Monarch Gardens
  • Home
  • About
    • What We Believe
    • Benjamin Vogt
    • Our Dream
    • Press
  • Design
    • Designing
    • Portfolio
    • Reviews
  • Classes
  • Speaking
  • Books
    • Articles
    • Books
  • Garden Guides
  • Workshop
  • Blog
  • SHIRTS
  • News
  • Contact

The Deep Middle


Gardening & writing in the prairie echo

Just Say No to No Mow May

4/9/2023

 
Oh we've stepped in it now. I know. It's ok. Let's dive in and think critically with nuance -- because what no mow may has to teach us is more empowering and liberating than we could have imagined, if we move forward with intention.

The "No Mow May" movement continues to frustrate. Just letting your lawn go will not result in a lovely meadow that neighbors or wildlife will admire. If you're on an urban lot, chances are you won't be getting aster and indigo and prairie clover and coneflowers -- they aren't in the seed bank because your house was not recently built on top of a remnant prairie.

What you WILL get are a host of plants with marginal to little benefit to wildlife, and several that will be terribly aggressive: crabgrass, creeping charlie, barnyard grass. And of course invasive species placed on most city's noxious weed list, like musk thistle or garlic mustard.

There's little chance a neighbor will look at your "let go" lawn and think wow, that's cool, I want that, I understand it. There's every chance they will rightfully report you to weed control -- especially if you're not actively managing the space or designing it in some way, particularly with cues to care or making some sort of significant plant additions. It's better to design the space, to choose the plant communities that will work together AND support wildlife.  Well, read some perspectives by pollinator specialists.


You want to help the environment, pollute less, use less resources, and create resilient habitat that's pleasing to both wildlife and people -- and often that means rethinking lawn and lawn-type spaces entirely. But what happens when you let your lawn go or stop mowing?

  1. It's going to look weedy fast. Without design intention your neighbors will be less apt to get on board.
  2. Invasive species may establish. What's in the weed seed bank? You don't know. Could be some native plants -- likely aggressive seeders -- definitely going to be aggressive exotics.
  3. Woody plants will move in. Without constant management tree seedlings will start to grow. This could be an issue if you live on a small lot or in an area where forests aren't a habitat type. One female red cedar tree put out 1 million seeds.

The point of this post is not to push you to some hyperbole, like "well then what should we do, slather the lawn in chemicals?" It's to get you to think intentionally about your space -- from design to succession, to what you ideally want to happen and to the big leaps your neighbors will have to make when you break from the status quo.

Do you need lawn? Do you need a lawn-type space? Why? How do you use your landscape? How do you want to use it differently? What's the purpose of 4-8" tall plantings -- because at that height there are far, far fewer ecosystem services than with plants 12-30" tall (the height at which we design front yard lawn-to-meadow conversions).

Over the years much has been shared on this website about designing a landscape -- from plant selection (sociability and size) to plant succession over time. When you let your lawn go or stop mowing, there's seldom a plan that takes into consideration management or neighbors, let alone why you need clipped plants in the first place. So if you let your lawn go, think hard about a management plan that takes into consideration your ecoregion and lot size, as well as your environmental and community goals.

If we're not working smartly with a plan and a management / design goal, then we're just being lazy and ideologically polarizing for no reason. That's not helpful or neighborly. Now, I'm all for reducing mowing. And certainly for doing so in larger expanses, like business parks and city parks and golf course edges, because we have a lawn pandemic going on right now.

As for anyone who argues "baby steps," well adults should be taking adult steps -- similarly full of big dreams, big hopes, big risks, and big faith. Prairie up. Rethink pretty.

Picture
Nancy Cadet
4/10/2023 12:32:39 pm

This is great. My sentiments exactly! Our environmental group on Long Island NY is exploring /debating this topic on our blog;can we quote you or link to this?

Benjamin
4/10/2023 01:22:47 pm

Of course. As always.

Michelle L Komorowski
5/20/2024 12:01:10 am

You guys SUCK!!! I HAVE SEEN MORE BUTTERFLIES AND BUMBLE BEES THIS MONTH SINCE NOT MOWING!! THIS WORKS AND ALL SHOULD CONSIDER OUR FUTURE OF THEIS PLANET!!!

Christine Reid link
4/14/2023 06:12:12 am

THANK YOU. Hot fads and barely thought out actions probably helped to put us where we are now, and as they say, "Craziness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." We cannot instagram our way through a biiodiversity emergency.

My favorite comment is that baby steps are for babies; adults should take adult steps. My my, news flash!

I am firmly in your camp on this one, Benjamin!

Amanda nugent
5/1/2023 11:41:37 am

Thank you for this. I’ll be sharing this with as many as possible!

Sarah Mackey
5/6/2023 05:41:32 am

Reading about No Mow May is what put me on the pa the to my wildflower front yard. I’m not sure my neighbors love me any more, yet, as it is still mostly a natural mulch yard at the moment, but hopefully as it develops over the next couple of years, people will understand.
I did put a small part veggie garden last year and put up a sign to for the neighbors to help themselves, and they did!

Gretta d Cooke
5/6/2023 05:54:26 am

We installed a large meadow with sporobolus heterolepsis in our front yard with turf grass all around - probably fescues. Last year we only mowed paths around the meadow and in other strategic places and let the rest grow. Of course, I'm watching for pests but I have to say the lush green of the unmowed sections with the pathways was gorgeous and the turf and the meadow survived last year's withering drought. In the meantime, I've planted pockets of penstemon, silene, brown-eyed susan, zizia,prairie coneflower, monarda punctata and goldenrod. I will see how successful it has been this year. If it doesn't work, the lawn can always be re-mowed and solarized but last year it looked like a beautiful picture with a plain matte surrounded by a gorgeous frame. As stated, it all depends on how it's done.

Todd
5/6/2023 06:56:40 am

Sounds like a wonderful plan and design! PDS is a perfect choice for this. Do you share photos on social media?

Judy Parks
5/6/2023 07:28:20 am

what does PDS stand for?

judy parks
5/6/2023 11:42:57 am

Thanks to Ms Cooke for her ideas!

Judy Parks
5/8/2023 07:04:41 pm

Todd, please tell us what PDS stands for.

Anne-Marie McMahon
5/11/2023 07:16:46 pm

I'm guessing PDS refers to Prairie Dropseed, the common name for Sporobolus heterolepis....

josh
5/14/2023 11:45:56 pm

I’m designing a small space right now and including native, pollinator friendly perennials and grasses, mostly for caterpillars/butterflies. Think I’ll use some prairie dropseed now, haven't considered it for this project yet but its contrast with rudbeckia and coneflowers is beautiful.

Bob L.
5/6/2023 06:41:31 am

I think "no mow may" is less a prescription for a permanent solution to lawns, and more to get people's attention to see the importance of spring pollinators, the usefulness of "lawn flowers" like and dandelions, violets, buttercups and clover. This can be a major stepping stone to seeing the larger alternatives. The major downside is struggling to mow in June.

Apples
5/6/2023 10:27:08 am

I agree that it is meant as an awareness. I also disagree with baby steps are for babies. You have to work within your means. I don't have thousands of dollars to pay for plant seed\plugs and or for someone to plant them. I have .28 acres to transition from grass to a pollinator paradise. So, I leave "weedy" patches and mow around those. Is that ideal? No. But the dandelions, clover, thistles, and field madder (among others that come up in succession) serve a much greater purpose that just ... Grass.
As I am able to with time and money, those areas will be converted into proper meadow areas. Until then, I keep an eye on it and once the grasses are too tall or the flowers changing over, I go in with a mower or weedwacker and manage the land.
Some will call that baby steps. I call it doing the best I can with what I have at the moment.

Michelle
5/6/2023 03:49:58 pm

Apple, I appreciate your contribution here! Maybe using "ageist" metaphors isn't helpful in this context, since I read your plan and think it sounds thoughtful and "mature," including how you are taking into context your financial, floral, temporal, and other resources. Thanks for sharing!

Charles F.
5/14/2023 11:49:41 pm

thousands of dollars for bulbs and seeds? Jeez where do you live haha. I can get packs of bulbs for less than $50 and all establish very well.

judy parks
5/11/2023 08:08:24 pm

Thank you, Ms. McMahon!

Leslie Fiddler
5/6/2023 09:27:10 am

Thanks very much for this timely and useful piece. Our HOA’s eco- friendly committee will discuss this and share it with our community.

Adrienne Boullianne
5/6/2023 02:42:59 pm

BV- are you the one who coined the phrase ‘rethink pretty?’
I often quote that in write ups i do and would like to give credit. Thx. Youre a great writer!

Benjamin Vogt
5/6/2023 02:46:10 pm

Yep. It's on shirts too.

mary davis
5/7/2023 06:55:49 am

"The no mow May continues to frustrate."

How is this measured and what demographic is it frustrating?

"What you WILL get are a host of plants with marginal to little benefit"

I take issue with your crystal ball of what WILL happen across the United States. That WILL is pretty definitive, yet my natural “grass” is dandelions, violets, strawberries, creeping something that is purple flowers. Might you change the WILL to MIGHT? When mowing begins again in June it will kill any woody seedlings.

"There’s little chance a neighbor will look at your “let go” lawn and think wow that is cool."

Yeah, and when the neighbor mows in May (for 2 hours), I think, that is “not” cool. Gas fumes, noise pollution, using a product we go to war for. I actually laughed when another neighbor called my garden messy. I don't plant for my neighbor's visual aesthetics. Messy is in the eye of the beholder and I have property rights! There is not one weed in my garden - only plants of use to me or an insect. Well that might not be true. I have lovely goldenrod. Perhaps weed is also in the eye of the beholder.

Linda Gustainis
5/7/2023 10:39:52 am

With tall grasses come ticks. Here in New England deer ticks carry Lyme and other diseases. They are tiny, hard to find on pets or people until they have fed and swelled, long enough to transmit said diseases. Doctors here assume every tick carries Lyme...it's that prevalent, even in urban neighborhoods. I will continue to mow and plant pollinator feeders in my flower beds. Also, in our area of the country, nothing blooms until mid May and then, only dandelions. Clover doesn't bloom until mid June. In California, by May, plants may be drying out and disappearing if it's a dry year. May isn't one size fits all in a country this big with so many climate zones.

Benjamin
5/7/2023 10:55:40 am

Ticks are the #1 comment we get on just about any article or social media post, and they are an important issue. But ticks are everywhere, in lawn too, and hitching rides on various fauna. If we really want to reduce ticks we need to address climate change and the erosion of ecosystems, top-down predators. Take deer ticks who get lyme disease from white-footed mice, mice whose numbers balloon due, in part, to a lack of predators. Those predators need large, connected habitats but instead we fragment and destroy those habitats. Perhaps the best we can do on an individual level is take as many personal precautions as we can -- we prefer Sawyer brand insect repellent.

Judith
5/8/2023 06:52:51 pm

Interesting email thread and comments. My neighbor went from no-mow May to no-mow forever. I now have the benefit of that decision. Garlic mustard, stilt grass, endless tree saplings, and very invasive white wood aster. As was pointed out to me, the aster is a native species. However, its aggressive behavior has made the neighbor's property and now part of mine a monoculture consisting of only that plant. I see white wood aster for sale on various native plant web sites, with no mention of its behavior. While I'm all for reducing carbon footprint for homeowners and having meadows in place of lawns, the steps as not as simple as it seems. Additionally, plants (unless you are buying plugs) are very expensive. And, regarding plugs, I recently purchased "plugs" from an on-line plant seller and what I received were actually, very small seedlings, with minimal root mass, shipped in a "plug" type container. Buyer beware. Starting small makes a lot of sense to me. The cost is more manageable, as well as the effort. And what you learn from the first attempt to go lawnless helps your understanding of the pitfalls (and successes).

Benjamin
5/8/2023 07:20:20 pm

Judith -- You should read other recent posts because we agree with you. Can't just let a lawn go. Gotta design with intention. https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/why-wildlife-gardeners-need-to-become-garden-designers-asap

Angie Hong link
5/9/2023 09:00:28 pm

I love your work but strongly disagree with this take. No Mow May is one of the few messages I’ve seen that has broad appeal with the general public outside of the usual crowd of conservation enthusiasts. Why? Because people are weary after two years of COVID, working full-time while homeschooling kids, daycare shortages, school bus driver shortages, rising food and gas prices - the list goes on and on.

No Mow May works because it gives people permission to do something less instead of something more.

Social science research conducted by Doug MacKenzie Mohr shows that people are more likely to make big changes if they make smaller changes first. Metaphorically speaking, No Mow May becomes a gateway drug that leads people down a road toward ecological landscapes. And it’s important to remember that converting a yard to native landscaping is a multi-year process that takes time and botanical expertise.

We can and absolutely should help people to take the next step beyond No Mow May, but if we come down hard on the movement now, most people will just give up and go back to lawn as usual.

Benjamin
5/9/2023 09:09:33 pm

So tired of hearing the baby step / gateway drug argument in this comment thread and across social media. Also a gateway drug -- creating a more diverse habitat with far more ecosystem services.

Angie Hong
5/11/2023 07:49:58 am

The reason people keep bringing up "baby steps & gateway drug" as an argument is because it is proven science that actually works. Our conservation work exists at the intersection of ecological restoration and human behavior change, so we have to take both into account if we want to succeed in making broad-scale societal changes.

I work in local government (Minnesota) and we have been very successful at changing social norms around landscaping in our area because we're using a multi-pronged approach that includes public education and engagement, technical support and grant incentives, education and support for our cities to change local policies, and now even a statewide grant program to help landowners convert lawns to native landscaping. I'm talking tens of thousands of new native plantings large and small over the past decade.

But I've also heard from literally hundreds of people who say that No Mow May has been an entry point for them to begin transitioning to an ecological landscape. It starts the ball rolling and then they begin adding native gardens after that.

We're still putting most of our education and outreach energy towards helping people with native planting projects, but I'm happy to see the enthusiasm No Mow May has generated in our communities and excited to bring these new people along for our conservation ride.

Benjamin Vogt
5/11/2023 08:47:04 am

Minnesota is a rare breed and is doing good work -- glad to hear of your successes. My experience has been that if the garden doesn't look and act good ASAP, folks give up. A lot of new habitat gardeners are mismatching plants to one another and site, and a recent post addresses how we need to get better at design as well. I'm glad baby steps work for some folks -- we all have to keep doing the work wherever we fall on the spectrum of action and activism. It takes a village as we steam headlong into mass extinction.

Rebekah
3/2/2024 11:54:31 am

Really appreciate this comment - the social science study of environmental change has been so understudied, and yet it’s crucial as we seek to deal with (mitigate and adapt to) climate change.

Susie Plunkitt
5/12/2023 07:45:19 am

I love this and thank you for making this easy to post and share! I do hope that some of my neighbors like my yard and I know that I like the easy care of it in regard to mowing. I can also see that life is in and on my yard whereas little thrives all around me and little is actually used! My yard? I lay in my hammock and hear the birds, watch the squirrels, see the bees buzzing around. How can they, my neighbors, not see and hear the differences and be drawn to them? I am trying and working and hoping. Thanks for the encouragement and help to spread the word, to help save the wildlife that is so dwindling.

Tyler K
6/22/2023 10:51:36 am

I have been guiding clients into no mow for years. I find that even in very urban (Philadelphia) sites, native plants show up just fine. In more suburban homes, I've had a wild amount of native biodiversity show up in years 2 and 3 of no mow. I personally very much think this is crucial to preserving the genetic eco region biodiversity. I advise my clients that if they are willing to deal with a not conventionally pretty space for a couple years to try this out. At the very worst, the natives that show up can be dug out and replanted which provides a ton of genetically diverse plant material. Most of the projects I have worked on did not require that level of prep. We let the native perennials do their thing for a couple years and succession to take place. They create some strongholds and the weak spots of many non-native plants we then prepare the soil and do sheet mulching and plantings of species that we bring in. there was actually a 200 acre golf course in Philadelphia park that has been a park for an extremely long time with a ton of soil compaction and turf grass management that was let go over covid. That space was reclaimed by Nature with zero intervention and the biodiversity and native plants that showed up there from the seed bank as well as the birds and wind bringing them in was astounding. It's called The Meadows in FDR Park and there were a lot of projects to document the biodiversity there if you are interested in checking it out. Unfortunately the city recently decided to clear the entire space to build a sculpted Park and soccer fields so we are losing a lot of that

Matt Smith link
9/4/2023 04:46:01 am

This article offers valuable insights into the "No Mow May" movement and the importance of thoughtful landscape design. One additional tip I'd like to share is to consider planting native grasses and wildflowers that are well-suited to your region. Native plants often require less maintenance, provide essential food sources for local wildlife, and can thrive in your specific climate conditions.

I'm curious to know if anyone has successfully transformed their lawn into a thriving native habitat and what challenges or benefits they've experienced during the process?

Thanks, Matt

Jenny fagan
9/23/2023 01:23:43 pm

I will continue No mow April for us here in webster Groves Mo! And I really decided to let my yard go wild, and seeing what has happened this end of summer is the reason why the amount of insects hummingbirds dragonflies is astounding! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and this beholder loves seeing a habitat, rebuilt and you know is nature intentional when it grows in woods and prairies, I don’t think so

Dave Bishop link
2/3/2024 07:10:54 pm

Wow, this is a great article. The phrasing is very similar to my ranting. Slathering on chemicals at your pesticide palace has come out of my mouth often when I watch my neighbors. I've somehow always thought that chemicals are not normal or natural. My lawns have always been natural. My current back lawn is thick and green all season. At 5-6", it is full of spiders and crickets. I watch birds hunting in there. My summer nesting House wren loves the thick lawn with all the baby food. So, lawns can be productive in small ways.

As for No Mow May, I'm more into the no-mow all year. Well, until we get a lot of rain and it gets so tall, the lawn mower can not go through it at full height. I'm considering taking my lawn mower in and seeing how to raise that deck up higher. I miss my lawn mower that could be 7" off the ground. Since the day I read that grass will try to grow taller if it's too short, letting it grow until it levels out is to create some agreement with the lawn. I got to know my lawn and befriend it, not going to war with it every three days, scalping it into submission. It's so thick now not many weeds can even take hold in there. I dread the days I have to mow it. Last summer, I went almost three months between cuts. Getting rid of more every year is the real goal.

Thank you for writing and seeing this perspective. It makes perfect sense to me. Sadly, we must dumb things down to get people to look at the environment.

Jerry Rodan link
2/26/2024 11:07:02 am

No doubt that is great writing, the article is very informative and interesting. Sometimes I think about getting over it, but due to a heavy working schedule, I can not.

By the way, this has broadened my knowledge. Thanks for sharing.

Kathy
5/4/2024 06:06:45 am

@drennondavis wrote a song called your lawn is dumb that you might appreciate. https://www.instagram.com/p/C6duyrFLe9P/?igsh=Yjhka2xyMWlsczhw

Lisa
5/4/2024 10:56:36 am

Here! Here!

Anna
5/6/2024 11:33:28 am

100% well said

Kate
5/19/2024 10:07:46 am

As a Code Compliance Officer on the West Coast, who is also a native plant/habitat enthusiast, I appreciate this so much! I've seen people do spite "no mows" just to fuel a neighbor war and later claim pollinator habitat, but their yard is full of invasive thistle and poison hemlock. And then late summer a fire hazard in our very dry summers. Instead: Plan it. Maintain it. Have intention. And please put in some paths for a fire break. It's worth noting that most people don't have the time or money for a whole lawn conversation upfront. Start small and convert to habitat over time. And some people physically can't maintain their yard or pay someone to do it. This is an opportunity for communities and neighbors to come together and help out.

Benjamin
5/19/2024 02:11:13 pm

Yes, in my books and classes I push paths as a cure to care AND in some areas of the country as fire breaks; shoot, we have one out back between the backyard meadow and the house (lawn area and gravel sitting area). With ya. Thanks for chiming in. I wish more compliance officer were as thoughtful as you.

Sandra Wyman
6/7/2024 10:16:50 am

EH, I'm in NH. What I got were violets, wild strawberries, ferns, asters, digitalis, sedges, pussy toes, native germanium . .. yes some tree seedling, my house is on the edge of a pine/oak forest and that is what should be here. I also nudged things along by buying native plants including woodland plants and putting them here and there to see what will take. 3 years in and I am sticking with no mow, or 2x a year now . . .no weed ordnance here and no care for the neighbors feels either.


Comments are closed.

    About

    Benjamin Vogt's thoughts on prairie gardening in Nebraska. With a healthy dose of landscape ethics, ecophilosophy, climate change,  and social justice.

    Picture
    Online Classes  |  200 Articles

    Archives

    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017


    Original Archives

    1,257 posts from

    July 2007 - May 2017


    Garden Timelapse


    Subscribe

    RSS Feed


    Picture
    In a time of climate change and mass extinction how & for whom we garden matters more than ever.

    "This book is about so much more than gardening."
Picture
M O N A R C H   G A R D E N S   LLC

prairie inspired  design

Lincoln & Omaha, Nebraska

Monarch Gardens is a prairie-inspired design firm. We specialize in lawn to meadow conversions as well as urban shade gardens.

Employing 95% native plants, our designs are climate resilient, adaptable, and provide numerous ecological benefits while artistically reflecting wilder landscapes.
Sign up for our newsletter!
Join Now