Marcello De Vitis in collaboration with Puy Alonso Martínez
Since 2012, the Irati Proyectos company, based in Spain, promote the use of wild flowers for meadow creation in landscape architecture projects. In particular, native seed mixes of herbaceous flowers are used in peri-urban parks, to promote the characteristic biodiversity of the Mediterranean landscape. These experiences are also becoming useful models for many other projects dealing with urban landscape architecture.
One of the emerging lines of Irati Proyectos, in collaboration with the company Hidrobiology, is the application of native seed mixes in the urban ecosystems for biological pest control. In particular, native seeds are sown into the flower beds at the base of urban trees in order to attract and host auxiliary fauna which acts as pest control for urban tree pests. In this way, the use of pesticides is reduced in the cities, with benefits for human health and biodiversity. The native plant selection is a very important step in this kind of works because it must take into account the specific tree pest and the conditions of the urban context.
The synergy between the two companies is crucial to combine ecosystemic, technical and aesthetic approaches in these projects and to achieve effective results.
Coccinelidae in Calendula arvensis flower.
(cover photo: Calendula arvensis sown in a peri-urban roundabout in Illescas, Toledo, Spain; copyright: Puy Alonso Martínez)