Every spring, when the grass begins to grow, the property owner is faced with a choice: mow the lawn and keep everything tidy, or leave it be … for the bees. For many the choice is simple, but I imagine that mowing is generally the choice that is made. I have attempted the “No Mow May” idea and have felt both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat as a result.
The victory comes when you start to see plants other than grass begin to thrive and bloom. The agony comes in June when the grass is so tall that mowing becomes a major undertaking with somewhat unattractive results. It turns out that grass looks best when it is short and it can appear ragged and moth-eaten if it is mowed after it grows too tall. Last year I let the grass grow too long and paid the price. This year, I am adopting a variation of the “No Mow” model that I am calling “Low Mow.”
While I still cut the grass, I am being much more deliberate in my efforts to leave flowers for the pollinators. Instead of mowing the entire yard in one day, I have been following a mowing rotation that hits some areas, while leaving others to grow for a while. I’ve also found several patches of particularly attractive wildflowers that I simply mow around. The result is a yard that looks relatively neat, but with a few patches of long grass that appear to have been accidentally missed by an inattentive groundskeeper.
One of the springtime plants that I find difficult to injure is the wild strawberry. The small, nickel-sized flowers can become so numerous in certain places that I simply have to let them be. The five snow-white petals surround a golden center that contains so much intricate detail in the form of stamens and a berry-shaped “receptacle,” which is covered with pistils. The stamens produce pollen and each of the pistils will produce a small seed that is surrounded by (but on the surface of) the receptacle, which swells to become the red fleshy part of the strawberry fruit.
This is a plant that uses two types of reproduction every year. The first is sexual reproduction, which generates new combinations of genes and, thus, genetic variation within the species. The products of sexual reproduction are embryos that are encased in little life support capsules that we call seeds. These seeds are then surrounded by a fleshy fruit that is rich in sugars. This attracts the attention of many different animals, but birds are probably what the strawberry plant is hoping for. Birds swallow the berries whole and digest the sugary fruit without injuring the seeds themselves. Later, the processed material is ejected and the seeds fall to the ground in a new place. This process allows the strawberry population to spread to new locations.
The second type of reproduction is asexual, which generates a larger plant that can grow into separate versions of itself. Strawberry plants use runners (also called “stolons”) to expand themselves out over the surface of the ground. These runners will attach themselves to the ground, put down roots, and grow into new plants. Wild black raspberries do the same sort of thing, but their long, thorn-covered stems grow upwards until they become so heavy that they arch back down to the ground and take root. If the original stems are damaged, then you have two separate plants that are genetically identical. This is a good strategy because the plant expands in an area that has proven itself capable of supporting the species. This is one reason that berry plants tend to grow in patches.
I’ve been giving preferential treatment to wild strawberries for years and the edges of my lawn areas are positively brimming with these gorgeous flowers. In some places where the plants do get mowed, the plants respond by putting up a new set of flowers that bloom close to the ground, below the reach of the mower blades. These flowers are then able to do their thing without any further danger of being cut down.
Ultimately, the goal is to allow the flowers to turn into fruits. I have been fairly successful with this goal, but it can be very difficult to find any of the small berries before the birds can get to them. Once, last summer, I found a perfect berry and decided to eat it myself. It was delicious, but it was so small that I could have filled my hand with dozens of them. This would present a problem for anyone who wanted to make strawberry preserves, or a strawberry pie, but this issue was solved in 1750 by botanists looking for larger fruit.
The North American species Fragaria virginiana was crossed with Fragaria chiloensis, which is a close relative from Chile. The resulting hybrid plants are now known as the garden strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa), which is the one that you find in the produce department, jams, jellies, preserves and pies. Humans find these fruits to be so delicious that there continues to be tremendous tinkering with the plant genetics. The result is a wide variety of shapes, colors and specific flavors for us to enjoy.
You may have some of these jewels hiding in the tall grass at the edge of your yard. If so, consider leaving one small area untouched so the plants can go through the full process of sexual reproduction. If you get down to their level, the flowers of the wild strawberry are absolutely gorgeous. Once the petals fall away you can see the receptacle that will eventually develop into a delicious, red berry. If you want to taste one, however, you will have to be vigilant. Birds love strawberries just as much as you do.
Bill Danielson has been a professional writer and nature photographer for 28 years. He has worked for the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, the Nature Conservancy and the Massachusetts State Parks and he currently teaches high school biology and physics. For more information visit www.speakingofnature.com, Speaking of Nature on Facebook, or the Speaking of Nature Podcast.