Bee Lawns for Beginners: Turn your yard into a colorful, low-maintenance pollinator paradise!
- 20 hours ago
- 5 min read
As interest grows in supporting pollinators and addressing climate change, some homeowners are exploring bee lawns as an alternative to traditional turfgrass. Bee lawns include flowering plants that provide nectar for pollinators, providing important way stations for our insect allies. Bee lawns also come with several benefits to homeowners, including reduced maintenance and water requirements and vibrant seasonal color. If you’re thinking of doing a little planting for your local pollinators, read on to learn how to start your own bee lawn this fall or spring.
Selecting Plants for a Bee Lawn:
Ideal bee lawn plants are those that tend to grow low to the ground and are able to tolerate being mowed and occasionally stepped on. Most pollinator lawns include a mixture of flowering plants as well as turfgrasses like fine fescues and Kentucky bluegrass, which provide lushness and support.
Some well-studied flowering pollinator species for bee lawns include:
Dutch white clover (Trifolium repens): While not a native species, and often thought of as a weed, Dutch white clover is one of the most resilient and beneficial options for Minnesota bee lawns
self-heal (Prunella vulgaris ssp. lanceolata): A native plant that is highly adaptable and provides a pop of purple color
ground plum (Astragalus crassicarpus)
lanceleaf tickweed (Coreopsis lanceolata)
calico American aster (Symphyotrichum lateriflorum)
While creeping thyme (Thymus praecox) has historically been recommended for bee lawns, the University of Minnesota Extension has recently downgraded its star status, as creeping thyme seeds are in an ongoing shortage. That said, if you see creeping thyme in bee lawn mixes sold in stores, it certainly won’t hurt to include it.
Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) and common violets (Viola sororia) may already show up in your lawn each year. While they are considered weeds and may take over if left fully unchecked, you might consider leaving a few of them around as part of your overall pollinator portfolio.
Do note that it will be difficult to establish pollinator plants in areas already heavily populated with aggressive weeds like ground ivy, so you’ll want to remove as many weeds from the intended area as possible beforehand. While ground ivy does provide some benefit to pollinators, the aforementioned bee lawn species are far more beneficial and far less domineering.
Establishing a Bee Lawn:
Starting up a bee lawn can be tricky at first and will require some dedication as well as frequent watering, especially if done in the spring. But once established, bee lawns are quite resilient and worth the effort.
You can opt to start a bee lawn from scratch in an area with bare soil, or you can simply start overseeding bee lawn varieties into your existing turfgrass. If overseeding, start by mowing your turfgrass very short to give your bee lawn varieties some room to take root and receive sunlight.
Seed can be spread by hand or with a seed-spreading tool. A rough guideline is to use four to five pounds of seed for every 1,000 square feet you intend to cover, but be sure to consult the instructions for the specific seeds you purchase. After spreading seeds, lightly rake them into the soil to help them root and to stop birds from gobbling them up as an easy meal.
The best times to sow seed for a bee lawn are in late fall or early spring, avoiding the hot and dry summer months. It’s even perfectly viable to spread bee lawn seeds in November or December and skip watering them yourself, allowing the freezing and thawing cycles of winter to water and prepare the seeds to sprout in the spring automatically.
Choose a location that tends to see less foot traffic overall. While bee lawn plants can tolerate the occasional trampling, they don’t handle it as well as traditional lawns. Additionally, you may not want to attract bees to areas where you plan on spending a lot of time yourself. While the bees that are drawn to pollinator plants are typically very docile, they may not take kindly to being stepped on.
Bee lawn varieties prefer full or partial sun conditions, and they struggle to grow in heavily shaded areas. Soil type is less critical when it comes to bee lawns, but if you’re struggling to get your bee lawn up and running, consider getting a soil test from the University of Minnesota Soil Testing Laboratory.
It’s considered best practice to speak with your neighbors before establishing a bee lawn, as the plants you sow will likely try to spread to their property as well. The use of edging materials can help prevent this if your neighbors wish to stick with traditional turfgrass. An educational sign might help your neighbors understand your goals. The University of Minnesota’s Bee Lab has resources for printing your own bee lawn signs.
Check out the Dunning Park Pollinator Project on Marshall Avenue this spring for an example of what a bee lawn in the making looks like!
Bee Lawn Maintenance:
Once your bee lawn is established, you can expect to enjoy less frequent watering and mowing requirements. When first establishing your bee lawn, let it reach five to six inches in height before you mow it for the first time. For general mowing after that point you can let your bee lawn grow a little taller than your turfgrass (three inches or more), ensuring that your plants have time to flower. Generally, you’ll want to mow your bee lawn every two weeks or so, instead of weekly.
You shouldn’t need to water your bee lawn much, except in times of extended drought. Fertilizer is usually not needed for bee lawns and will likely favor turfgrass over flowering plants.
Be sure to weed your bee lawn as it's being established, and keep an eye out each year for invaders like ground ivy that can stifle your efforts. Avoid using common herbicides, as they will likely kill your bee lawn plants. If using fertilizer on your turfgrass lawn, be sure not to get any on your pollinator plants.
Adding even just a few pollinator patches to your lawn can reduce yearly maintenance, support hungry pollinators and add some lively color to your yard. Consider starting your own bee lawn this fall or spring!
Resources and Further Reading:
Author’s Bio:
Scott Lore is a member of the University of Minnesota’s Extension Master Gardener program. He lives in Saint Paul with his wife Sam and their two cats, Yoshi and Toph. Scott is passionate about nature, climate activism, photography, writing, music and tabletop games. His enthusiasm for gardening stems from a long-term goal of being able to sustainably grow his own food, cultivate native species and support pollinators to help our environment thrive.
