No Mow May: Yea or Nay?
- Andrew Hedman
- May 13
- 6 min read
Every year around this time social media is abuzz (pun intended) with memes and posts about “No Mow May”. For those unaware of what it is, I will provide a brief summary. No Mow May originated in the UK to promote populations of bees. The goal is to entirely cease mowing during the month of May for the benefit of bees and pollinators. The concept has become popular in the United States. Sadly, due to misapplications and some controversial studies and implementation, there are certain controversies. I will provide 3 Reasons For No Mow May, 3 Reasons I Don’t Practice It, and 3 Reasons Against It.
3 REASONS FOR IT
The following are from Xerces, a wonderful non-profit dedicated to the conservation of insects, especially our native bees and wasps! I thank them for the wonderful work they do and encourage every reader to visit their main website and learn more about them, especially read their helpful tips on how to promote native pollinators with native plants! I have referenced them many times in the past, especially for my premium blog series Beginner’s Guide to Stewardship Gardening.
1: Spring is such a crucial time for emerging bees and pollinators, it is important they are able to access high quality food and nutrition as easily as possible. Given Spring flowers are difficult to find in late Winter and early Spring, homeowners choosing to not mow their lawns in May allow flowers to grow in their lawns, especially if they seed their lawns with low-growing flowers. This in turn makes it much easier for bees to find food for their growing nests.
2: Naturally, since homeowners and managers would be mowing less often, less fuel or energy is needed to run mowers, and to transport maintenance crews. The same concept applies to time. If it takes one 30 to 60 minutes to mow and mowing is weekly, that is a time savings of 2 to 4 hours. Imagine the potential for city landscaping crews, or preserve district crews, the additional cost savings can be substantial. According to the article from Xerces, cost savings can be up to 36% just by mowing less often!
3: Less mowing not only means less fuel and energy, it also means fewer emissions – a benefit for anyone concerned with atmospheric CO2 levels. For any landscape crews, this is a significant reduction in fuel costs transporting lawn mowers across cities to different parks. Less wear and tear on engines means less maintenance required. An additional benefit is the reduction in noise pollution. The engines of lawn mowers are incredibly loud, disturbing peaceful neighborhoods; similarly, even battery powered or corded lawn mowers are also loud.
3 REASONS I DON’T PRACTICE IT
Not only do I think No Mow May is unnecessary (see below) I also think the main intended benefits can be achieved in other ways. Reference the following Xerces article which talks about moving past No Mow May and ultimately converting one’s lawn to a prairie or meadow.
1: One of the best things for our pollinators, is for property managers to reduce the unnecessary use of Herbicides, Pesticides, and Fertilizers (HPFs). When needing to use herbicides and pesticides, Stewards need to practice integrated pest management and avoid broadcast spraying when possible to prevent unnecessary kills from drift. Pollinator populations have dwindled an alarming amount, 28% of Bumblebees are gone, butterfly populations in Ohio are down 45%! For more on this topic, visit part 2 of my Beginner’s Guide to Stewardship Gardening.
2: If we want to support wildlife, the best thing is to dramatically reduce the size of our lawns (or get rid of them entirely) and replace them with native plants. Conservationist E.O. Wilson called for the preservation of half of the Earth’s surface area to preserve more than 80% of the world’s biodiversity. Scientist Doug Tallamy calls us to convert at least half of our lawn to native plants to boost wildlife populations (p. 47-48). If every American converted half of their lawn to native plants, the space would equate to the largest national park in the United States! The latest numbers I have seen from the Homegrown National Park nonprofit is that the total acreage of lawn is 44 million! Imagine if everyone converted half of their lawn to native plants to support wildlife.
3: If saving time, resources, and reducing pollution is our goal, converting our lawns to native plants is the most practical and effective means the average homeowner can do all of those things. Lawn conversions to native plants may reduce maintenance costs up to 90% - even a reduction of 50% is significant for any homeowner. Additionally, for those concerned about CO2 in the atmosphere (who doesn’t want clean air to breathe!?) native plants and shrubs capture carbon and store it in the soil. The extensive deep root systems of many grassland species lead to potentially storing up to 49 tons of carbon per acre!
3 REASONS AGAINST IT
Note, a better title for this section is “Three Reasons it is Unnecessary”.
1: I rarely see Bumblebees, which are generalist pollinators, using Dandelions. This isn't to say they don't, in fact I watched one visit some dandelions for about a minute just the other day (May 7th). I simply reference Bumblebees as an example of how Dandelions are supposed to support our generalist pollinators. Our native bees prefer native plants. The great majority of welI-maintained lawns in North America don't have native flowers. The most common native flower in Illinois lawns I am familiar with is the native Violet, Viola sororia. According to Dr. John Hilty, the flowers aren't often visited by insects and are cleistogamous, closed and self-pollinating [ref IL wildflowers]. We have to remember the cute little honey bee we get our honey from is from Europe; unless they are being kept for agriculture they are technically an invasive species and they often outcompete our native bees as they search for and gather food.
2: If you mow your lawn on the highest setting, you will go over many blooms, including native flowers like Violets, Spring Beauties, or Wild Strawberries. In addition, if you reduce your mowing regimen to semi-monthly rather than weekly, wildlife will thrive much more in comparison. In the end of April 2025, I enjoyed watching native sparrows engorging themselves on insects and seeds of dandelions two days after mowing my lawn. Those flowers were there not because I didn’t mow my lawn, but because I mowed it on the highest setting. In turn, because I mow every two weeks, those flowers then turned into seed heads which the gold finches were able to eat. Are dandelions a problem plant or a pest? No. They are simply overrated. My plan is to eventually convert most if not all of my lawn to native plants. The wildlife will enjoy it much more.
3: Skipping mowing for an entire month (read two since many people also mow in April) sends the wrong message - that unkempt is good. There is nothing worse for the native plant movement than the well-intended homeowner who throws out a seed mix, not knowing what is in it, then following up with absolutely no maintenance. Well-established prairie gardens or native flower beds still need some maintenance, thankfully much less than traditional ornamental gardens or lawns. Here’s an example, just yesterday I pulled a young Evening Primrose, Oenetherea biennis, because it was growing in the way of the walking path around our pond. This isn’t terrible. I have many other Evening Primrose coming up around the property. No maintenance yards are terrible. Stewards need to be out in the yard, scouting for invasive species, or simply editing out dominant plants to allow other plants to mature and thrive.
CONCLUSION
I am not a fan of mowing lawns. Grass is a great way to tidy up a property and to keep dust down; however, the maintenance is astounding and a considerable waste of time if the grass isn’t used. Athletic fields are an appropriate use of lawns; however, the great majority of homeowners mainly use their lawn to mow it. I recall as a child, we never used the entire lawn to play, it was always a portion of the lawn. For those homeowners who do have children who play in the yard, consider keeping the lawn to a 20’ x 30’ or 30’ x 40’ area. Children are curious, if you have established flower beds, they are bound to explore! They can learn the importance of respecting nature and our place as Stewards over the Earth.
Consider converting your lawn to native plants. Whether it’s a bird garden, a butterfly garden, a pollinator garden, a prairie garden, or a meadowscape, all utilize native plants. Not only will you invite wildlife to your yard, you can enjoy watching them to. It is a pleasure of mine knowing something is benefiting from the way I care for and Steward our little half acre. I am sure you will too.
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