NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — No Mow Could encourages owners to stash the garden mower every spring and let flowers and grass develop for pollinators and water retention. And in case your neighbor’s garden already seems like a wildflower area more often than not, it could possibly be extra intentional than passersby may assume.
The motion has expanded to “Let It Bloom June” and the autumn model: “Leave the leaves.” Conservation and horticulture teams say year-round low-mowing whereas selectively leaving native vegetation to develop can save big quantities of consuming water and result in lasting and impactful ecological modifications.
When Amanda Beltranmini Healen moved into her Nashville ranch home in 2016, the yard had been manicured on the market: a walnut tree, roses from a house enchancment retailer and brief grass. So she experimented, first with a 10-by-10-foot patch the place she dug up the grass and sowed native seeds. Then she planted goldenrods within the culvert close to the road, and let extra of her yard develop tall with out mowing.
Amanda Beltranmini Healen stands among the many vegetation in her yard in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Could 19, 2025, the place she participates in No Mow Months to enhance water retention and encourage pollinators. (AP Picture/Kristin M. Corridor)
Native authorities apparently didn’t respect her pure look: “I bought a letter from town saying that I needed to mow it,” she stated.
However then, a buddy instructed her about No Mow Month indicators, offered by the Cumberland River Compact, a local water conservation nonprofit. Soon she was signaling to the city that she’s no derelict, but a participant in an international movement.
These days, every month is No Mow May in parts of her property. While she keeps the growth shorter near the culvert and street, her backyard is filled with native grasses and plants up to her knees or waist. There’s a decomposing tree trunk where scores of skinks and bugs live, birds nest under her carport and she regularly finds fawns sleeping in the safety of the high grasses.
AP AUDIO: Bored with manicured lawns, some homeowners adopt No Mow May all year long
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“I have a lot of insects and bugs and that’s protein, so the birds and the bird’s nests are everywhere. Cardinals and wrens and cowbirds and robins,” she said. “I wake up to them, especially during spring migration right now. It’s just a cacophony in the morning and in the evening, especially when the mulberries come in.”
The movement is popularized by groups such as Plantlife, a conservation group based mostly in England.
American lawns, based mostly on English and French traditions, are more and more seen as a wasteful monoculture that encourages an overuse of pesticides, fertilizer and water. Outside spraying and irrigation account for over 30% of a U.S. family’s whole water consumption, and may be twice that in drier climates, in accordance with the EPA.
Amanda Beltranmini Healen grabs a mulberry from her yard in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Could 19, 2025, the place she participates in No Mow Months to enhance water retention and encourage pollinators. (AP Picture/Kristin M. Corridor)
Some criticize No Mow campaigns as a fad that could invite invasive plants to spread unchecked without helping pollinators much, if only done for a month.
A guide outlining No Mow execs, cons and limitations, written by client horticulture extension specialist Aaron Steil on the College of Iowa, says lowering mowing to each two weeks and changing turf with vegetation that pollinate all yr lengthy can supply extra advantages with out risking a quotation or complaints.
The No Mow effort does encourage folks to suppose extra about biodiversity of their yards, and lots of native nature organizations advise present steering on selecting noninvasive vegetation that match every area’s local weather and precipitation ranges.
Decreasing mowing encourages longer-rooted native grasses and flowers to develop, which breaks up compacted soil and improves drainage, “which means that when it rains, extra water goes to be captured and saved in lawns versus being generated as a runoff and getting into into our stormwater system,” stated Jason Sprouls, city waters program supervisor for the Cumberland River Compact.
Beltranmini Healen isn’t simply letting simply something develop — she discovered which vegetation are invasive, non-native or not useful to the ecosystem and punctiliously prunes and weeds so the keepers have room to thrive.
Nashville house owner Brandon Griffith stated he was simply uninterested in mowing when he determined years in the past wait and see what comes up. Then he consciously added flowering vegetation to draw bees and bugs. Now he sees so many bugs and pollinators throughout his backyard that the neighbors’ youngsters come over to search for butterflies.
It’s about giving them the time “to come back out of their larva or their egg stage and be capable to develop,” stated Griffith. He stated he’s by no means heard a criticism — in reality, a few of his neighbors additionally stopped mowing for a month every spring. His four-year-old son catches lizards, digs for worms and hunts for bugs within the yard.
“I simply take pleasure in popping out and strolling round,” stated Griffith. “And it, it’s sort of peaceable. It’s kinda enjoyable.”