Now that “No Mow May” is half over, I want to support Susan in her recent critique of the “no mow” movement. I totally agree with her that if you’re going to have a lawn, you may as well follow basic (and sustainable) lawn health guidelines, which this movement appears to completely subvert. I don’t have a lawn though, so I won’t travel too far along that path of argument.
In spite of my lawn lack and resultant inability to not mow it, I have plenty of offerings for pollinators at this time. In early April, I plant pansies and violas everywhere; the bees and other flying insects that are around seem to like them just as well as the wild violets that might (or might not) turn up in a lawn.
I also have hellebores (one plant of many shown at top) blooming from April through May. The species tulips (above) and erythronium begin to arrive mid-April and the hybrid tulips in pots (with pansies) bloom late April through May. We also have chionodoxa, scilla, ornithogalum umbellatum, and others. I even have a gorgeous native, double bloodroot, that is out now–though clearly the “no mow” folks are not insisting on natives, given their stress on dandelions and violets.
Here’s a nice May bloomer (viburnum).
I’d like to include those who want early flowers to consider these options. Heck, if you’re a gardener, just buy a few flats of pansies early, and plant them when you feel like it. The pollinators will find them in their flats. All this avoids the issues rightly cited by Susan.
But you know what I most dislike about all these directives coming down from various wildlife organizations (some with more credibility than others)? I don’t garden by meme and I am not going to encourage others to do it. Let’s put some thought into gardening. Let’s exercise our creativity as well as our common sense. Let’s be gardeners.
Tell ya what, I’ll let you know. I’ve left a large side yard on my property to grow for May, might even wait a bit longer. It’s a relief not trying to mow around or above the now (probably) thousands of species crocus, scilla, chionodoxa, and a few dozen tiny tulips that spangle the grass for much of the springtime. Buttercups, violets, some dandelions (yup), some Creeping Charlie (yup) succeed those. The lawn-ish thing is filled with pollinators. I plan to take it halfway down with a weed-whacker (electric) on a cloudy day, hopefully before a rain, then mow very high next. I’ll report back mid-June.
That sounds wonderful.
Follow-up, as promised. My “lawn” (generously construed) got up to 20+ inches by the time I mowed. Buttercups that had been lurking bloomed, also self-heal (prunella vulgaris). Bulb foliage was able to mature fully and wither. Lovely as the breeze washed over it. Never fertilized in over a decade, the grass never got as dense as it might in other yards. When I took it down — just the mower, lazy guy I am, set at highest cut and often angled up — it went tan in patches, but now that we’ve had a soaking rain it’s greening up nicely. I wouldn’t start recommending no-mow-May-and-some-June to someone with acres to handle, but in my smallish side yard, it worked very nicely, and the bugs were densely present and busy.
Thanks for the update!
I agree! I’m down to a small patch 10’ x 40’ that takes my husband ~ 5 minutes to mow. I’m pondering a 40’ border to reduce it even further; maybe it will end up as a path through the front yard.
Agree with Elizabeth on her views regarding the “no mow in Many” movement. We reduced our front yard lawn by 75% and replaced it on one side of the driveway with a copse of native trees and shrubs and a mix of native and non-native perennials and bulbs. The other side of the driveway features a 10’x60’ perennial border comprised of 50% natives and 50% traditional perennial favorites. We don’t feel the least bit guilty about mowing our small area of turf grass in early spring given the large areas of pollinator friendly plants provided throughout our property. We garden not only for wildlife but for our own pleasure and artistic expression.
I love this column; really appreciate such a pro encouraging gardener thought and creativity over skimpy trends.
Some birds nest in grasslands including unmowed lawns. In New Jersey these birds have lost critical habitat to lawns. Some are endangered or threatened. If you are not mowing in May, check to make sure you don’t have any ground nesting birds in residence. See conservewildlifenj.org
I realized today that I have not seen ANY bees this Spring. I have flowers everywhere, and clover with flowers, but no bees. Seems pollinators have been getting more scarce over the last few years. I usually see bumble bees and some other insects on the flowers, but nothing this year. I have given up on veggies – lots of blossoms last few years but almost no fruit. I live in suburbia, not city, and very few around me care about pristine lawns that require chemicals. This is concerning. I live in Hampton, in the south-east VA area.
It’s also about “leaving the leaves”. Overwintering pollinators utilize leaf piles as refugia. I have never bagged one leaf since 1986, when I bought the house. Many of my neighbors are diligent in getting rid of every single one, and then putting them out for the recycling trucks (meaning the pollinators are in the windrows at the county composting site, getting cooked). Bees and other pollinators may be in decline in general but I do still see them every day. I’m in central Maryland (Annapolis) so not that far from southeastern VA.
When I walk around my community where some people seem to be participating in No Mow May I have seen a lot of weed seeds being dispersed. Each day I walk by a lawn that looks like a hayfield without any of the native plants mixed in. The grass is 3-4 feet tall. No pollinators in sight. These lawns don’t seem to have any flowering plants in them or around them. They may be too small, isolated, and usually mowed to have developed wild plant diversity.
A previous writer has a good point; not mowing in May could be attracting ground nesting birds and rabbits who will be in the way of the mower in June. You are right about common sense being needed.
I did do no mow may. The thing about plant you just up and buy at stores, a lot of them are treated with herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, neonicotinoids… things really harmful to small pollinators and wildlife alike. Part of no mow may is to leave your yard untreated as well as natural so the Grubs and larvae of lots of beneficial insects can develop. So while your advice was well intended it missed a ton of important points. Store and internet bulbs can actually be a danger. So itd be best to advise people on where to buy safe seeds.
Perennials and bulbs that have been in place for years, as mine have, are unlikely to present any such problems. Also, the type of grubs that develop in lawns are not always beneficial–quite the opposite.
I’ve been thinking about this and I’m actually guessing that no-mow May isn’t aimed at gardeners at all. Obviously we all know (I hope) that getting rid of lawn and planting chemical-free native plants is the best thing to do. But most Americans won’t ever do that, won’t get rid of lawn, and don’t understand why they would. No-mow May is aimed at them, right? If it gets anybody new thinking about pollinators’ needs I would say it is a success.
I agree that that’s the thinking, but the only people in my area who discuss this are gardeners. Those who don’t get why lawns are an issue won’t do this for exactly that reason. I have long said that antilawn rhetoric rarely reaches its true target.
There’s no way a no-mow any growing season month would go over well here in north Texas. The cities will cite you if you let your lawn grow too long. I’d think that letting a monoculture lawn grow long wouldn’t accomplish much anyway. If the idea is to mimic prairies, those were filled with a variety of grasses and forbs, not just one species.
Funny that you’re planting pansies in April. Here we plant them in the fall if and when it cools down, and they provide color all winter.
April would be the ideal time for Texas. Which is what we did, but not intentionally, we just don’t mow that frequently. I happen to live on a little over an acre and luckily have a lot of native sedges that come up and by not mowing I got to see them all bloom and fruit. A truly St. Augustine or Bermuda covered yard won’t do much but at the same time, I was at my parent’s house in Fort Worth at Easter and several ‘scraggly’ yards had ten petal anemone blooming in it and a few other early spring ephemerals. If you had mowed in late March or early April you would have missed those. A great alternative to this post here is this one from Using Georgia Native Plant: http://usinggeorgianativeplants.blogspot.com/2022/05/why-no-mow-may-is-not-answer.html
Thank you Elizabeth for having common sense & sharing your knowledge with WNY community.
“Don’t garden by meme”. Well said, thank you.