Growing Green

By Robin Trott, Extension Educator

On April 22,2024, the Alexandria City Council once again approved the No Mow May initiative. From Wednesday, May 1 through Friday, May 31, the city will suspend enforcement of its high-grass nuisance provisions for properties that are duly registered as “no-mow.” This, however, does not apply to noxious weeds.

In May, many bees are coming out of hibernation and need flowers to feed themselves and their babies. The main purpose of No Mow May is to encourage people to let spring flowers in their lawns bloom before mowing. Flowers you can commonly see blooming in lawns in May include dandelions, white clover and creeping charlie. While many people view these flowers as weeds, some pollinators view them as food. Ideally, you can add to the mix and provide food for more pollinators by adding native plants. Early spring blooming native plants like violets and pussy toes can be a part of your bee lawn. Plant diversity is key to supporting bee diversity, so if you can, plant a wide variety of native spring blooming flowers, trees and shrubs, like pussy willows, serviceberries and bluebells. For blooms in your lawns after May, add self-heal, ground plum, lanceleaf tickweed or calico American aster.

Although we all get anxious to clean up in the spring, hibernating pollinators often need a bit more time under the leaves before they can safely emerge. Leaves left on the ground provide important insulation for bees hibernating underground and for moths and butterflies that overwinter in the leaves. Leaving your leaves where they are until temperatures are above 50 degrees F for five consecutive days will give most of those hibernating pollinators the protection that they need. Bees that nest in stems may not emerge until mid-June or later. It is best for the bees to leave the stems where they are. New growth will soon cover them, any bees nesting in the stems will emerge, and the old stems will decompose. If you want to remove past seasons’ stems from your garden before mid-June, find a place to safely stash the cut stems until the bees that might be nesting in them have a chance to emerge. Come midsummer, you can safely compost these stems. When you do cut stems back, leave about 12 inches of stem standing to create nesting habitat for this summer’s bees.

People should not take the catch phrase “No Mow May” literally. The basic idea of No Mow May is to increase the availability of flowers. For example, if you give dandelions a chance to flower, but mow before they go to seed, you can provide resources for pollinators and not increase their spread. That mowing to prevent seed spread may need to happen during May. For white clover, you may need to mow in May to encourage them to flower again if the flowers are going to seed. Encouraging native plants that flower in lawns is  a great solution to the problem of invasive weeds in lawns. Some people may still consider these plants to be “weeds,” but they are simply flowers that grow where grass used to grow.

The city will develop a registration portal for those interested in participating in the initiative. The University of Minnesota Extension Office will have yard signs available for residents of registered no-mow yards to pick up and place.

For more information about No Mow May and Pollinators, visit: https://beelab.umn.edu/no-mow-may.

Until next time, happy gardening!