Slow Mow-Let it Grow (No Mow May)

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Slow Mow-Let It Grow (previously No Mow May) is a pollinator conservation initiative that encourages reduced lawn mowing practices from the onset of Spring until temperatures are consistently above 50°F and the landscape is blooming. The goal of this practice is to provide early-season food and habitat resources for pollinators emerging in the spring, while decreasing carbon emissions associated with lawn care machinery. This is especially important in urban landscapes where these resources are often limited.

The City of Sun Prairie is excited to offer its residents the opportunity to participate in its 5-week long Slow Mow-Let it Grow program from 4/20-5/31. Registered participants will receive a free native plant!

Want to receive Slow Mow Let it Grow announcements and stay up to date with sustainability events, programs, and initiatives? Click here to sign up for our quarterly e-newsletter!

2026 Important Dates:

March 18: Slow Mow-Let it Grow registration opens for Sun Prairie residents. Click here to register!

April 1-30: Earth Month Events take place including a native rain garden and a pollinator water station workshop! Click here for event deatils!

April 20 - May 31: implement Slow Mow lawn care practices like delaying or reducing the frequency of mowing and/or mowing with a higher deck setting.

May 26: city-wide yard waste pickup date.

Quick Links:

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Questions?

Please reach out to Hannah Best, Sustainability Program Coordinator, at hbest@cityofsunprairie.com or Cindy Burtley, Parks & Forestry Director, at cburtley@cityofsunprairie.com.

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Slow Mow Name Change Infographic 2025 (1)

A Note on Rebranding

Rebranding No Mow May to Slow Mow-Let it Grow extends the once month-long program, which originally took place in May, to a 5-week program beginning in April. This allows the program to better align with the earlier onset of Spring temperatures and grass growth observed in South-Central Wisconsin. Expanding this program also aims to raise awareness around the importance of minimizing lawn mowing practices for the entire transition from Winter to late Spring. This allows time for pollinators to emerge from hibernation and forage early food sources that are abundant in lawns such as flowering grasses, dandelions, clover, and violets until Spring is in full bloom. While this program temporarily suspends the City Ordinance to maintain a lawn that does not exceed 8", benefits like emission reductions and increased pollinator foraging and habitat resources can continue all season long by reducing the frequency with which you mow.

Yard Signs & Stickers!

  • Returning Participants: Slow Mow-Let it Grow stickers to update yard signs from previous years will be available for pickup
  • New Participants: Slow Mow-Let it Grow yard signs will be available for pickup
  • Details will be emailed to regisetered participants

Sun Prairie Parks Participation

DocumentFawn pictured in the unmowed area of Sheehan park during the 2022 No Mow May program

Every year, select areas in a handful of Sun Prairie's parks participate in Slow Mow-Let it Grow. List of 2026 participating parks coming soon!

Participate as a Community Scientist

Interested in contributing to a community science initiative by collecting pollinator activity data in your own backyard? Slow Mow-Let it Grow registrants can participate as community scientists! All community science data is recorded using the WiBee smartphone app (Wisconsin Wild Bee app).

Residents who sign up to participate as community scientists will collect data according to the process listed below:

  1. Download the WiBee mobile app, complete the short training material, and take the short 2-minute quiz to get started. 
  2. Familiarize yourself with the six morphogroups you’ll be observing. 
  3. Choose two areas of your lawn to survey. One area will be mowed and the other will remain unmowed until your surveys are completed. 
  4. Start surveying your yard! Survey instructions.

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Citizen Observation & Plant Identification Guide

The Sun Prairie Parks, Recreation & Forestry department has developed this plant identification guide of common flowers found in Sun Prairie lawns that are visited by spring pollinators! This guide also includes photos of common invasive species that you'd want to remove from any unmowed portions of your lawn. 

If you see species in your lawn that you do not recognize and want help identifying, please snap a photo and send it to foresty@cityofsunprairie.com. A few tips on what we are looking for:

  • In the photo, please include the flower and at least one leaf to help with identification. 
  • Forestry staff may follow up with additional questions about the plant if needed to help with identification.


PRF Lawn Species ID Guide

Click this graphic to learn more about species commonly found in local lawns!

Is Slow Mow-Let it Grow Effective?


There is both scientific data as well as local data demonstrating the effectiveness of Slow Mow-Let it Grow in pollinator conservation. Multiple peer-reviewed scientific papers provide evidence of this practice being one of many initiatives that aids in pollinator conservation. Suggested scientific papers for reading:

Sun Prairie also collected local pollinator activity data through the Wisconsin Wild Bee app (WiBee app). This community science program is led by the UW-Madison Gratton Lab and allows Sun Prairie community members to observe and report pollinator data in their own yards.

According to Sun Prairie's 2023 data, pollinator diversity is higher in un-mowed lawns compared to mowed lawns. 

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In addition, our data suggests that visits to flower by wild bees are approximately twice as high in un-mowed lawns compared to mowed lawns.

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Interested in collecting pollinator activity data in your backyard? Sign up today to be a community scientist using the WiBee app and participate in our 2025 Slow Mow-Let it Grow program!


Slow Mow-Let it Grow in Sun Prairie

Sun Prairie piloted No Mow May for the 1st time in 2022. To learn more about that first-year effort, view the 2022 No Mow May Impact Report. 

In 2023, Sun Prairie piloted No Mow May once again and partnered with the American Geophysical Union, UniverCity Alliance, and UW-Madison Gratton Lab WiBee: The Wisconsin Wild Bee App – Wisconsin Pollinators – UW–Madison to provide additional community science and data collection efforts for this program.  In November of 2023, the Sun Prairie Common Council approved establishing No Mow May as an official annual program in Sun Prairie.

In 2024, Sun Prairie residents had the opportunity to participate as community scientists once again. View the 2024 Impact Report here.

In 2025, Sun Prairie Common Council approved updating the No Mow May Program to be called Slow Mow-Let it Grow, allowing for the program to begin as soon as warmer Spring temperatures arrive in April. View the 2025 Impact Report here.

Sun Prairie Slow Mow Let it Grow 2025.pdf (1)Click the map to view the 2025 Slow Mow Let it Grow participation locations

Per Bee City USA:

Lawns cover 40 million acres, or 2%, of land in the US, making them the single largest irrigated crop we grow. Lawns are mowed, raked, fertilized, weeded, chemically treated, and watered⁠—sucking up time, money, and other resources. Lawns provide little benefit to wildlife, and are often harmful. Grass-only lawns lack floral resources and nesting sites for bees and are often treated with pesticides that harm bees and other invertebrates.

When we think of habitat loss, we tend to imagine bulldozers and rutted dirt, but acres of manicured lawn are as much a loss of habitat as any development site. 

Re-thinking the American lawn can take a variety of forms from reducing mowing frequency or area mown to permanently converting lawn to a more diverse and natural landscape.

Why mow less in the spring?

The start of the growing season is a critical time for hungry, newly emerged native bees. Floral resources may be hard to find, especially in urban and suburban landscapes. By allowing it to grow longer, and letting flowers bloom, your lawn can provide nectar and pollen to help your bee neighbors thrive.

Mowing less creates habitat and can increase the abundance and diversity of wildlife including bees and other pollinators. One way to reduce mowing is by participating in No Mow April, No Mow May, or Low Mow Spring.

No Mow May - Bee City USA