For the love of the birds and the bees, and other pollinators, Sustainable Saratoga is asking residents to keep the clippers away during May.
No Mo May has become an international movement. The annual campaign is run by sustainability-centric organizations who say the practice benefits local ecosystems.
Chair of Sustainable Saratog a’s Pollinator and Native Plant Committee Paul Murphy says the third No Mow May effort is bigger than ever.
“We believe that most people really love nature, want to have nature around for their kids and their grandkids just like they did when they were kids especially pollinators—butterflies, the bees, birds. And that they’re just looking for some ways to demonstrate and express their support for nature and No Mow May is a program that falls in their laps and allows them to publicly endorse nature,” said Murphy.
Murphy says the grassroots campaign is far from cutting-edge. It’s more important than ever to raise awareness of the plight of pollinators and how easy it is to support them.
“Pollinators and insects are fighting for their very existence across the globe. Pesticides and habitat loss are the primary reasons why these vital insects that pollinate, 70 out of 100 of the top U.S. major crops. These insects are all plummeting in their population sizes. In 2022, 48% of the U.S. bee colonies were lost,” said Murphy.
Dianna Goodwin also sits on Sustainable Saratoga’s Pollinator Committee. She says a pause on mowing can have many benefits.
“If you, like many people, have some weeds in your lawn like violets, which are native plants, or dandelions or clover, those are actually really essential in feeding bees and other insects when they first awake from their winter sleep. The other part about No Mow May is that there’s many ground bees and ground beetles that you know nest, and fireflies, that live in the ground and if you start mowing too early they haven’t emerged yet and they get chopped up by lawnmowers,” said Goodwin.
Goodwin emphasizes that this campaign isn’t just about insects.
“The love of insects is a little harder sell. So, getting people to say, ‘OK birds are supported by the same kinds of habitat that supports insects. Birds eat insects, birds eat plants. So, to get people to understand that in order to attract birds you need to have a more diverse habitat than just lawn is one way to get people started on it. So, a lot of people around here are nature lovers they just don’t apply it to home. So, this is to try to get them to say, ‘oh, I could have more birds in my yard if I grew bushes that had berries on them instead of forsythia which has nothing in it,” said Goodwin.
Some opponents to the No Mow May efforts say there are unintended consequences of leaving a lawn untouched for only one month; pollinating insects are caught unaware when food sources suddenly disappear on June 1st. And while letting weeds grow for a month can be helpful, some environmentalists worry that once the campaign is over, homeowners will turn to harmful pesticides to clean their lawns of pest species.
For Sustainable Saratoga, Murphy says No Mow May is a “gateway campaign” that he hopes gets residents invested in other ways to benefit their local ecosystems.
“You know mowing less frequently, one time every two to three weeks all season is a huge plus because it allows those lawn flowers to be more robust in the lawns and for the lawns to provide some nourishment for pollinators instead of being mowed every single week where it ends up at nothing, it’s basically an eco-wasteland on those lawns. There’s some other ideas people can do, they can set aside a part of their land and allow it to go wild,” said Murphy.
Murphy adds that simply allowing native flowering gardens to flourish is another easy next-step. During May, less is mower.
