Empowered by their success in 2020, the Appleton Bee City committee spread the word and attracted even more participants in 2021, and in 2022 it spread to communities across the country. Over 435 registered property owners participated that year. In 2020, residents of Appleton, Wisconsin, an affiliate of Bee City USA, became energized about No Mow May and they convinced their City Council to suspend their weed ordinance for the month of May. Late winter and early spring is a time when floral resources are often limited.

The goal of No Mow May is to pause mowing during the month of May, allowing flowers to bloom in your lawn to help early season pollinators. No Mow May was first popularized by Plantlife, an organization based in the United Kingdom, but is now gaining traction across North America. One way to reduce mowing is by participating in No Mow April, No Mow May, or Low Mow Spring. Mowing less creates habitat and can increase the abundance and diversity of wildlife including bees and other pollinators. By allowing it to grow longer, and letting flowers bloom, your lawn can provide nectar and pollen to help your bee neighbors thrive. Floral resources may be hard to find, especially in urban and suburban landscapes. The start of the growing season is a critical time for hungry, newly emerged native bees. Re-thinking the American lawn can take a variety of forms from reducing mowing frequency or area mown to permanently converting lawn to a more diverse and natural landscape. When we think of habitat loss, we tend to imagine bulldozers and rutted dirt, but acres of manicured lawn are as much a loss of habitat as any development site. Grass-only lawns lack floral resources and nesting sites for bees and are often treated with pesticides that harm bees and other invertebrates. Lawns provide little benefit to wildlife, and are often harmful. Lawns are mowed, raked, fertilized, weeded, chemically treated, and watered⁠-sucking up time, money, and other resources. Lawns cover 40 million acres, or 2%, of land in the US, making them the single largest irrigated crop we grow. It’s a gateway to understanding how we share our lawns with many small creatures. It’s more than long grass and dandelion blooms. “No Mow May” is a quick and catchy name for a movement that aims far beyond not mowing the yard for a month.

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