Does 'No Mow May' actually help the environment?

You might have heard of "No Mow May," but it turns out there are many, many 'mow better' ways to help the environment.

Experts say that longer lawns don't necessarily help pollinator populations as much as once thought, and that you'll do much more for the environment by planting native species that bees and butterflies love.

"No Mow May started in the United Kingdom back in 2019 by a conservation charity called Plant Life, a wonderful group of folks. And they were trying to have people grow more flowers in their yards, in their gardens, in their lawns to help conserve pollinators in the UK," Harland Patch, assistant research professor in the Department of Entomology and director of pollinator programming at the Arboretum at Penn State, told KCBS Radio.

However, the United States is a very different place than the UK.

"We have all kinds of habitats and climates and very specific flowers and things that live with those flowers, very different than the UK," said Patch.

Because of that, No Mow May just doesn't have the same effect on this side of the pond.

"In North America, when we grow our lawns, we actually have mostly European weeds that people brought from Europe to the United States, and the dandelions and all those kinds of things grow in our lawns are actually from Europe," said Patch. "Those plants are not particularly great for our pollinators, which of course are very different than what you find in Europe, and so they really don't provide great nutrition for our native pollinators."

Instead, if people want to help pollinators, they should include more native plants in their landscapes.

"We like to say that if you want to do good for the bees or other pollinators, plant flowering plants, that's pretty good. But if you want to do really well for them, do plant plants that are native to your local part of the United States," said Patch. "This is very important because our pollinators have co-evolved with those flowering plants. They bloom at the right time of year, they have the right kind of pollen and nectar for their nutrition. And so it's very important if you want to support those pollinators to have our native plants specific to the area of the country in which you live."

Patch said most local nurseries will have plants that are native to the region, and big box stores may carry a small selection, as well.