Tiny Nature: Caring for NYC's Trees and Green Space

Tiny Nature

Restore habitat, together, one mini-meadow at a time.

A few square feet of wildflowers, planted in the bed of a street tree, becomes a mini meadow—feeding pollinators, filtering stormwater, and turning overlooked ground into shared neighborhood space.

Conservation Where You Live

Tiny Nature invites neighbors to restore micro-green spaces, starting with the humble street tree bed. There are more than 600,000 street trees in New York City, which cover an area half the size of Central Park. So much potential right at your doorstep!

Tree pits can can offer a better environment for humans and non-human wildlife, by providing:

• Food for pollinators: Even a few square feet of native plantings offer nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators
• Rainwater capture: Healthy root systems help soil absorb and filter stormwater, instead of it running straight to the sewer
• Wildlife corridors: A network of small restored pits works like stepping stones, linking parks and green corridors that would otherwise be cut off from each other
• Connected neighborhoods: Plants thrive when communities come together in shared spaces to meet, plan together, and restore nature

How to Get Involved

Connect:  Do you have a street tree with bare soil? The street tree is a shared space, and conservation is about community. Before you start a mini-meadow, talk to your neighbors. Your efforts will be better appreciated if you get community buy-in and feedback.

Plant: Native species provide better habitat for native pollinators. Check out this great guide by NYC Parks for planting native species, which includes information about which plants do best in street tree beds. The website Tree Pit City has amazing resources to get you started from choosing your tree pit to recommended plantings! 

Observe: As soon as your wildflowers begin to bloom, pollinators will find them. Document your observations using iNaturalist and contribute to our growing knowledge of how urban green spaces support wildlife.

Tend:  If you use appropriate species, your plants should thrive on their own after a couple of seasons. A solid foundation of watering and weeding is very important for your “plant babies” in the first couple of years. Routine tree pit maintenance is always suggested, to remove garbage and for aesthetics.

What Else Can I Do?

In addition to the Museum’s Tiny Nature project (above), there are many other ways to help care for New York City’s urban forests and local biodiversity:

• Plant a pollinator garden: Gardens planted with native species support native pollinators, along with other species. It’s easy to plant your own garden.
• Care for street trees: New York City has more than 666,000 street trees. You can volunteer to care for them, including the trees on your own block, through the NYC Parks Stewardship program.
• Support native plant species: Native trees and other plants support insects, birds, and other wildlife that evolved in the same ecosystems. You can volunteer at the NYC Parks Plant Ecology Center and Nursery (PECAN) and also get native seeds to plant yourself.
• Join the NYC Tree Census: Tree canopy covers 23 percent of New York City. You can help NYC Parks monitor the health of these trees by volunteering with Trees Count.