Pollinators are struggling to survive - these gardening tips can help them

Urban gardens can serve as critical refuges for pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hoverflies, providing up to 85% of the nectar found in cities. Because industrial farming has replaced flower-rich meadows with monocultures, the authors advocate for planting specific nectar-rich species across all four seasons—such as hellebore in spring, lavender in summer, ivy in autumn, and Mahonia in winter—and reducing lawn mowing to support biodiversity.

• Urban gardens are vital refuges for pollinators, producing approximately 85% of the nectar available in a city, whereas nectar supplies in the British countryside have decreased by one-third since the 1930s.
• Industrialised farming has negatively impacted pollinator survival by replacing hedges, fields, and flower-rich meadows with green monocultures.
• To support pollinators throughout the year, gardeners should plant specific species based on the season: hellebore, Pulmonaria, grape hyacinth, willow, cherry, and flowering currant in spring; honeysuckle, Campanula, and lavender in summer; and ivy, Sedum, Echinacea, and oregano in autumn; and Mahonia, sweet box, winter honeysuckle, and the strawberry tree in winter.
• Reducing the frequency of lawn mowing allows essential 'weeds' like clover and dandelion to bloom, providing further resources for pollinators.
• Certain common autumn garden flowers, such as Fuchsia, Salvia, and Crocosmia, are useless to solitary bees and hoverflies because their nectar is hidden in tubes accessible only to insects with long tongues.

APA

Baldock, N. T. J. M. K. (2022). Pollinators are struggling to survive - these gardening tips can help them. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/urban-gardens-food-sources-pollinators-bees-nature-farming/

Chicago

Baldock, Nicholas Tew, Jane Memmott, Katherine. Pollinators are struggling to survive - these gardening tips can help them. World Economic Forum, 2022. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/urban-gardens-food-sources-pollinators-bees-nature-farming/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Baldock |first1=Nicholas Tew, Jane Memmott, Katherine |title=Pollinators are struggling to survive - these gardening tips can help them |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=31 January 2022 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/urban-gardens-food-sources-pollinators-bees-nature-farming/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{baldock2022pollinators, author = {Baldock, Nicholas Tew, Jane Memmott, Katherine}, title = {{Pollinators are struggling to survive - these gardening tips can help them}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2022}, month = jan, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/urban-gardens-food-sources-pollinators-bees-nature-farming/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }