The Dandelion Challenge or “Défi pissenlit”, is an initiative carried out in the province of Quebec since 2021 by a couple of beekeepers who own Miel&Co. This campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of pollinating insects. Each spring, cities and citizens of Quebec are invited to delay the mowing of their lawns in order to offer nectar and pollen to bees thanks to the dandelions naturally present in our lawns. This idea was very successful in Quebec in 2022. But the larger goal is to create pollinator-friendly habitats in urban areas by accepting flowering lawns rather than monocultures of Kentucky bluegrass that are still too often treated with fertilizers and pesticides to meet uniformity standards.
Not Mowing the Lawn for a Month?
However, in the aftermath, some media outlets and many people associated this campaign with “NO MOW MAY”: a conservation initiative launched around 2018 by Plantlive, a British-based organization. The idea has begun to spread to the U.S. since 2020 with the same slogan: “no mowing in May.” It’s a laudable goal, but… if you don’t mow your lawn for the entire month of May, it can grow up to a foot tall! It will then be very difficult to mow the lawn and it may be necessary to rent appropriate equipment such as a brushcutter.
Mowing too far apart or too drastically can have negative effects: it will cause shock to the grass and decrease the density of the lawn at a time when a drought can occur any day. And all those grass clippings will have to be collected if you don’t want to smother the lawn with clippings. Also, dandelions bloom later in some areas of Quebec such as the Gaspé Peninsula. For all these reasons, I believe it is important to clarify this project.
Hard to cut the grass after a month! And the grass will have to be picked up.
More Like: Delaying Mowing
In fact, the young couple who started this campaign in Quebec suggest delaying or raising the height of mowing when the dandelions are in bloom, so there is no need to suspend mowing throughout the whole month of May. Last year, this practice caused problems in some municipalities that did not have the staff or equipment to mow a lawn that had become a meadow! Some cities have taken the opportunity to stop mowing certain areas where no one is walking and they have become permanent grasslands.
There’s nothing to stop you from turning part of your lawn into a more natural space where you might see wildflowers like hawkweed, buttercups or forget-me-nots appear if they’re already around, but don’t expect to get a beautiful flower meadow just by stopping mowing your lawn. It takes a little more preparation (see my wildflower meadow article).
A Beautiful Lawn Is Important, but Why Not One With Flowers All Summer Long?
Let’s face it, regularly mowed lawns play an important role in our family and social life, as we all need spaces to relax and play safely. A well-maintained lawn is resistant to foot traffic and drought. The most important thing is not to cut it too short (not less than 3 inches or 8 cm) and if it falls dormant during a heat wave, rest assured that it will come back to life with the return of rain.
But a beautiful lawn does not mean it should be a monoculture. If this is your case, you can introduce biodiversity with species that tolerate regular cutting and that bloom for most of the summer, such as white clover, thyme, wild strawberry, birdsfoot trefoil, sloe, violets, etc. And if you need to redo or install a new lawn, you should know that there is now rolls of sod with clover or other plants mixed in. Find out more!
Let’s Attract All the Pollinators!
Bees need pollen and nectar all summer long, not just in May. They will benefit from the contribution of all of us to resist pollution and climate change. Honeybees are important of course, but did you know that there are over 860 species of wild bees in Canada? These do not produce honey and most do not sting, but they are very effective at pollination as well. Consider planting native species to attract them, as some are very specific. Also consider butterflies, such as the monarch butterfly, which needs our native milkweed to reproduce. Other species, like bumblebees, need flowers very early in the season and these are trees like willows and maples that bloom early or shrubs like serviceberry, elderberry and viburnum.
In short, the Dandelion Challenge is a great ecological initiative to make us aware of the importance of pollinators and to encourage us to create diversified landscapes and especially lawns that bloom throughout the year, not just in May.
For more information:
A garden for the rusty patched bumblebee, Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla, Ontario and Great Lakes edition, 2022;