Adding garden beds with blooming plants to an existing lawn can support bees

Explore guides on pollinator-friendly plants native to where you live

Pollinators have co-evolved alongside specific plants from their natural habitat and see their populations increase in environments with these native flora. This collection offers recommendations for regional plants that can provide nectar and pollen, serve as host plants for caterpillars, and offer nest sites for specialist bees.

Appropriate timing of land management techniques can help support pollinators

The mowing, grazing, and burning practices used to maintain land should be tailored to the life cycles and needs of native pollinators, particularly those of rare or endangered species. For example, mowing is recommended in the fall or winter when flowers are not in bloom.

In Amsterdam, planting organic flowers has increased native bee diversity by 45%

The citywide effort is an example of rethinking conventional agricultural methods, which rely on monocropping and heavy chemical use. Cover crops—plants grown to suppress weeds, prevent erosion, and attract pollinators rather than to be harvested—have also shown environmental benefits, despite not being sold for profit.

Bees are crucial for pollination and food security

When animals and insects pick up the pollen of flowers and spread it, they allow plants, including many food crops, to reproduce. The most common pollinator is the bee, but bees are at risk from pollution and pesticides.

Efficiency of commercial honeybees may exacerbate population declines in native bees

Commercial beekeepers are increasingly breeding honeybees on public lands, raising concerns among environmentalists that they’ll compete with and introduce new diseases to already threatened native pollinator populations. However, native species alone are often unable to meet the pollination levels required to meet necessary crop yields.

Swarms of mechanical bees may one day support natural pollination

Engineers are racing to create tiny robot bees that can be programmed to mimic natural bee behavior, helping in specific scenarios such as indoor farming and space agriculture. Battery life challenges may be solved by having these robots accompanied by a nearby "mother" drone power supply.

Bees are more likely to remember a flower if its nectar contains caffeine

Plants want pollinators to keep coming back, so the finding suggests that some plants, such as Citrus and Coffea species, have evolved to include caffeine in their nectar. Researchers suggest the findings could help develop methods to reinvigorate pollinator populations.

Solar panels can create pollinator-friendly habitats by protecting flowering plants

An example of agrivoltaics, where land is used for solar energy production and agriculture, the panels provide clean energy while also shading plants from excessive sunlight. Pollinator-friendly plants can improve water quality and reduce soil erosion by obstructing the wind.

Chaos gardening involves scattering seeds without any planning

The trend is intended to produce colorful, dense gardens by mixing various seeds. While encouraging experimentation and lower stakes, the success of these gardens depends on choosing plants with similar needs and incorporating native, nectar-rich flowers.

The symbol of the American lawn

Trimmed, pure green lawns are the norm in US yards and require regular mowing, fertilizing, and weed whacking to keep in order. They are cherished for their simple aesthetic and as a soft area for walking or playing near the house. Still, they are also so-called monoculture zones with only one plant species, lacking biodiverse resilience. This article traces the history of the lawn in America and the contemporary debates over its future.

Biological terraforming studies have been conducted at Biosphere 2

The experiments involve populating barren hillslopes within the Landscape Evolution Observatory with microbes that react with air and rock to produce molecules needed by more complex organisms. Mosses and other simple plants can then grow in these spaces, gradually making them more hospitable to humans.

How to have a bug-free backyard dinner

An entomologist’s advice for bug-free backyard barbecues, including tips on the use of chemicals and how fans are pretty effective at keeping bugs away.

Learn how to build your own vivarium

Creating a self-contained habitat for plants and microscopic animals requires a careful balance of organisms that maintain a cycle of water, nutrients, and other chemicals throughout. Bottlenecks in these cycles are mitigated through careful construction, such as incorporating a drainage layer to effectively manage water.

Watch insects and animal pollinators in slow motion

Louie Schwartzberg's "Moving Art" series showcases slow-motion footage of oceans, forests, deserts, flowers, and more. In this excerpt, organisms such as bats, monarch butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds are shown interacting with one another and with flowering plants.

Smart cities have been more successful when upgrading existing infrastructure

Building urban landscapes with smart technologies from scratch has sometimes produced futuristic-looking yet sterile environments that struggle to attract residents and justify high costs. Enhancing existing areas while retaining their historical and cultural touchstones has proven more appealing in many cities.

View the steps you can take to stop invasive species

Individuals who are outside should make sure to wash any outdoor gear and equipment with appropriate tools to limit the spread of seeds and other microorganism-carrying debris across locations. Pets, horses, and other animals should be similarly brushed, and firewood should be burned where it is purchased.

Increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide lead plants to produce more pollen

Pollen issues are emerging earlier in the year and lasting longer as rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere boost plants’ pollen production and also simultaneously extend warmer, pollen-producing seasons.

Santa Barbara’s Botanic Garden was the first to showcase the state’s native plants

Founded in 1926, the garden’s founders sought to showcase the state’s local flora as a matter of conservation, rather than the water-hungry exotics regularly being imported. This story focuses on how the garden’s design took a more natural and less formal direction.

Certain home renovations, such as installing an in-ground pool, could increase your property taxes

Significant home improvement projects like adding another bathroom or an addition might raise your tax bill if they significantly increase the value of your home. The amount your tax bill could increase by depends on how tax assessment procedures work in the home’s location, as they vary by locality.

Meet the bowerbird, the bird world's greatest architect

There are roughly 20 species of bowerbird in and around Australia. It is a remarkable species known for its sophisticated nests. From what experts can tell, the bird has one thing in mind when building its elaborate abode: attracting a mate. See the variety of structures each bird makes in this well-written blog accompanied with incredible photos of bowerbird constructions.

Farmer secretly plants sunflower field for 50th anniversary with wife

Kansas farmer Lee Wilson wanted to give something special to his wife of 50 years, Renee, on their golden anniversary, so he secretly planted 80 acres of sunflowers in May for an August bloom. The gift consists of roughly 1.2 million sunflowers,...

Dead birds are often the warning sign health officials look for as a sign of West Nile danger

Public health officials look for various clues to stay ahead of outbreaks of potentially fatal diseases, like West Nile. Issues like standing, untreated pool water—detectable if the pool is turning green—or dead birds—are important to report to local public health officials.

Why Emily Dickinson was once better known as a gardener than a poet

Dickinson published very few of her poems during her lifetime, but many in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, knew that she tended to her family's massive garden. In this deep dive, Tom Christopher explores how Dickinson's interest in gardening and botany, including the assembly of a massive book of dried plants, influenced her work.

Find out how decommissioned oil rigs can be repurposed into artificial reefs

A 2014 paper analyzing drilling structures found many had become nursery habitats for fish, corals, sponges, and other invertebrates in the decades since their installation. Oil companies responsible for bringing these rigs to shore to salvage them can more affordably transport only the oil rig's deck on a barge, leaving the remaining rig to maintain the established biodiversity.

Photographer captures glowing flowers in ultraviolet light

Debora Lombardi utilizes ultraviolet light to reveal unseen colors in flowers, re-shaping their natural beauty. Beginning during the lockdown of March 2020, Lombardi's experimentation evolved, culminating in a series recognized by the World Photography Organization. Her work highlights vibrant purples, blues, and yellows, transforming flowers into surreal, otherworldly specimens by exposing them to UV light in her Italy-based studio.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

Poison ivy's rash-causing compound is found in the plant's roots, stem, and leaves—so coming into contact with any part of the plant can lead to rashes for the 85% of people who are allergic to it.

Some renewable energy sources may weaken the resiliency of electric grids by removing outage buffers provided by coal- and natural gas-fired plants, which provide the system with more time to find a new power source if a plant goes down.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.