RHS experts shared their advice to encourage wildflowers and support pollinators in your garden
A lawn bursting with flowers isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but plenty of gardeners love nothing more than a green space packed with blooms, or dedicate a specific patch to wildflowers to draw in vital pollinators. Yet there’s one common error that could be stopping flowers from taking hold in your grass.
Lawn specialists at the RHS have recommended steering clear of overmowing during spring if you’re keen to encourage wildflowers to flourish. They even suggest holding off until summer before resuming any regular mowing schedule. The experts explained: “With a conventional lawn, mow once a fortnight or once a week, depending on growth.
“For a flower-rich lawn or wildflower meadow, leave uncut in spring to provide much-needed support to pollinators and a welcome break from mowing.”
While you might be tempted to get the mower out a couple of times in April, the specialists advise giving it a complete rest in May, referring to it as “no mow May”.
As the title implies, this simply means putting the mower away for the entire month, allowing any wild plants already established in your garden to grow freely and burst into flower. You can choose to leave your whole lawn untouched, or simply set aside a dedicated section for wildflowers.
Come June, you can resume fortnightly mowing, or hold off even longer should you prefer.
No Mow May was launched in 2019 by UK-based conservation charity Plantlife, to help tackle the devastating loss of flower-rich meadows — 97% of which have disappeared since the 1930s.
Urging gardeners to leave their lawnmowers in the shed this May, Plantlife campaigners say: “No Mow May is one of the easiest ways to help the environment – letting wildflowers like daisies, dandelions and clovers grow while supporting bees and butterflies. (even small wild patches add up to make a huge difference to nature.)”
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