Buzz, buzz, buzz. One Center City park is steadily attracting more bees, butterflies, and insects, making it potentially the biggest pollination station in Philadelphia 🐝
This spring, the Center City District’s (CCD) landscape team and horticultural partners got to work on a major project to turn Logan Square’s Sister Cities Park into a flourishing pollinator garden.
In June, the team cleared out the viburnum hedges near the splash fountain and planted 4,000 native species of pollinator-friendly plants, including ironweed, blue flag iris, and goldenrod.
The main goal is to provide an urban sanctuary for pollinators, such as butterflies, bees, beetles, and moths. S/O to NBC10 for covering this exciting environmental win.
The new plants attract pollinators such as monarch butterflies, and cardinals. (Brittany Valentine/City Cast Philly)
What’s the Big Deal?
In their search for sustenance (nectar and pollen), animals like bats, bees, and butterflies help spread pollen from plant to plant. Plants then use the pollen to produce fruits or seeds.
Here is a jaw-dropping statistic from the U.S Department of Agriculture to really drive their work home. About 35% of the world’s food crops rely on animal pollination — this is one out of every three bites of food you consume.
Without the help of pollinators, our food supply takes a major hit, cutting us off from several foods like chocolate, nuts, strawberries, apples, peaches, and potatoes 🥔
Many pollinators are struggling, due to factors like environmental contamination and habitat loss. This is where pollinator gardens come to the rescue!
The new plants in Sister Cities Park "will improve sightlines and visibility in the park, provide a joyous and colorful new experience for visitors, and create an eco-friendly benefit as what we believe will be Center City’s biggest pollinator garden,” said Prema Katari Gupta, CCD Vice President of Parks and Public Realm, in a July press release.
