Posted on 05/22/2025 3:20:10 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — No Mow May encourages homeowners to stash the lawn mower each spring and let flowers and grass grow for pollinators and water retention. And if your neighbor’s lawn already looks like a wildflower field most of the time, it could be more intentional than passersby might assume.
The movement has expanded to “Let It Bloom June” and the fall version: “Leave the leaves.” Conservation and horticulture groups say year-round low-mowing while selectively leaving native plants to grow can save huge amounts of drinking water and lead to lasting and impactful ecological changes.
When Amanda Beltranmini Healen moved into her Nashville ranch house in 2016, the yard had been manicured for sale: a walnut tree, roses from a home improvement store and short grass. So she experimented, first with a 10-by-10-foot patch where she dug up the grass and sowed native seeds. Then she planted goldenrods in the culvert near the street, and let more of her yard grow tall without mowing.
Local authorities apparently didn’t appreciate her natural look: “I got a letter from the city saying that I had to mow it,” she said.
But then, a friend told her about No Mow Month signs, provided 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...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I live on the edge of an undeveloped woodland. No rats evident. Caught lots of squirrels, rabbits, possums, raccoons, red foxes, coyotes, turkeys and deer on my trail cams, but no rats.
Nor mice?
Rats aren’t trail cam creatures. Nor are voles.
I live in the middle of 30 acres with another 150 abutting
I have a small stream.i am about 30 minutes from ocean. I assume the rats come up from the ocean through the river and follow the tributaries and up the stream.
This makes no sense at all!!!
How does cutting that which needs pollinating assist pollinators that need pollen?
Please show or refer me to your source. I have done a lot of studying of Texas wildlife and native plants and I have never seen a recommendation like this.
BTW, I have 250 acres that is in the Texas wildlife program and to me that includes native plants. I am a practicing member of the Native Plant Society of Texas...
I purchased a heavy duty zero-turn “Bad Boy” mower today and a couple of hours ago took it on its maiden run. I had to do a lot of “zero turning” to miss the wildflowers setting their seeds... It will set idle until mid June when I will start mowing about a hundred acres to get rid of unwanted brush (Mesquite and such).
I can assure you, we have a fantastic display of wild flowers from March until late June most years... This year was terrible because of lack of rain last fall.
But for people that live in or near the woods, like we do many critters on are on our lawn. We’ve never seen a rat, but the mice, ground squirrels, skunks, raccoons, snakes, hordes of insects, deer, coyotes etc. Keeping the grass mowed removes the natural cover they hide in and thus keeps them farther away from home.
We cannot keep an outside cat. Within a month they will be a meal for some bird of prey or coyotes.
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