Bee Lawns in Minnesota: Research Impacting Policy

Abstract

Scientific research results can occasionally capture the public imagination, resulting in people who want to adopt new practices based on that research; eventually this can even lead to policy changes in their locales. Intentionally planting flowering species into lawns, which in Minnesota are called bee lawns, has been a growing research topic in recent years. At the University of Minnesota, research on bee lawns started over 10 years ago and was a unique multidisciplinary effort that included turfgrass scientists, entomologists, and social scientists. As a result of this work, commercial bee lawn seed mixtures have been developed based on the plant species studied and are now a widely available and popular lawn option for consumers. The bee lawn work also led to the inclusion of bee lawns in the Lawns to Legumes program, a state of Minnesota initiative that provides rebates for those who convert part of their properties to pollinator habitat. This program would have most likely not have supported a lawn component at all if it were not for the bee lawn research. In fact, the current program promotes plants native to Minnesota almost exclusively, which would automatically exclude the most commonly used cool-season turfgrasses. Currently, the fine fescue turfgrasses (Festuca spp.) and the bee lawn mixture forb species including self-heal (Prunella vulgaris), creeping thyme (Thymus praecox ssp. arcticus) and white clover (Trifolium repens), are among the few non-native exceptions in the program. We summarize the history of bee lawn research and the impacts it has since had on public policy in Minnesota. We also address what the future may hold as far as research and policy are concerned.