No Mow May is a conservation campaign encouraging homeowners to skip mowing their lawns to support early to mid-season pollinators by allowing lawn flowers like dandelions and clover to bloom. Mix in more flowers like California poppy, yarrow, and lupine for a full meadow effect!

For mowing beyond spring, consider a taller setting or reducing how often you mow. If you’re going to mow your lawn anyway ‘cause that’s your style, then take care around trees. Most trees have roots close to the surface that are easily nicked and injured when grazed by lawnmowers. Best to create a plant bed around the tree and plant shallow-rooted ground cover or shrubs. Better yet, plant native plants well-suited to the sun exposure and soil moisture conditions around your tree. Instead of mowing, sit back, relax and enjoy your lush habitat.

Have you ever seen so many miner bees on a street corner? There are 500-800 different native bee species in the Northwest. If they look different than the European honeybees that kids draw in grade school, they are probably a native bee. Native bees are often solitary, they don’t have a hive but tend to find the good nesting sites together. Two-thirds of native bees nest in the ground like these miner bees. They dig a pencil-sized hole in a small patch of clay-heavy soil and lay their eggs. Then they leave a pollen ball for each baby bee, and fly away. The other third of NW native bees find nesting holes in flower stalks and other tubular structures. Mason bees get creative, and plug up nest holes with mud to keep their eggs safe. You can protect ground nests by leaving the entrance clear of debris and avoiding pesticides. Stand by a native flowering shrub on a sunny, calm day and note how many different kinds of pollinators you see!

Like beauty, a weed
is defined by the viewer.
Your weed is my food.

Know a plant's true name 
before you pull or eat it.
Get to know strangers.

A note on bare soil, 
plant it soon or nature will. 
It’s you or the weeds.

To transplant or not?
If it’s happy leave it be,
if not then move it.

We are gardeners,
relax into your nature.
Planting brings us home.

Spring bursts with energy, flowers and leaves form out of thin air. The birds sing loudly and then quiet as they tend to their secret nests. The days grow long and so do my to-do lists.

It’s time to transplant the rosemary in my yard who needs more sunlight, and the snowberry who needs less. Best to move them on a rainy day, early in the season, but on rainy days I find myself curled on my couch looking out the window. Sunny days find me lost in my Oregon grape and red-flowering currant blooms, admiring all the different species of bees.

My work at a plant nursery means I’m always coming home with more plants. Best to get native plants in the ground now so they have time to root before the summer heat - but I just don’t feel like tending to my garden yet. My to-do list exceeds my energy this spring.

Today, looking out my window I noticed 3 small birds plucking seeds off the numerous dandelion puffs in my front yard. Golden crowned sparrows watch me from atop piles of sticks I have saved for beneficial insect nesting habitat. It occurs to me that less of me right now in this critical season of growth, is more for birds and insects. Birds need all the energy they can get for their babies, they are scrambling for high-value protein snacks like caterpillars and other insects. I will get outside to weed, prune and plant soon enough. I give myself permission to pause.