In Hudson, how ‘No Mow May’ turned into ‘Slow Mow Summer’

In 2016, Dr. Danielle Vogler-Bos — then a student — won a Project SPARK competition for her ideas on how to make Hudson a better place. Her winning concept at the time, The BEE Project, aimed to manage declining bee populations in the area. 

Vogler-Bos, with Hudson Daybreak Rotary Club, is still helping bees in Hudson. Only now, she helps organize a Rotary club initiative called Protecting Pollinators, a holistic approach that involves pollinator-friendly flowers in the garden and a less timely lawn mowing schedule in the summer, all in the name of helping bees, the food landscape and the environment writ large. 

To use food as an example, some scientists estimate that one out of every three bites of food stems from animal pollinators like bees, the United States Department of Agriculture reported. 

“It comes down to our food,” Vogler-Bos said, adding that bees produce “a lot of our loves that we enjoy as human beings, like coffee and chocolate.” 

Residents who want to join the cause can go to the Hudson Public Library, located at 700 First St., and pick up a sign alerting neighbors that they’re leaving the grass uncut for the “Protecting Pollinators” movement. 

As Vogler-Bos continues to help bees, the thinking on how to protect the insect has changed since she first set out. In 2022, the Hudson City Council approved a “No Mow May” measure that permitted residents to hold off on mowing their lawns for that month, suspending an ordinance that would otherwise penalize them for doing so.  

This year, however, Daybreak Rotary and other local groups have figured out that not mowing a lawn in May, then going back to a more conventional schedule, wasn’t the most effective strategy for protecting bees, which is how “No Mow May” turned into “Slow Mow Summer.”

The Environmental Awareness Committee, the Daybreak Rotary group tasked with leading the initiative, is asking residents to mow less on a rigid schedule and more when their lawns need it. Vogler-Bos gave a benchmark of 6 inches high for when lawns need mowing. Then, people can cut it down to, say, 4 or 4.5 inches. 

“And so, if you just focus in on May, you're missing different aspects for different pollinators, essentially,” Vogler-Bos said. “So the Protecting Pollinators project was to be on a larger scale so that more people could be involved in different ways.”

As part of that larger scale, the Rotary Club wants to plant certain flowers and phase out pesticides on lawns. The University of Minnesota suggests a “bee lawn,” a garden with turfgrasses mixed with flowers that could include Dutch White Clovers, Self-Heals, Creeping Thyme and other varieties. Bee lawn flowers grow at low heights, adapt to foot traffic and provide nectar and pollen during a perennial life cycle. 

The Star Tribune reported that some Twin Cities suburbs — including Rosemount, Roseville, New Brighton and Columbia Heights, Minn. — along with pro-pollinator organizations, are also pushing back on No Mow May after research emerged that suggested there are better ways to help pollinators. Like Daybreak Rotary, the University of Minnesota is recommending a "Slow Mow Summer."