No Mow March is Back for 2024

Your UF IFAS Extension office in the Northwest District would like you to continue your break from mowing. We invite you to support the 2024 No Mow March campaign by pledging to let your wildflowers grow for pollinators.  This can be throughout the yard or in one particular spot.  During March our turfgrasses are still waking up and many of the flowering wildflowers that are growing offer food to active pollinators.  We are seeing a wide variety of flowers including Toadflax, Common vetch, Lyre-leaved sage, White clover, Florida betony, and Blue violets to name a few.  Take Our Pledge for pollinators.

If you are required to mow the lawn by a Homeowner’s Association, consider a different gardening activity to support pollinators.  Container gardens are very attractive features in a landscape and you can select a wide variety of flowering perennials that pollinators enjoy.  Many herbs like chamomile also grow well in containers and have flowers visited by native bees.

Your traditional landscape design with trees and shrubs can offer flowers for pollinators too.  There are several native shrubs that bloom in March that would beautify any landscape.  Consider native azaleas, Walter’s viburnum, Red buckeye, or Virginia sweetspire.  If you need a low growing border perennial you might consider the native Woodland phlox or Blue eyed grass.

Finally be aware that many native pollinators have nesting activity that is different from the more commonly known honeybee. During March, we see the small dirt piles with a center hole of the native mining bees. These are in lawns, mulch areas, and fields.  These solitary bees make a small chamber to raise a few young bees that will emerge later in the year.  They are not aggressive and activity is seen for a few weeks. 

Whether you take a complete break from mowing or add some flowering plants to your March landscape, you can make a difference for pollinators.  Learn more about the Now Mow March campaign by visiting https://go.ufl.edu/nomowmarch and even consider joining our INaturalist No Mow March site to upload your plant and pollinator sightings.