[E. Pluribus Unum]

Over the past few years I have let a five-foot strip on one side of our backyard grow up into whatever it wanted. I drew the line at pokeweed though, which was growing like crazy, since it's poisonous and our dogs will eat anything.

A couple of weeks ago I forgot about meaning to leave it wild and weed wacked it. After I was done I saw a pair of birds flying up and down between the fence and the ground. Evidently I had destroyed their nest without meaning to. I didn't recognize them and looked them up and I learned they were hermit thrushes and are ground nesters.

I feel really bad about it. I knew the rabbits liked it in there, but I didn't think of ground nesting birds.

[cgbg]

Homeowners associations go insane over this stuff.

It would be a great prank to post this on their common area club-house walls.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I keep a couple of brush piles for Gambel’s quail nesting. Should be at least one brood hatching any day now. Last year we had a quail hatch four chicks in a potted plant on our porch.

[Bernard]

The people in the house next to me have been doing this for years. They cut the grass 3 or 4 times a year, whether it needs it or not.

Of course, their house is also a mess. I wonder if the next owners will live like that as well, or maybe they will try to look like owners and not renters.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I like to keep the front area neat but in the back are a couple of acres left for wild growth. The rest is under cultivation.

[VTenigma]

If I don’t mow my place the mosquitos and deerflies will carry me off.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

When we know better, we do better.

It happens to the best of us. Beau does a LOT of pasture mowing as a sideline for other local farmers. He’s still reeling from mowing over a nesting wild Mama Turkey and the occasional spring fawn. :(

However, I DRAW THE LINE at any RATS in the barn, or any CHIPMUNKS (no matter how CUTE!) messing with my plants in the greenhouse.

So glad to learn you’re a Nature Freak like me. ;)

[turfmann]

Believe it or not, this is my point of expertise and I can tell you without reservation that the entire concept is bunk.

It’s British in origin but was initiated in the states in Wisconsin by a couple of an academic’s who published a paper claiming if you left your lawn for the entire month it was a boon to pollinators.

Problem is that the paper was bunk. It was so bad it was withdrawn.

Other researchers - ethical ones - looked at the issue and concluded that mowing every other week in May was far more beneficial for pollinators.

Crazy, right?

[dfwgator]

We’ve got a nest just outside of our front door, they built the next on one of our gutters.

The birds have become a part of our family, LOL, we’re constantly checking on them.

[CatOwner]

This should be done with native perennials, as many pollinators over-winter in the old growth and the debris. But good luck getting that past any HOA here in Central Texas, at least in the front yard.

[Fledermaus]

Well, it’s Nashville. I don’t think they care down here in Franklin.

[Recompennation]

Or you could spoof proof the yard by killing all the grass and sweeping the dirt clean with a broom. No mow bro yard.
Throw in a few car tires buried half in the ground painted white.
Light off a few old rags in a barrel and let em smolder with a sprinkle of sulfur to boot.
A stew pot hanging over an open fire cooking up some food
Hang a tire on a rope for a swing.
Slack lime the ground under the house and out house too.
Old timey doings.

[Dr. Franklin]

Years ago, I read a story about a woman who planted edible plants all through her yard and had no grass. When she went on vacation the township hired someone to remove everything because they thought it was overgrown. I think she got a nice settlement for violating her civil rights because what she planted wasn’t grass, but her garden. That kind of frugality is not very popular with the lawn crowd. Cutting grass is expensive and time consuming. Not everyone wants a lawn or to pay for it.

[MachIV]

Wait too long to mow and you’ll need a 3020 John Deere and a Woods bushhog just to get it under control again.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

That might be what a lot of folks in my town are doing. Or, it could have something to do with the creeping Gary, Indiana-like ambiance that started a few years back.

[chrisser]

I’m having a no-mow May. Mostly because it’s rained so damn much this season I haven’t had enough dry days to cut. And the grass is growing like gangbusters.

We live in the woods. I find that keeping the grass short around the house severely discourages critters from crossing the lawn into the house - particularly mice.

My theory is they feel vulnerable when they can’t hide themselves in the grass and they stay in the woods where they belong. I cut it as low as the mower will practically go.

[metmom]

The stuff growing in suburban lawns are not wildflowers. They're weeds. And look like it.

When people hear *wildflower* they think this....

What they're getting with unmowed suburban lawns is this...