The Truth about “No Mow May”

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Less Lawn, not a Mess Lawn

Recently there has been a great deal of press given to “No Mow May,” a movement that started in England a couple of years ago. The purpose of “No Mow May” is to convince homeowners to forego mowing their lawns in spring until June or later, so as to feed native bees and other pollinators in spring before our intentional garden plants are widely in bloom. The implication, of course, is that small blossoming weeds or wildflowers inhabiting your lawn will produce lots of pollen for insects to eat while the pickings in your flower beds are scarce.

Among other municipalities, Cleveland Heights has endorsed this movement.

There are a few misconceptions to deal with when it comes to applying “No Mow May” to our local ecosystems.

First, our lawns grow much more speedily in spring than most lawns in England. The majority of local homeowners have already begun to mow their lawns prior to the start of May. In order to preserve wildflowers in the lawn, there must be NO mowing of lawns earlier than June 1, even if the lawn looks ragged by April 20. That means that our more swiftly growing grasses and wildflowers may well be knee-high or higher by mowing time in June. Many American lawn-growers, and many of our neighbors, will not be pleased with this appearance.

Second, in order for the lawn to be populated with blooming wildflowers, the homeowner must accept that his or her lawn will be composed of a tapestry of varying plants. If the homeowner uses weedkillers to maintain a classic, “clean” lawn made up solely of typical lawn grass, there will be no wildflowers to feed the pollinators. That defeats the purpose of leaving the lawn uncut until June.

Third, if the homeowner wants an attractive, “clean” lawn after June 1, he or she will be very sad to discover that the tapestry of varying textures of plants will not ever create that smooth and even look they probably desire, and will take a number of weeks just to approach a tidily mown appearance. That daughter’s garden wedding on June 15? Not going to work out well, sigh. But there may be wonderful native bees, butterflies and moths in attendance.

Fourth, the most common wildflower in our local lawns is Taraxacum officinale, the dandelion, a native of Eurasia. The pollen of the dandelion is allelopathic when opposed to many of our native wildflowers. That means that it is actually toxic when applied to native flowers. Pollinators carry pollen from one plant to another all day, every day. Our native pollinators, whom we want to feed, co-evolved with our native wildflowers, whose pollen is a vital food for them. But the dandelion pollen can kill the native plants.

The dandelion not only retards the growth and spread of those native food plants, but it also provides far less food value to our local pollinators. In fact, if our local pollinators feed heavily on dandelion pollen they suffer from protein deficiency that in many cases causes them to eat their own eggs as the only locally available source of protein. Could there be a more efficient way to kill off even more native pollinators?

Your Native Plant Ladies of the SLGC would like to recommend that instead of encouraging a lawn replete with pretty dandelions (and frankly I do think they are pretty) and left unmown until June, we feed the pollinators in a far more practical and attractive way. Reduce the size of your lawn, and plant the newly available space with flowering native plants. Plan your variety of plantings to begin their blooming season early and continue nonstop until well into fall. Your pollinators will be well-fed throughout their seasons, Your neighbors will think you have a pretty garden and a (smaller) pretty lawn, instead of a mess. And you will have native bees, butterflies, and moths fluttering on your property for months. Less Lawn, but not a Mess Lawn.