Helping the Pollinators

I am not one that rushes to mow my lawn in Spring. Especially when I see white and purple wild violets, buttercups and other flowers appear among the blades of grass. It took a movement to give me an excuse to ignore the lawn for an entire month. #NoMowMay originated with Plantlife located in the United Kingdom. They have provided a press release for people who publish stuff on websites (like me).

Plantlife Press Release – 29 April 2022 – 00:01

No Mow May:  Dawn of a new British lawn

• Percentage of those not mowing in May TREBLES in three years
• The typical lawn revealed – expect daisies, buttercups and dandelions
• Rarities including declining orchids have been spotted on wilder lawns
• Bees and butterflies benefit – lawns can be delicious desserts for wildlife, NOT deserts

Garden lawns are being mowed less and less as people embrace wilder gardens and that is good news for wild plants and the other wildlife that depend on them, says Plantlife, as it issues a rallying cry to No Mow May (1) and let wild plants get a fast start on Summer. #NoMowMay is Plantlife’s campaign encouraging people not to mow during May and to continue to mow less and at different lengths and frequencies throughout the summer.

Plantlife’s Every Flower Counts (EFC) citizen science survey – the largest ever survey of garden lawns (2) – demonstrates a radical shift in attitudes towards lawn management is underway: Last year 78.8% of 2,157 EFC participants did not mow for a month before taking part in the survey, a rise from 33.6% in 2019.

The results of giving the mower a breather for May can be spectacular; in 2021 No Mow Mayers reported over 250 plant species including wild strawberry, wild garlic and a dazzling array of rarities including adders’-tongue fern, meadow saxifrage, snake’s-head fritillary, and eyebright. Wild orchids including the declining ​man orchid, green-winged orchid, southern and northern marsh orchid, and bee orchid lit up liberated lawns (3).

The opportunity provided by a relaxation in mowing regimes saw higher flower counts, floral richness AND pollen [provision] scores (4) than previous Mays examined. In May 2021, EFC participants counted over 465,000 flowers including almost a quarter of a million daisies.

Lawns are sometimes considered to be wastelands for wildlife but Plantlife today (29 April) illuminates that, under the right management, they can be biodiversity hotspots; EFC surveyors recorded almost 100 species of pollinators on their lawns in 2021, including 25 types of moth and butterfly and 24 types of bee including the scarce moss carder bee.

For those considering No Mow May, Plantlife can today reveal just what to expect. A one metre square on a typical EFC lawn last year had 17 daisies and a smattering of buttercups and dandelions. Across lawns, germander speedwell and field forget-me-nots were next most likely to show. Such a square of lawn would produce about two milligrams of nectar sugar and three microlitres of pollen per day. So 100 m² area of lawn would produce enough pollen to stock up six mining bee brood cells and enough nectar sugar to meet the baseline needs of six bumblebees a day (5).

Dandelion-clad lawns are particularly wildlife friendly as they are disproportionately important for pollinators. Despite being outnumbered by daisies 85 to 1 on a typical 2021 [EFC] lawn, they produced 9% of its pollen and fully 37% of its nectar sugar. In fact, just 8 dandelion flowers might produce enough nectar sugar to meet an adult bumblebee’s baseline energy needs.

Ian Dunn, CEO, Plantlife, said:

“These results demonstrate that our call to No Mow May has set seed and laid down deep roots. The results underline how embracing a little more wildness in our gardens can be a boon for plants, butterflies and bees. We are excited by the unfolding dawn of a new British lawn.”

Oli Wilson, National Plant Monitoring Scheme modeler, noted:

 

“May is a crucial month for flowering plants that need to get a firm foothold but we are not advocating never mowing after May. Plantlife guidance across the year recommends a layered approach to the garden cut, where shorter grass is complemented by areas of longer grass. This two-tone approach boosts floral diversity and nectar and pollen production through the year.”

Sarah Shuttleworth, Manager, NPMS, commented:

“An excellent way to encourage short sward beauties like dove’s-foot crane’s-bill and selfheal alongside plants like cuckooflower and meadow buttercup that prefer longer grass is by creating regularly mown ‘desire paths’ through lawns.”

Felicity Harris, Head of Participation, Plantlife, said:

“Each year the trend towards wilder lawns is growing from the grassroots up, and it is set to bloom as never before in 2022. It is not only plants and pollinators that benefit – we do too. Less mowing gives garden lovers more time to relax and reconnect with nature. Those hours previously spent mowing can be used to spending time with others building a wildlife pond, a bug hotel or a reptile refugium.”

A Lifetime of Mowing Lawns

During my early teens I had a thriving neighborhood lawn mowing business. I foolishly charged by the hour and as I grew stronger and more experienced,  managed to make less money per lawn. 

Later while attending school I  worked with the maintenance crew at Sperry Semiconductors in Norwalk, CT. My job was mowing huge swaths of grass with a tractor. I know all about mowing lawns.

My Commercial Mowers

We have a large hilly lot in New Ipswich, NH. It is dangerous to mow steep slopes with a riding lawnmower so I bought a used Exmark walk behind commercial mower from my cousin who has a landscape business.  This beast had three blades and a 48 inch cutting swath. I could do our huge lawn in less than an hour. Nothing could stop this, nothing except the 2008 ice storm.

In 2008 a pine tree weighed down by accumulated ice broke off and landed on the Exmark crumpling it. Homeowner’s insurance covered the damage and I was able to buy a smaller 36 inch Scag. That was a mistake. It had many issues. If the gas line was not shut off the engine would flood and belch smoke. It was not very good for the environment.

One fine day I was mowing with the Scag and I heard a loud clunk. I didn’t hit a rock, it was suicide. The engine self destructed. At this point I vowed never to buy another gasoline  powered lawn mower.

My #NoMowMay Experience

This was easy. All I needed to do was not mow my lawn. It quickly grew into a meadow with lots of flowers, just as advertised.

June 4, 2022

May came to an end. Hopefully the pollinators appreciated the floral display. I set my ELECTRIC lawnmower at the highest setting and plowed through the meadow. However I left several patches of uncut lawn to see what might come next.