Testing people’s aesthetic appreciation for biodiverse vegetation: Messiness is not a problem

Abstract Biodiverse vegetation that supports high rates of ecosystem functions can inherently express a messy appearance due to high numbers of local native plant species and their spatial distribution connected to niche complementarity. This messiness is assumed to lower people’s appreciation for vegetation in urban contexts. Since such vegetation and a positive relationship between people and biodiversity could contribute to mitigating biodiversity loss, this assumed low public appreciation warrants investigation. We designed and constructed biodiverse flowerbeds using only local native plants, and with the intention to enhance planting productivity, resistance and resilience. To investigate the influence of messiness, we created flowerbeds in four high levels of species richness (8,12,16,20) shown to be relevant for ecosystem functioning, and three levels of order (no, semi, full). We tested public appreciation for the flowerbeds using a self-guided, on-site survey. We found a positive mean rating for all flowerbeds, but no effect of species richness on the ratings. Increased order, however, had a strong negative effect: The odds of a fully ordered flowerbed receiving a negative rating were 88% higher than of a flowerbed with no order. Increasing designed order was correlated with decreasing plant biomass in the flowerbeds. These findings challenge the assumption that the appearance of biodiverse plantings is too messy for public appreciation in urban contexts. Specifically, we demonstrate that introducing order and reducing messiness can compromise aesthetic appreciation for biodiverse vegetation, potentially by compromising productivity as indicated by lower biomass production in ordered plantings. Synthesis and application Our study shows that biodiverse vegetation can be appreciated in urban contexts. Flowerbeds can effectively serve both people as ornamentation and biodiversity as habitat when they are designed based on ecological principles Research highlights We designed and realized flowerbeds based on ecological principles. All plantings received positive average ratings. Increasing species richness in the flowerbeds did not affect participant’s aesthetic appreciation. Increasing order in the design of the flowerbeds strongly lowered participant’s aesthetic appreciation. Increasing order in the design was correlated to lower biomass productivity and more bare soil in the flowerbeds.