{"id":2769,"date":"2023-10-16T11:47:27","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T18:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/?p=2769"},"modified":"2023-10-16T11:47:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T18:47:27","slug":"year-round-alternatives-to-no-mow-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/2023\/10\/16\/year-round-alternatives-to-no-mow-may\/","title":{"rendered":"Year-round Alternatives to “No Mow May”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the recent blog post \u201cThe Controversy Surrounding \u2018No Mow May\u201d, Dr. Langellotto explores the lack of good science supporting the idea of giving your lawn a month-long break from being mowed. Despite the scientific controversy, \u201cNo-mow May\u201d is an idea that has taken off. It is simple and makes people feel good about helping pollinators, while also doing less yard work. At its best, it may indeed work in some places, for some people, to help some pollinators for a month\u2026but what about the rest of the year?

A month of neglecting your lawn might allow flowers to bloom, depending on what grows in your lawn besides grass. These may well attract pollinators \u2013 but the untended expanse may also fool various creatures into thinking they have a safe place to nest, pupate, and burrow. What happens to them when the mowing starts again? Bees and butterflies can fly away to other flowers, but less-mobile creatures may be killed or displaced.

It\u2019s also questionable whether this method reduces yard work at all. A lawn grown long and lush in peak growing season \u2013 and which may be wet from spring rains as well \u2013 will be very difficult to mow after a month. So at best, \u201cNo-mow May\u201d provides a very short-term benefit, and may cause more problems than it solves.

Are there other routes to a low-maintenance pollinator paradise?
Definitely! As Gail concluded, a pollinator garden provides year-round support to pollinators, without the disruption of intermittent mowing. If you want detailed information on creating a pollinator garden in the PNW, and what to plant in it, here\u2019s a good resource to get you started: \u201cEnhancing Urban and Suburban Landscapes to Protect Pollinators\u201d, https:\/\/extension.oregonstate.edu\/catalog\/pub\/em-9289-enhancing-urban-suburban-landscapes-protect-pollinators<\/a>.

But maybe you aren\u2019t able to devote a whole garden to pollinators. Maybe you just have a little bit of space. How about planting just a few strategic plants?
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Garlic
Garlic chives (Allium) with Douglas aster (dwarfed by tight location) in fall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Certain types of plants are pollinator powerhouses<\/strong>. They tend to attract a wide variety of pollinators. Some are food plants for many different native butterfly and moth caterpillars. The best bloom for a long time, offering their bounty for up to several months. To extend the bloom season even more, plant several varieties of the same species, with varying bloom times, or multiple related species.

Include a few of these in any landscape and you will benefit many pollinators. Choose natives when you can, and choose at least one species from each family or general category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Syrphid
It\u2019s not just bees: Syrphid fly on Douglas aster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Pollinator Powerhouse starter list<\/strong>
In western Oregon, you could do worse than start with the Garden Ecology Lab\u2019s Top 10 Oregon Native Plants for Pollinators (https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/category\/top-10-plants-for-pollinators\/) and their relatives. (Top-10 are in bold<\/strong> below).

Aster family (Asteraceae) \u2013 Daisies or Composites.<\/span>
A huge family with many pollinator favorites. Here are just a few.
Achillea millefolium<\/em> (yarrow)<\/strong>
Anaphalis margaritacea<\/em> (pearly everlasting)<\/strong> NOT for a well-fed and watered area, or it can become invasive<\/em>
Eriophyllum lanatum<\/em> (Common woolly sunflower)<\/strong>
Solidago spp.<\/em> (goldenrod) \u2013 Plant Native S. canadensis<\/em><\/strong> (Canada goldenrod), miniature S. \u2018Little Lemon\u2019, and late and showy S. \u2018Fireworks\u2019 for a really long season of bloom! Be aware that most tend to spread by seed, and the birds won\u2019t eat all the seed. Seedlings are easy to pull, though, if you don\u2019t want too many.
Symphyotrichum\/Aster<\/em> \u2013 Tall native S. subspicatum<\/strong><\/em> (Douglas aster)<\/strong> or short native S. hallii<\/em> (Hall\u2019s aster), miniature S. \u2018Woods Blue\u2019, and many others.
Also: Echinacea<\/em> (coneflower), Erigeron<\/em> (fleabane), Helenium<\/em> (sneezeweed \u2013 for treating sneezes, not causing them), Helianthus<\/em> (perennial sunflowers), Inula<\/em>, and many more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Anemone blanda<\/em>, early spring daisy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mint family (Lamiaceae)<\/span>
Another really big family almost universally attractive to pollinators. Includes Agastache spp.<\/em> (anise hyssop, hummingbird mint), Calamintha nepeta<\/em> (calamint), Caryopteris x incana<\/em> (bluebeard \u2013 a small shrub), Monarda didyma<\/em> (bee balm), Salvias<\/em>, and herbs rosemary, mint, basil, oregano, and thyme, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Calamintha and Alliums in midsummer (Wisconsin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sedum\/Hylotelephium<\/em> (stonecrops)
Both the low groundcover Sedums<\/em> and the tall, fall-blooming Hylotelephiums<\/em> like \u2018Autumn Joy\u2019 are pollinator magnets , though often you will only see honeybees mobbing them.

Alliums<\/em> \u2013 Any kind
There are spring, summer and fall bloomers \u2013 plant some of each, mixed in with other pollinator plants. Late spring to summer is the main Allium season, with dozens of kinds available. For late summer and fall try Allium tuberosum<\/em> (Garlic Chives), Allium cernuum <\/em>(nodding onion), a NW native, and Allium thunbergii<\/em> \u2018Ozawa\u2019 (Ozawa Japanese onion) for the very end of autumn.

Self-sowing annuals<\/span>
Many annuals will bloom straight through the season until frost.
Alyssum, <\/em>Clarkia amoena <\/em>(Farewell-to-spring)<\/strong>, Eschscholzia californica (California poppy)<\/em><\/strong> (mostly annual), Fagopyrum esculentum<\/em> (Buckwheat) \u2013 a great cover crop, pollinators love it, and you can harvest the seeds to eat or let it self-sow; Gilia capitata (globe gilia)<\/em><\/strong>, Limnanthes douglasii <\/em>(NW native), Madia elegans<\/em> (common madia), Phacelia heterophylla<\/em> (Varileaf phacelia). <\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Late summer: Crocosmia<\/em><\/em>, Agastache, Solidago<\/em> (left to right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To make sure your pollinator powerhouse plants thrive and bloom for a long time, make sure to give them good growing conditions.
\u2022 Soil should be reasonably good (though not excessively fertilized, which can cause pest-attracting lush growth and fewer flowers).
\u2022 They should have full to half-day sun in most areas.
\u2022 Even native plants appreciate some water during dry summer months, otherwise they will go dormant.
\u2022 Grouping these plants together can make care easier \u2013 voila, a pollinator garden! \u2013 but they can be tucked into any available spot as long as their needs are met. Even a vegetable garden! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Self-sown Alyssum in vegetable garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the recent blog post \u201cThe Controversy Surrounding \u2018No Mow May\u201d, Dr. Langellotto explores the lack of good science supporting the idea of giving your lawn a month-long break from being mowed. Despite the scientific controversy, \u201cNo-mow May\u201d is an idea that has taken off. It is simple and makes people feel good about helping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8006,"featured_media":2772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1295328,1295190,1295236],"tags":[1178805],"class_list":["post-2769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawns","category-native-plants","category-pollinators","tag-garden-pollinator","has-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2786\/files\/2023\/10\/Pollin-Power5-Syrphid.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2769"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2787,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2769\/revisions\/2787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gardenecologylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}