It’s not the fanciest or flashiest front yard.

Feedback from those who pass by the downtown Colorado Springs house, via foot or bike or scooter, would suggest otherwise.

“A lot of people comment on it, and it’s unanimously positive that people like it,” said Tommy Schell, who bought the little house on Cascade Avenue in 2013. “It surprises me. I’m like, ‘Are you talking about my yard?’”

The garden, a beautifully messy collection of sunflowers, wildflowers and plants mostly native to Colorado, is meant to attract more than positive words.

Schell started gardening several years ago after some friends gifted him some irises. It was a new challenge and an excuse to get outside for the computer programmer and Texas native who moved to Colorado Springs in 2004.

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes with gardening,” he said. “I wanted to have that experience of trying to learn it on my own.”

Soon, another goal grew out of the experience.

Schell, 52, wanted his garden to attract bees and other insects in search of safe habitat spaces. He researched bees and their need for “food, water, shelter and space to support robust populations,” as stated in a fact sheet about pollinating on Colorado State University’s website.

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“Home gardens, parks, community gardens, prairies and meadows can all provide pollen and nectar,” the fact sheet continues. “These habitats can be refuges for pollinators foraging through lawns and farmlands that may not have the floral resources they need.”

Schell isn’t a beekeeper, but he is a keeper of knowledge about and appreciation for bees, of which 956 species are native to Colorado.

“I do it mainly to help the little critters,” he said. “I thought it would help draw attention and help people be more conscientious of more environmental stewards.”

Within the last year, additions to Schell’s yard have made that more obvious.

Painted signs reading “Bee friendly” and “Bee Zone” were made by artsy friends who know Schell’s vision. Passersby comment on the signs, and it tends to start conversations about bees and their mighty environmental role, which comes in small packaging and, because of their stinging, with negative connotation. But Schell doesn’t see them as tiny terrors buzzing around with ill intentions.

He sees native bees, as the Colorado State University site puts it, as “the unsung heroes of the pollination world.”

“Of all the pollinators found in gardens, agricultural fields and natural areas, bees are the most common and efficient,” the site reads.

“I want to bring awareness to that,” Schell said. “It’s one way I can help the environmental situation. It’s a small thing I can do.”

His small thing has proven to have a bigger impact. Each day when he’s out front watering his plants, he sees how the garden seems to lift people’s spirits.

“It’s some kind of enchantment they weren’t expecting,” he said. “There’s a bit of wildness that they like about it.”

The gardening process, and talking to friends and strangers about it, brings a sense of enchantment to Schell, too.

“My goal is that when people walk by, they feel positive,” he said. “I hope they feel a little bit of magic.”

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