white clover

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 Paige Boyle

For many years, white clover (Trifolium repens) has been the go-to for adding flowering resources into lawns, and with good reason. White clover is a perennial, has a broad geographic range, can grow in both warm- and cool-season lawns, handles mowing well, and produces an abundance of flowers to provide pollinator forage (both pollen and nectar) in bee lawns. As a bonus, because white clover is a legume, it also adds nitrogen into the soil, resulting in less need for fertilizer applications. But are there other clover options for use in home lawns?