“My Lawn Came Alive": A No Mow May Reflection
By Dianna Facci
An Interior Designer by trade in the Hospitality industry for over 25 years, Dianna Facci is also a ReWilder. Her love of gardening, growing her own organic vegetables, or just being among the native plants, birds and bees has always been her respite from the challenges of the day.
It is Dianna’s hope that more people become as passionate as she is by seeing their first butterfly in Spring, picking their first vegetable in Summer, reconciling the leaves in Fall as habitat for our precious pollinators and welcoming a garden’s rest in Winter.
“When we decided not to cut the grass in May of last year, our lawn suddenly became alive with visiting beneficial insects, bees and butterflies. By not mowing for one whole month, we saved time, energy and water.”
Dianna Facci, a Port Washington resident and rewilder, reflects on her personal observations of what happened when she stopped mowing for a month. Read Dianna’s experience and send us your own with pictures… Disaster or Revelation? You decide…
Dianna’s No Mow May lawn sign reads, “Please Excuse the Weeds, I’m Feeding the Bees!” (Dianna Facci/ReWild Long Island)
When we finally cut the grass at the end of May, many of those curious by this ReWilding “experiment” were surprisingly sad, as if something was lost and greatly missed... the wildflowers disappeared, the busy insect activity ceased and the windy day movement of tall grasses ended.
Our low-cut lawn seemed devoid of life.
When we decided not to cut the grass in May of last year, our lawn suddenly became alive with visiting beneficial insects, bees and butterflies. By not mowing for one whole month, we saved time, energy and water. This small step seemed to create a world of difference to our beneficial insects which are, unfortunately, dwindling.
The relaxed landscape around our home was liberating and demonstrated a way to help more by doing less! We began to feel more comfortable embracing a new way of seeing our lawn.
No Mow May also demonstrates an important visual to other neighboring towns and thereby, can expand our ReWilding movement. In other words, raising the height of the grass will be like raising our voice of awareness.
I am grateful for my precious May moment in time, knowing there’s another May ahead to make another difference.
And there’s nothing to fear, it’s only one month out of the year! I think people are hesitant to try No Mow May because they are concerned about the repercussions in their neighborhood regarding “unsightliness,” yet beauty can and always will, take many forms.
The expression, “ What will my neighbors think?” prevents us from taking the chance to make a difference.
Yet we must venture beyond that fearful mindset to something greater than ourselves. We must take the opportunity to create one small change .
Just let the grass grow for one month!
It’s that simple!
A sidewalk view of Dianna’s No Mow May lawn sign. (Dianna Facci/ReWild Long Island)
Lawn bursting with May life. (Diana Facci/ReWild Long Island)