InnisfilToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to 'No Mow May? Yeah, maybe not in Ontario, says grass expert,' published April 29.
I am so disappointed and concerned by the number of people and municipalities promoting "No Mow May," and I wish that experts were consulted before such policies were implemented.
"No Mow May" is not the right thing to do in Ontario.
Dandelions are not native to Ontario and do not provide high-quality pollen to our pollinators. Allowing them to grow unchecked puts further pressure on our native spring flowering plants, which provide better pollen sources to our native bees and pollinators.
Honeybees may like dandelions, but honeybees are not native, either, and thus encouraging populations of honeybees, which can forage for food up to two kilometres from their hives, puts added pressure on our native bee species, many of which can't forage much past the limits of our yards.
Keep the pressure on dandelions and keep their populations in check. By not doing so, you make others use even larger amounts of herbicides in order to keep their precious turf looking 'perfect', and these herbicides kill our pollinators.
Mow your lawn to keep the dandelion population in check, and plant native flowering plants to help our native bees. Here is a good source of information.
Karen Heisz
Barrie