Biodiversity is sometimes discussed as if it were nature's own hobby.
It isn't.
Pollinators affect crop yields and crop quality. If pollinators decline, it is not only about whether there are fewer butterflies and bumblebees in summer.
It is about food.
And ultimately money.
If pollinators disappear, the bill arrives at the grocery store.
In the city, the same thing can be seen on a smaller scale.
A property boundary means nothing to a pollinator. It does not know where one housing company ends and another begins, or where city-owned land starts.
Two things matter to it.
Can it find food?
And is the next suitable place close enough?
A flowering yard can continue the chain to the neighbouring yard, street plantings and then a park.
That is why even a small yard can matter.
But nature-wise design does not mean giving up design.
Quite the opposite.
A yard should look good and work for people.
But if there is no room for any other life, something was left out of the design.