It’s that time of year when lawnmowers come out of hibernation. You may be hauling yours out of the garage as I write this. But in a growing number of communities, the mowers are still lying about doing nothing. Why? Because it’s “No Mow May” in these places, but it’s not about laziness; it’s to provide forage for pollinators, particularly during the early part of the growing season.
While turfgrass does not provide much of anything for pollinators, most lawns harbor flowering weeds that native bees and other pollinators need. Yes, weeds like dandelions provide essential pollinator food — nectar and pollen — early in the season when flowering plants are in short supply. And because human activities like development and intensive farming have reduced the supply of pollinator nutrition, we humans must do all we can to remedy that shortfall. After all, as any vegetable gardener knows, our own nutrition depends to a large extent on pollinator services. To learn more about pollinator nutrition, see articles at Penn State’s Center for Pollinator Research.
So leaving lawn weeds to flower is one way we can all do our part. And that’s how the No Mow May movement was launched. It started in the United Kingdom, and jumped the pond in 2020 to Appleton, Wisconsin, at the urging of two local professors, Dr. Israel Del Toro and Dr. Relena Ribbons. In its first year, 435 Appleton residents signed up to participate in No Mow May.
Professors Del Toro and Ribbons then proceeded to gather data on the impact of the first No Mow May in 2020. The result? Their research showed that the No Mow lawns had five times the number of bees and three times the bee species as nearby mown areas in town parks. By 2021, a dozen communities across Wisconsin had adopted No Mow May, and soon the movement had been taken up by communities in Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and Montana.
There’s lots more good science to support the No Mow May campaigns. The scientists at Penn State’s Pollinator Research Center urge us all to adopt a “lazy lawn mower” approach to our yards. The entomologists define this approach as follows:
“Mow your lawn less frequently or increase mower height to sustain more low-flowering plants in your lawn. Flowers that grow in lawns, such as dandelions, bird’s-foot trefoil and clover provide underrated, but very important, pollen and nectar resources for foraging bees.”
While one researcher concluded that an every-two-weeks mowing schedule is ideal for bees, No Mow May/Bee City USA./Xerces Society, experts at the University of Vermont say that “ideally, mowing for pollinator health would be done only in the fall or winter,” but simply delaying spring mowing gives flowering weeds time to flower and provides early season food for pollinators. Of course, spring generally arrives earlier in central Virginia than in the midwest, so a “No Mow April” would be more apropos in our region. That’s the name of the campaign in College Park, Maryland, which launched for the first time this spring.
How you mow can matter to pollinators, too.
“The one-third rule is a good guide: do not mow more than one-third of the vegetation at one time to a height between 3.5 and 4 inches to ensure that flowering plants survive and produce flowers to sustain pollinators.”
— Bee Lawn Brochure/Penn StateCenter for Pollinator Research
Since a tidy, well-mown lawn may be required by local ordinances or HOA rules, most No-Mowers have found it helpful to post a sign alerting neighbors to the purpose of their “lazy lawn mower” approach. Most communities have enacted ordinances authorizing participants to leave lawns un-mown for the month.
There are more ways to help our pollinators. One of the professors who helped launch No Mow May, urges us all to do exactly that:
“The initiative is only a starting point for bee conservation. “What you did for one month, that’s cool, that helps,” Dr. Del Toro said. “But what are you going to do the rest of the summer, or the rest of the year, to make sure that our pollinators are protected?”
–“Stowing Mowers, Pleasing Bees,” NY Times
Here’s one option: a “bee lawn” — and no, I’m not making this up. If you purposely cultivate flowering plants in your turfgrass, you’ll have a “bee lawn.” You may not be inclined to encourage dandelions, but there are some attractive, low-growing, flowering plants that provide pollinator food. According to experts at the Minnesota Extension, “Dutch white clover (Trifolium repens), self heal (Prunella vulgaris), and creeping thyme (Thymus praecox ssp. arcticus; formerly Thymus serpyllum) are three species that benefit pollinators and will flower in a mowed lawn. White clover offers the additional benefit of adding nitrogen to the soil, plus it tolerates drought. For more about bee lawns and how to turn yours into one, see Planting and Maintaining a Bee Lawn/Minn. Ext. and this Bee Lawn video, Univ.Minn. .
Finally, educate yourself about bee decline and share your knowledge with neighbors and friends. I recommend reading Factors Contributing to Bee Decline/Utah State Extension. Bees are critical to our food security, so we all need to know why they are threatened and how to protect them.
SOURCES:
FEATURED PHOTO: No Mow May sign designed by Andrew Burandt, ajbshoeless@gmail.com, consultant for the Village of Cross Plains No Mow May Campaign.
Mowing for Pollinators, Univ. of Vermont Extension (2022)
No Mow May/Bee City USA./Xerces Society.
Anne Readel, “Stowing Mowers, Pleasing Bees,” NY Times
Bees, Bugs & Blooms – A pollinator trial/Penn State Dept. of Entomology
Utah State Extension.usu.edu/factors-contributing-to-bee-decline
Univ. Kentucky/.uky.edu/cgi/Dwarf white clover in lawn supports pollinators et al
Green Bay Botanical Garden/gbbg.org/2020/06/no-mow-may-benefits-pollinators-bees/
Even an area of your lawn is better than none? Our neighbors spray and last year we had no pollinators at all which broke my heart…IIve talked to my neighbors but they said they want to enjoy their back yard without mosquitos…. Any advice?
Do you think your neighbors would be open to reading about pollinators and their role in our food web? If so, you might want to share some resources with them. You’ve got me wondering, too, about what’s in the mosquito spray, a topic to explore for a possible future article. Our Help Desk may have other ideas for you, too.
Thank you so much for this fantastic article! There will be no mowing of my lawn (if you can call it that) for the month of April or May.