As you finish up your lawn care for the winter, a UW Madison botanist says you might consider planting more than just turf next year.
Professor Paul Koch says a flowering lawn is a good way to help your environment. “That will incorporate plants like clovers and other plants that flower at low mowing heights and provide some food and nutrition for various types of native pollinators.”
Koch says just doing a “No Mow May” is not going to help bees and insects if your lawn has no flowers to help feed them.
“Clover is commonly seen in lawns oftentimes it’s thought of as a weed because it looks different than the grass. But those clovers have an association with bacteria that pulls nitrogen out of the atmosphere and self fertilizes your lawn.”
There’s research and resources available at the University of Minnesota to get your lawn bee friendly.
Online: https://extension.umn.edu/landscape-design/planting-and-maintaining-bee-lawn