Objective Against the background of ecological civilization development and Beijing’s Garden City initiative, urban planting is increasingly expected to integrate ornamental display with biodiversity conservation, ecological-network development, public recreation, and nature education. Flower borders are suitable for this transition because they can integrate diverse plant materials, seasonal change, habitat structure, and observable plant-animal interactions within relatively small and manageable spaces. However, existing studies often discuss ornamental flower-border design, naturalistic planting, or pollinator-friendly landscapes separately, and few studies have placed these approaches within a unified analytical framework or clarified their differentiated roles in botanical gardens and urban parks. This study therefore aims to explore how flower borders can be transformed from primarily ornamental planting units into an ecological flower-border system that combines landscape display, habitat support, nature education, and adaptive management. Specifically, it addresses three questions: 1) how classic, naturalistic, and pollinator flower borders can be differentiated using consistent analytical dimensions; 2) how these three types can form a coordinated spatial sequence of “display−transition−habitat” within the China National Botanical Garden (North); and 3) how ecological objectives can be translated into design, management, interpretation, and monitoring practices through the Xuanqiuyuan woodland-edge pollinator-border case.
Methods The study combined literature review, comparative analysis, case study, and field observation within a research sequence of historical comparison, system construction, case analysis, and application-oriented discussion. The historical development of herbaceous planting was reviewed to identify the principal characteristics of three flower-border types: classic flower borders, naturalistic flower borders, and pollinator flower borders. The three types were compared using four consistent dimensions: plant origin and adaptability, community structure and planting configuration, functional objectives, and responses to site conditions. Based on this, the types were further organized according to functional positioning, spatial applicability, and management requirements to construct an ecological flower-border system. A woodland-edge pollinator border of approximately 350 m2 in Xuanqiuyuan, China National Botanical Garden (North), was selected as the case for examining the practical design and management pathway. The site is characterized by a multilayer woodland-edge structure, semi-shaded conditions, relatively low visitor disturbance, and a clear pollinator-support objective. The case was analyzed through a six-step workflow: target-guild identification, site and disturbance diagnosis, functional plant matching, microhabitat configuration, management control and maintenance, and interpretation and monitoring. Four groups of variables were examined: flowering chain continuity, vertical and horizontal structural diversity, retention or provision of microhabitat elements, and minimum-intervention process-oriented management. Fixed-point phased observations and continuous records were used to document flowering conditions, major flower-visiting insect guilds, microhabitat retention, and management inputs. Background data from the Beijing Urban Pollination Network Observation Report (2021−2023) were used only to identify the main pollinator guilds at the botanical-garden scale, rather than as before-and-after evidence for the Xuanqiuyuan border. Finally, the typology and case workflow were translated into a type-selection framework, a modular technical pathway, and a minimum monitoring indicator system for potential application in other urban parks.
Results The study constructed an ecological flower border system composed of classic, naturalistic, and pollinator flower borders and clarified their differences in functional objectives, applicable settings, and management requirements. These three types do not represent a linear replacement sequence, nor do they provide biodiversity benefits at the same intensity. Instead, they form a functional and management gradient determined by spatial use intensity, landscape expectations, site conditions, ecological objectives, and maintenance capacity. Classic flower borders are primarily suited to entrances, plazas, main visitor routes, and other highly visible spaces. Their principal role is to provide clear planting order, stable seasonal display, and high landscape legibility. Their ecological contribution can be enhanced by increasing the proportion of perennial plants, extending flowering periods, reducing unnecessary plant replacement, and limiting chemical inputs. Naturalistic flower borders are more appropriate for secondary routes, large green spaces, slopes, woodland edge transition zones, and areas with moderate or relatively low maintenance intensity. They shift the emphasis from individual ornamental plants to plant-community construction, niche complementarity, layered structure, and seasonal dynamics. Within the proposed system, they function primarily as ecological transition zones and internal connecting elements. Pollinator flower borders represent the most habitat-oriented type of intervention. They are designed around pollinator life-cycle requirements and emphasize continuous pollen and nectar resources, diverse flower forms and heights, host plants, overwintering structures, and microhabitat elements such as retained dead stems, leaf litter, exposed soil, woody debris, stone crevices, and small water sources. They can therefore function as key habitat nodes and as highly visible interfaces for nature education and citizen observation. Within the China National Botanical Garden (North), the three types form a coordinated spatial sequence of “display−transition−habitat.” Classic borders support core display areas, naturalistic borders provide structural and ecological continuity, and pollinator borders are concentrated in woodland edges, boundaries, ecologically sensitive areas, and science-education spaces where disturbance can be controlled. Correspondingly, their management forms a gradient from relatively frequent horticultural maintenance, through community-oriented moderate intervention, to low-disturbance habitat management. The Xuanqiuyuan case further demonstrated the operability of the six-step pathway. Target-guild identification focused on bees, flies, butterflies, and beetles as the main rapid-recognition groups. Site diagnosis identified a semi-shaded woodland edge with relatively low trampling and management disturbance. Functional planting was organized into four seasonal groups: early-season floral resources, high-summer floral supply, autumn supplementation, and winter structural retention. The planting design combined herbaceous plants, subshrubs, shrubs, and existing tree cover to establish a multilayer structure and a flowering period of approximately 180−200 days. Microhabitat design emphasized the retention of natural materials and structures rather than reliance solely on artificial installations. Dead stems, leaf litter, woody debris, stone crevices, small areas of bare or gravelly ground, and limited demonstration facilities were used to support foraging, shelter, reproduction, and overwintering. Management was organized into visible display, buffer, and conservation zones. Mid-season intervention was limited mainly to safety, access, excessive lodging, pest outbreaks, dominance of aggressive plants, or evident floral resource gaps. Dormant-season renewal retained part of the standing and ground-level plant residues. Fixed-point phased observations indicated an increasing trend in flower-visiting insect records under a comparable rapid-identification protocol. However, because the observations were affected by monitoring frequency, weather, flowering abundance, surrounding resources, and identification resolution, the results were interpreted as evidence of pathway operability and as a basis for monitoring-system development, rather than as a strict causal demonstration of biodiversity enhancement. The study identified type selection, plant-community construction, ecological management, and monitoring feedback as the main components of the practical pathway for flower-border ecological development. A minimum monitoring indicator system was developed to record flowering continuity, flower abundance, richness, and abundance of major flower-visiting insect guilds, retention of microhabitat structures, trimming frequency, chemical inputs, and planting renewal. This system is intended to support low-cost, continuous, and comparable monitoring across parks.
Conclusion The ecological flower border system developed in this study provides a framework for coordinating landscape display, community construction, habitat support, nature education, and adaptive management under Garden City objectives. Classic, naturalistic, and pollinator flower borders should not be treated as mutually exclusive or sequentially replacing types. Instead, they should be selected and combined according to spatial function, ecological objectives, site conditions, and management capacity. The Xuanqiuyuan case preliminarily validates the operability of a six-step pathway linking ecological objectives with site diagnosis, functional planting, microhabitat configuration, differentiated maintenance, and monitoring feedback. The transferable value of the case lies not in a fixed plant list or planting plan, but in a site-responsive process that links ecological objectives, functional plant selection, microhabitat creation, differentiated maintenance, and monitoring feedback. Application beyond the botanical garden requires comparison of microclimate, soil conditions, available plant materials, disturbance intensity, and maintenance capacity between the original and target sites. In highly compacted, heavily trampled, water-limited, or intensively managed spaces, a simplified naturalistic border or a gradual ecological-transition strategy may be more appropriate than directly introducing a complete pollinator-border model. The proposed ecological flower-border system, practical workflow, and minimum monitoring indicators provide a methodological basis for transforming urban flower borders from one-time ornamental installations into continuously managed ecological planting units. Future research should conduct multi-park, multi-site, and multi-year comparisons to evaluate ecological responses, maintenance costs, public acceptance, and the long-term effectiveness of adaptive management.
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