Bee Lawn

By Andrew Hollman and Kristine Moncada

We often get questions about which grass to buy for a home lawn. There are several different options for cool-season turfgrasses grown in Minnesota; which you choose will depend on your site, how you use your lawn, how much maintenance you want to do, and maybe even aesthetics.  

Interested in learning how to make a lawn more desirable to pollinators? This workshop will cover everything you need to know about growing and maintaining a bee lawn.

By Kristine Moncada

A common question we get about planting bee lawns is whether or not it will lead to an increased chance of getting stung. As my background is in plants and not insect behavior, I often struggle with how to answer this question; after all, the point of a bee lawn is to attract bees and some bees can sting people. Ultimately, the answer is, while the chance of getting stung is not zero, it is unlikely. Let’s learn a little more about bees and wasps to know why this is the case.

By Gary Deters

In 2023, with help from the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, we redesigned our Minnesota State Fair exhibit space in the Agriculture Horticulture Building. This redesign required a lot of thought and planning to update the display’s function to better educate fairgoers on lawn care and water use (Figure 1). Although the State Fair is months away, we have already begun planning for our annual exhibit in late August.

By Andrew Hollman

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. Eric Watkins was interviewed for an article in Better Homes & Gardens. Read What Is a Bee Lawn? Plus How to Plant One by Anne Readel to learn about planting and maintaining a bee lawn.

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. Turfgrass Extension Educator Jon Trappe was featured in a local news segment.

Watch New research has scientists rethinking the popular No Mow May idea from a Kare 11 broadcast on April 27, 2023!

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. Turfgrass Extension Educator Jon Trappe wrote a blog post for Yard and Garden News and has been featured in a video presentation with the UMN Bee Lab!

By Andrew Hollman

Although up to recently there was still snow on the ground, clear days with abundant sunshine bring hope of new growth on the vegetation in our landscapes and memories of warmer days.

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. An article on bee lawns for Sierra, the magazine for the Sierra Club, features comments from Eric Watkins.

See Inside the Rise of Bee Lawns by Anne Readel on the Sierra Club website for the full article!