Description

This is a series of planters, designed and developed as part of a broader multidisciplinary research initiative between ecologists, computer scientists, architects, and educators. The planters are located distinct ecological patches in Buffalo: at Pelion Garden, Tifft Nature Preserve, Buffalo Science Museum, and Grassroots Gardens.

Each planter hosts a selection of native pollinator plants within the planting box, including:
Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea)
Hairy Beards Tongue (Penstemon hirsuitus)
Wild Columbine (Aguilegia canadensis)
Butterfly Milkweed (Asciepias tuberosa)
Blue Verain (Verbena hastata)
Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Showy Goldenrod (Soldago speciosa)
Smooth Blue Aster (Symphyotricum laeve)

The installation also hosts a series of solitary bee habitat boxes, which can be seen on one edge of the planting box. These are solid blocks of wood that have been drilled with small long tubular holes at sizes that welcoming local bee species, such as Carpenter Bees and Mason Bees (There are over 450 bee species in New York State!)

During 2022 and 2023, the planters also hosted digital documentation technology to gather data, contributing to understanding biodiversity at each site. The design of the planters didactically reflect bar graphs that illustrate conditions of global biodiversity loss. The colorful frames on this planter are a representation of data from the Living Planet Index, visualizing changes in wildlife abundance in different regions of the world from 1990 to 2014.