The Rise of Bee Lawns

It began with an unlikely collaboration.  Marla Spivak, a bee biologist, and Eric Watkins, a turfgrass scientist, both at the University of Minnesota, asked how they could make the American lawn better for bees and more sustainable.  A decade later, their work created a “bee lawn” movement that’s sweeping the state of Minnesota and beyond.  

Through their research, Spivak and Watkins produced a novel bee lawn seed mix that combines white clover, self-heal, and creeping thyme flowers with fine fescue ("no mow") grass. Bee lawns attracted over 50 species of bees and supported a higher diversity of bees than lawns with clover alone.  Further, 97% of people surveyed supported installing bee lawns in local parks. This is good news for bees, which are facing catastrophic declines, in part, due to habitat loss. 

This story was published by Sierra and Better Homes & Gardens.