on the West Coast that are protecting endangered wild salmon and steelhead habitat. They require growers to:

  • Restore and protect waterways and wetlands
  • Prevent stream bank erosion and control sediment
  • Minimize the use of pesticides and contaminants
  • Keep livestock out of waterways

You can find out about some of the farms Salmon Safe has certified here and find a Salmon Safe wine here.

Demeter Biodynamic

Rudolf Steiner developed the concept of Biodynamic agriculture in 1924 in Germany, envisioning the farm as “a self-contained and self-sustaining organism”. In 1928 Demeter was formed in Europe to codify Steiner’s farming principles. Demeter requires farms and ranches to:

  • Avoid chemical pesticides and fertilizers
  • Utilize compost and cover crops
  • Set aside a minimum of 10% of total acreage for biodiversity

You can find a list of some Biodynamic farms here.

There are also a handful of excellent eco-labels that designate non-U.S. growers protecting wildlife and natural areas, including Bird Friendly, Fair Trade, and Rainforest Alliance.

You can find out more about all of these eco-labels and look up any that you see in the grocery store to make sure you can trust their claims at Consumer Reports’ greenerchoices.org.

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