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.
Lyre-leaved sage, Florida betony, and White clover. Photo by Beth Bolles, UF IFAS Extension Escambia County.
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.
Native azaleas, Walter’s viburnum, and Red buckeye. Photos by Beth Bolles, UF IFAS Extension Escambia County.
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.
Centipedegrass is a low maintenance turfgrass for North Florida landscapes. Scientists from Georgia also found an added benefit when the grass is in flower. Learn about the specific insects found visiting the flowers of centipedegrass.
Homeowners may consider growing Frogfruit, Phyla nodiflora as a companion plant in turf areas. Learn the qualities of this groundcover with UF IFAS Extension Escambia County.
Do you enjoy a tasty bowl of fruit in the morning? Or maybe a hot steaming cup of coffee? If the answer is yes, then raise (or tip) your hat to our pollinators. About 75% of food crops depend on pollination to some extent, but pollinators provide the bulk of the pollination for over 80% of the world’s flowering plants. A pollinator can be birds, bats, or even small mammals but, insects such as ants, bees, beetles, wasps, butterflies, and moths do the bulk of the pollination that affects our daily lives.
Plants normally benefits from attracting a particular type of pollinator to their flowers, ensuring transfer and hopefully resulting in reproduction. The pollinator benefits from its adaptation of a particular flower with different traits to access nectar and pollen. These floral traits include odor, color, size, flower shape, reward type, amount, nectar composition, and timing of flowering. This plant pollinator interaction is known as pollination syndrome.
Did you know –
That tubular red flowers with a lot of nectar often attract birds.
Also, foul smelling flowers attract carrion flies or beetles.
Butterflies and moths can help spread pollen; however, they don’t have any specialized structures for collecting pollen.
Beetles pollinate more than 80% of all flowers – clusters of flowers are ideal because beetles are clumsy fliers.
While bees are drawn to plants on the blue, white, purple, and yellow color spectrum. Bees possessing hairs and other specialized anatomical structures that can readily collect and transfer pollen, making them an important plant pollinator. However, the honey bee, (Apis spp.) is the world’s top pollinator and is responsible for one-third of what we eat, yet they are just a small representative of all the bee species.
UF/IFAS Photo: Rodger Evans
FAMU/UF/IFAS Photo: Donna Arnold
Did you Know-
Everyone can contribute to pollinators by creating a home garden. Pollinators will make use of food and habitat anywhere it is found – roadsides, open fields, pastures, backyard flower gardens etc. One can be pollinator friendly by doing any of the activities below:
Plant an assortment of plants – varying in color, size and type to support a greater number and diversity of pollinators.
Plant nativeplants – as they are considered the best choice due to their abundance of nectar and pollen, among other benefits.
Use little or no pesticides – instead maintain a sustainable garden with the suitable plant species that will support natural beneficial insects—reducing the need for pest control.
Educate– others about the importance of pollinators.
Seasonal planting – Choose pollinator plants that bloom in spring, summer, and fall. Timing is crucial – plant flowers in clumps that bloom in early spring (emerging winter hibernation) and late summer (preparing for hibernation) so bees have adequate food supply.
Provide habitat or installbat boxes. Bats play a vital role in pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds.
UF/IFAS Photo: Tyler Jones
Helpful Hint: Did you know dandelions are the first food for bees emerging in the spring. Leave them in your yard and feed the bees!
Need an excuse to not mow your lawn this month? UF/IFAS Extension agents in the Florida Panhandle are asking residents to skip their soon-to-be-weekly outdoor chore until the calendar flips to April.
The idea for “No Mow March” is borrowed from “No Mow May,” a concept begun in the United Kingdom that has now spread to northern parts of the United States.
“Obviously, our lawns are growing way too quickly by the time May rolls around,” said Beth Bolles, UF/IFAS Escambia County horticulture agent who is leading the pilot effort this year. “Here in North Florida, March is our transition period, when grass is exiting dormancy. But it’s also when pollinators are starting to become more active, so it’s the perfect time to celebrate them and promote their health and habitat.”
Bolles is quick to point out, though, that the month is about more than just turf.
“We recognize that some communities have rules to follow regarding their lawns,” she said. “There are other things you can do to encourage pollinators to visit, whether it’s container plants or adding new shrubs or pollinator houses. We encourage everyone to find their own way to participate.”
The first step in participating is to sign the pledge at go.ufl.edu/NoMowMarch. Visitors can also use the website to find virtual or in-person events geared to the topic, learn tips for adhering to homeowners association guidelines while still promoting pollinators, and record observations to a No Mow group on iNaturalist.
