Wildflowers in the city
August 6th
An excellent idea! For the last several years, the city where I live (Bialystok), instead of maintaining lawns around the city, started to plant wildflowers there. It is a lot more economical (no mowing, no fuel used, no fumes) and ecological (no need to water it to maintain the greenery, food court for insects, bees, and butterflies) than regular grass. And it looks so much nicer than the grass, which grows in patches, and with each short drought, it becomes yellow and brown. Actually, wildflowers maintain the water and moisture in the ground, unlike grass which dries up the upper level of soil and turns it into dust. There are still lawns and grass knolls around the city (and every city should have at least one grassy knoll) but more and more, especially along the main streets and inside traffic circles, the wildflowers are being planted.
Flowers start to bloom in June, and they last until late September. In October, everything is cut down, plowed, and seeded again for the next spring. Those wildflowers change the whole look and feel of the city. The boring grass is replaced with a cornucopia of colors and a variety of shapes of stems and leaves and petals. The drabness of paths along the busy streets is less drab and easier to tolerate on a daily basis while commuting to or from work. I also see plenty of people who just stop by to take a closer look at a particular flower, enjoying the moment and a place. And every time I stop to take a closer look I see not only flowers there, but an army of bees, busy pollinating and collecting nectar that will end up as honey for some ingenious city dweller who can now be a beekeeper. I don’t really know if that idea is also used in different cities, and to be honest — I haven’t looked at it as closely as I look at the wildflowers I pass by on my bike rides and daily walks. Nor do I care about it much. I just enjoy an excellent idea, thought of and implemented to the benefit of the residents of my city. And mine, of course, as well.
