Choose NOT to mow your lawn to allow wildflowers to grow for the bees. Flowers in your yard can provide vital pollen and nectar for bees and other pollinators.
THE CHALLENGE: Choose NOT to mow your lawn for the month, allowing dandelions and other wildflowers to grow freely for the bees. Flowers in your yard can provide vital pollen and nectar for bees and other pollinators. Until summer hits, wildflowers are in low supply and our yards can provide a much-needed source for the bees to thrive.
COLOURING CONTEST: Get the kids involved – or demonstrate your own coloring abilities. Download the b&w poster or colouring page (or pick one up at the Local Store at 632 2nd Ave). Once colored in, put the poster in your window to tell your neighbors why you aren’t mowing your lawn for the month of May, or bring it to Local to be posted in the store window. Download the black and white colouring page or poster to put in your window to tell your neighbors why you aren’t mowing your lawn in May and enter the coloring contest
PHOTO CONTEST: Take a photo of your beautiful unmown lawn. Post your photo to Facebook or Instagram, using our unique hashtag #NoMowMayFernie2023 . Don’t forget to tag us! @elkvalleywildsight.
PRIZES: A total of $100 in prizes are available to win. Submit your colouring or photo entry by May 31st, 2022 to enter! Winners will be drawn on June 1st, 2022.
WHY STOP AT THE END OF MAY? Consider choosing areas of your lawn to let grow out all summer long or plant a pollinator garden. Bonus: Before May join 31st join the Every Flower Counts citizen action project to count the number of flowers growing in your lawn and check your nectar index.
DOES A NO MOW LAWN LOOK UNTIDY? Visit the Fernie Community EcoGarden throughout the year to explore what a No Mow Lawn looks like. The EcoGarden doesn’t mow in May. For the rest of the summer, the EcoGarden chooses to mow sections of the garden. You will see certain areas of the EcoGarden are not mown and kept wild, like the edges of the garden or along select fence lines. Here you will see red clover, white clover, self-heal and other naturalized plants flowering.
ARE DANDELIONS BAD? Dandelions are one of the earliest flowers for bees. Dandelions were originally brought to North America as food. Every part of a dandelion is edible and nutritious (as long as it is unsprayed). You will find that dandelions push to flower in the spring, once they bloom the plant does not continue blooming but instead puts its energy into its roots & leaves. The dandelion root helps bring up nutrients from deeper in the soil.
LEARN MORE: Join PlantLife to learn more and participate in their Every Flower Counts event after participating in No Mow May at https://www.plantlife.org.uk/everyflowercounts/. Like the EcoGarden and Wildsight Elk Valley Facebook and Instagram pages. Become a Wildsight Elk Valley branch lifetime member for just $20.
CLICK IMAGE BELOW TO DOWNLOAD PDF COLORING CONTEST FILE
