Mindfully Mowing in May

This article was originally published on ashevillegreenworks.org

You can help save pollinators! The month of May is the perfect time to have a positive impact.

Whether you rent or own your home, everyone can play a role in reversing pollinator decline — right from your own backyard! 

Mow a bit higher and allow dandelions to bloom, but cut before they go to seed. Graphic by Marie Colton-Woodard.

Suitable habitat, water, and food sources can be slim pickings for urban wild animals, such as pollinators, during spring. Making changes to your spring lawn care routine, such as changing your mowing practices, adding early blooming native plants and providing clean water can offer great support to the survival of local pollinators. You might also have a little fun while doing it! Now, wouldn’t that be a refreshing change from traditional lawn care?

Changing your lawn care does not have to be drastic. Simply raising the lawn mower blade a little higher, or, letting a small patch of your grass grow wild can make a huge difference.

Often, “weeds” like dandelions or clover are some of the only food sources available for our early wild bees.  See how high you can raise your mower blade to extend their flower time!

Another idea that is fun for both kids and adults is to leave a small area of your yard wild. You can observe the plants that come up in that patch, and the insects that come to visit them. We love using the INaturalist app for helping to identify the plants and insects that we find. Asking questions, making guesses, and checking answers provides endless learning opportunities and connection with the world around you. Recording your observations on the app helps professionals keep track of species’ populations, and makes you a citizen scientist! 

While we are all familiar with the honey bee, plant pollination could not rest on their backs alone! There are over 20,000 species of bees worldwide, and over 500 of which are native to North Carolina. Although many of our local bees gather pollen and nectar from a wide variety of flowers (“generalists”), some bee species (at least 25%) are “specialists” – meaning they require a specific plant family, a few related genera, a single genus, or a single species for their food. In turn, many plant species are pollinated by a limited set of pollinators, sometimes only one!

Researching the native plants that pollinators and other beneficial insects use in their diet, and adding them to your landscaping, is very helpful. Some great early blooming native plants include (our popular) creeping phlox, pussy toes, golden ragwort, various spring ephemerals, the blueberry (pollinated largely by blueberry and bumble bees), and the list goes on.  

Speaking of lists, you can find an extensive list of local nurseries, native plants, bloom times, and their value to pollinators on our website, titled, “Recommended WNC Native Pollinator-Friendly Plant & Nursery List”.

Did you know, you don’t have to have a lawn to help pollinators? Providing them with fresh water in a shallow dish with a rock or stick so they don’t drown is hugely helpful in an urban world where natural sources of fresh water for wildlife can be scarce. Keeping water available for pollinators on your steps or balcony will help them tremendously by providing a “corridor” from point A to point B.

Have a section of grass with clover and dandelions, and a section of native groundcovers, such as phlox. Graphic by Marie Colton-Woodard.

If you want to grow something, consider growing a pollinator plant in a container. Even if you don’t have access to native plants, you can still be proactive in what you offer pollinators to eat. Consider growing plants from non-treated seeds or making sure the plants you buy have not been treated with systemic insecticides called neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids, found often in plants from big box and mainstream nurseries, are harmful insecticides similar to nicotine that harm any insect that eats it, including pollinators.

We encourage everyone to incorporate as many native plants into their landscapes and avoid insect-killing pesticides as much as possible. Here’s why. Over the millennia, plant and animal pollinator species have perfected their pollination dances. Pollinating animals rely upon the nectar and/or pollen supplied by flowers. In turn, plants rely on pollinators to carry their pollen to other flowers to produce seeds and sustain their species. Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend on pollinators to help them reproduce! Plants and pollinators form the foundation for our planet’s rich biodiversity – and right now, they need our help.

Western North Carolina is one of the most biodiverse areas in the world. When we replace the natural diversity with a monoculture crop of grassy lawn, we also lose the diversity of species who rely on native plants for food. Unfortunately, human impact has made it harder for pollinators and other beneficial insects to live. However, we can take actions to reverse this decline by making even the most subtle changes to our lawn care habits. Making simple changes to our own habits and spreading the word to educate others are foundational ways to shift the course for pollinators and life as we know it for our grandchildren and the generations to come.