When one Redditor found a neglected patch of dirt in their city, they claimed they hatched a plan to cover it in native wildflowers.
Plants are surprisingly important in urban areas. Not only are they beautiful, but they also help fight heat islands — areas that grow much hotter than their surroundings because pavement and rooftops heat up in the sun.
Native plants are the most helpful option of all. They're low-maintenance because they've adapted to the local growing conditions, and they provide food and cover for local wildlife.
According to this Redditor, the city accidentally provided them with a chance to share native wildflowers with the community. "Planted a wildflower blend of seeds last year along this newly constructed bike path," they said.
Normally, most city governments would add their own plants to a space like this. Some work with landscapers like Yardzen to choose beautiful, low-maintenance native plants. But that wasn't the case here. In a comment, the Redditor confirmed, "It was cleared during construction and then just abandoned once finished."
When the weeds started to grow, the Redditor had to act. "I used a day off to remove all the weeds, then just sowed directly to the crappy soil," they said. The seeds they chose were a blend of baby blue-eyes, big leaf lupine, bird's eyes, black-eyed Susan, blue fax, California poppy, Clarkia, corn poppy, dwarf godetia, Shasta daisy, tidy-tips, and yarrow — all native to the Pacific Northwest.
"For the past year I've dropped by for maybe half an hour every couple of weeks to remove weeds," the Redditor said. The effort paid off with a beautiful slope covered in flowers.
The Redditor also included one photo from the other side of the bike path, where a single, gorgeous poppy plant with more than 100 blossoms was growing. "Most of the seeds along this side didn't do too well, but this poppy was loving life," they joked.
Commenters loved what the original poster did with the unused space. "Excellent work! You should be proud of all you've accomplished!" said one user.
"Wow, where I live they would already have come to mow everything away," said another user.
"Totally expecting to turn up one day and it's all mown down, but it's lasted well so far," replied the original poster. "Only complaint I've had is from a couple that thought I was 'stealing the flowers' while removing the weeds."
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