Come and be part of a global voice for wild plants and fungi
Plantlife’s No Mow May Movement is back for 2026 – help nature and let your lawn grow this May and beyond!
Over 25% of Britain’s native plants are threatened with extinction – your gift today could change that.
Will you help save endangered species?
Our corporate partners benefit from 35 years of experience in nature restoration so they can achieve real impact.
Become a Plantlife member today and together we will secure a world rich in plants and fungi
Read in: EnglishCymraeg
We know that No Mow May benefits biodiversity including our pollinators – but did you know that not mowing can also be a huge benefit to amphibians like frogs?
Here, Froglife joins us to give their top No Mow May top tips and insights, including how not mowing can help, what species to spot and where you might find them.
No Mow May encourages people to let grass grow and wildflowers bloom during May and beyond.
While best known for helping pollinators, it also creates important habitats for amphibians such as frogs, toads and newts, as well as reptiles like slow worms and grass snakes.
Amphibians depend on damp environments because their skin dries out easily. Short, regularly mown lawns can become hot and dry, making them unsuitable. Allowing grass to grow helps retain moisture and creates cooler, shaded conditions.
Longer grass also provides:
This makes gardens and green spaces safer places for reptiles and amphibians to feed, rest and move through.
Common species that benefit include:
You may even be lucky enough to see great crested newts!
Reptiles such as slow worms and grass snakes may also use longer grass for cover, hunting and temperature regulation.
Amphibians often breed in ponds, but, like reptiles, they spend much of their lives on land. Both species can be found in:
People without gardens can still support wildlife by encouraging less mowing in shared spaces or supporting local initiatives.
No Mow May and the wider Movement benefits whole ecosystems. Longer grass and wildflowers increase insect numbers, providing food for reptiles, amphibians, and other wildlife.
Healthier habitats also support pollinators, improve soil quality and create more balanced food webs. Reptiles and amphibians are good indicators of environmental health, so supporting them benefits a wide range of species.
Extending No Mow May into summer and beyond brings even greater benefits.
Different stages of amphibian and reptile life cycles depend on longer vegetation:
Maintaining a mix of habitats, long grass, shorter paths, and features like log piles, supports more wildlife than a neatly mown lawn.
No Mow May is a simple way to make gardens and shared spaces more wildlife-friendly. Continuing these practices beyond May helps create connected habitats across urban and rural areas.
Even small changes can make a difference, helping frogs, toads, newts snakes and lizards survive and thrive alongside people.
Plantlife’s No Mow Movement is here – let’s let it grow for nature! Pledge to take part today and get a FREE No Mow May guide.
It’s one of the easiest ways to connect with wildlife and the perfect way to start supporting nature in your garden (in May and beyond!).
We’re know that No Mow May benefits biodiversity and our pollinators – but did you know that not mowing can also be a huge benefit to amphibians like frogs?
It’s not just wildflowers which benefit from not mowing our lawns this May. Pollinators and other wildlife bring our gardens to life!
There are so many benefits to taking part in the No Mow Movement. From helping wildflowers and grasses to grow freely, providing food for pollinators, habitat for wildlife and helping to tackle the changing climate.
We're not the only ones who love all the benefits of No Mow May! Here, the Butterfly Conservation joins us to give their top 5 species to look out for in your No Mow Movement area.
As well as bringing back the bloom to our lawns, there are many ways you can get involved with No Mow May, even if you don’t have a garden.
Join us for a deep dive into your spring lawn and learn everything you need to know about how to prep for the best No Mo May!
It’s not just our wonderful wildflowers which benefit from not mowing our lawns this May – our pollinators, birds and wildlife flourish when we manage our lawns for nature!
Pollinators and other wildlife bring our gardens to life with buzzing and fluttering along our lawns, borders and hedges.
From bees to butterflies, and beetles to hoverflies, the wildflowers keep them thriving in our neighbourhoods. Here are just a handful of the species which you can spot in your garden this May and beyond.
And if you haven’t already, why not join the No Mow Movement and help pollinators from home.
The dappled pattern of the Speckled Wood is a sign that summer is on its way. With up to two generations of this sun-seeking butterfly being produced in a year, it’s crucial that its caterpillar food plants, long grasses such as False Brome Brachypodium sylvaticum, Cock’s-foot Dactylis glomerata and Yorkshire-fog Holcus lanatus are available. This is why leaving patches of long grass year around in your garden is so important!
Living up to its name, this bumblebee can be seen across the UK in spring with its vividly red tail. Bumblebees like this one rely on a plentiful supply of our wonderfully wild plants such as Red Clover Trifolium pratense and Dandelions Taraxacum officinale to supply them with nectar and pollen. These are food sources for the bees and their larvae – next year’s buzzing bumblebees!
See how many you can tick off in your No Mow May garden or green space. Or why not make a game on a nature walk?
The life cycle of this bright and boldly patterned moth (pictured in the heading) relies entirely on one of our sunniest wildflowers – the yellow Common Ragwort Senecio jacobaea. Its tiger-striped caterpillars munch on this unpalatable plant before pupating underground over winter, ready to emerge as moths and put on another dazzling show next year.
This deliciously named hoverfly is one of our easiest flies to spot, identified by its black and orange bands and mesmerising levitating flight. Despite being disguised as a wasp, this friendly pollinator relies solely on nectar from flat flower heads such as Common Ragwort Senecio jacobaea and Cow Parsley Anthriscus sylvestris.
Commonly known as the May Bug, these chunky red/orange beetles only live for 5-6 weeks. Despite their short lives above ground, females rely on grassy areas such as lawns to lay their eggs, where the larvae develop hidden deep underground for up to 5 years. Look out for them on warm evenings, perhaps bumping into your lit window!
We have led what is considered to be the very first translocation of an epiphytic moss in Scotland to help save the species.
We can’t wait to see your blooming wonderful communities this No Mow May!
There are so many benefits to taking part in the No Mow Movement.
From helping wildflowers and grasses to grow freely, providing food for pollinators, habitat for wildlife and helping to tackle the changing climate. Read on to find out how your wilder patch is helping.
The No Mow May campaign started, primarily because of the significant loss of species-rich grassland across the UK in the last century. With more than 23 million gardens in the UK, we saw an opportunity. If lawns and green spaces could be left to grow they could recreate pockets of mini meadows.
We’ve seen wildlife thriving in No Mow areas – from bees feeding on pollen, amphibians sheltering in the longer grass, mammals thriving in the new habitat and stunning wildflowers being allowed to bloom freely.
Also, it’s super easy to take part – sign up, stop mowing, sit back and let it grow!
Did you know a No Mow patch where the wildflowers and grasses have been allowed to grow in May and beyond can help combat climate change? Not to mention, these spaces can provide vital refuge for wildlife during our changing climate.
By mowing less, the number of grass and wildflower species gradually increase over time. This creates a more varied soil structure and more biomass in and above the soil. This helps to lock away more carbon than a plain grass lawn, that might only have a few species in total.
Many studies have also shown that an increase in plant diversity may greatly increase the amount of carbon that can be stored and the rate at which this happens. [1]
In fact, species-rich grasslands are very important carbon sinks. It’s not just peat bogs and woodlands that need protection for their role in tackling climate change.
It’s also important to remember that by simply mowing yes, you are also helping to do your bit for the environment. Now that you’re caring for your garden with nature in mind, you might only need to mow paths or play areas on a regular basis – rather than your whole garden.
This also saves time, so you can sit and admire the gently swaying grass and hear the hum of busy insects instead!
At the end of the summer, you can continue to mow your lawn as normal. However, you might find that the grass grows less vigorously year on year, requiring less time mowing in the long run too.
Leaving longer grass in your garden or green space can also help to cool larger urban areas. Grassy areas left to grow are crucial in an urban environment – not only for our wellbeing, but also for regulating local environmental temperatures.
Urban green spaces can help to cool cities and are also able to influence the surrounding area. This phenomenon is called the urban green space cooling effect [2]
If grasslands within green spaces (lawns, parks, playing fields etc) can also be managed to have more vegetation and a mix of grass lengths, these benefits can be increased.
A study in 2021 showed that increasing plant structural complexity and/or diversity (meadow areas, hedges etc) increases heat mitigation and habitat for invertebrate biodiversity compared with regularly mown lawns management. [3]
So, whilst you sit and relax amid your No Mow area, take a moment to think about the increased resilience your lawn now has when faced with our increasingly dry and hot summers.
The summer of 2025 was extremely hot and dry for most parts of the UK, particularly the east of England. Many lawns turned yellow-brown early in the season and were slow to recover.
However, anyone doing No Mow May into June and July would have found their grass was much healthier and still green at the base. These areas were noticeably cooler too, providing much needed shelter from the sun for many creatures, pets and humans alike!
To help tackle climate change from your garden or green space, pledge to take part in the No Mow Movement.
[1] G.B.De Deyn et al, 2010
[2] F. Aram et al, 2019
[3] X. W. Francoeur et al, 2021
We’re not the only ones who love all the benefits of No Mow May!
Here, the Butterfly Conservation joins us to give their top 5 species to look out for in your No Mow Movement area.
May has arrived and with it, sunshine, blooms and busy butterflies looking to complete their lifecycles.
Butterfly Conservation research shows that allowing patches of grass to grow long can boost butterfly numbers by up to 93%, so taking part in No Mow May, as well as things like planting sources of nectar and avoiding pesticides, can all help create a welcoming space for butterflies to thrive.
But which butterflies might you spot in your garden and local green spaces this month?
This beautifully patterned brown and cream butterfly flies from April to October and likes to bask in sunny spots.
It’s a fan of gardens and, if you’ve got a long lawn, you might also spot its vivid green caterpillars, which like to munch on grass.
The Orange-tip only flies for a short time between April and June, so May is an ideal time to get out and spot one. Look out for a flash of orange on the tip of the wings of the males (lending it its name) or a black tip for the females.
Orange-tips also have a beautiful speckled green pattern on their underwings which help to tell them apart from other white butterflies which fly at this time of year.
The Red Admiral is a familiar garden favourite that can be seen in almost any month of the year – even December!
It has striking, orange-red wings and a powerful flight which make it hard to miss but sometimes difficult to get a proper look at.
One of the UK’s most distinctive butterflies, the Peacock has bright and colourful wings with bold ‘eye-spots’ on them which it uses to ward off predators.
However, despite its showy upperwings, with its wings closed, it looks like a dead leaf – you’ll have to keep a careful eye out to spot it.
The Holly Blue is a small, powdery blue butterfly with a delicate flight.
In May, you might spot it flying high around bushes and trees, particularly Holly bushes, which it lays its eggs on in spring.
If you want to see a kaleidoscope of colour and life across the country this summer, then make sure you join Plantlife’s No Mow May movement!
As well as bringing back the blooms to our lawns, there are many ways you can get involved, even if you don’t have a garden.
Here are 6 ways you can spread the No Mow May love to your community and beyond, to make this year more vibrant than ever!
Creating a meadow is a really simple way to bring the local community together, whilst doing something positive for nature. So, what are community meadows? They are areas, predominantly of grassland, that are owned and managed by the community, such as parks, road verges, school grounds, village greens, church land or fields.
You don’t need to be an expert to start one – we’ve shared our tips for how to begin, what to plant, how to manage your green space year-round and how to engage the community.
Take a look at out guide
You may not have your own lawn or green space, but your neighbour or community might! If the 23 million garden owners of the UK joined forces for nature, it could transform the fortunes for our wild plants and the much-loved wildlife that depend on them.
Why not share our No Mow May resources with your neighbours and community? We’ve got posters, signs, pictures and social media cards which are a fantastic conversation starter – it could even be the start of a No Mow May street!
As well as a place to grow our curiosity, our educational spaces can be home to playing fields, verges and gardens which are ready to burst with life each spring. If your school isn’t taking part already, consider having a chat with staff to see if a space can be left for nature this year. As well as being a bonus for wildlife, why not use this as a fun learning opportunity to discover how many species you can spot?
Whether it’s parish, town or district council, reaching out to your local decision makers to promote wildlife-friendly management can make a big difference. Local support can really help to bring about change, whether that’s through a volunteer group or social media page. Check out our Good Meadows Guide for some convincing talking points or the Flowers on Roadside Verges Facebook group for some inspiration.
Our councils manage some of our most widely-used green spaces, no matter where you live. Ask your local councillor about your councils plans to provide a home for wildflowers and wildlife in May and beyond, and share their good work on social media.
If you have outdoor space but no lawn, don’t write off No Mow May just yet! Encourage wildlife to your garden with a pot or window box – what happens if you leave one with bare soil, perhaps local wild plants seed will find their way in. There are also native seed mixes you can sprinkle into pots which pollinators like bees and butterflies will go wild for!
Often the cornerstone of our communities, our places of worship can be a sanctuary for people and wildlife alike. See if your local church, mosque or other place of worship has a green space they can pledge for nature this No Mow May. Churchyards for example, are often excellent places for wildflower and wildlife that enjoy the undisturbed grasslands.
You’ve heard all about the No Mow Movement – but you’re not sure where to start?
Plantlife’s No Mow May gears up in spring, and every year it’s gaining more and more momentum – but if you’ve never taken part before, where do you start?
The journey is all up to you and it can be as simple or as green-fingered as you like.
So if you’re looking for some ideas to get you started, here’s some of our top tips to get you on your No Mow way.
Starting a new journey with your precious garden can be daunting, and we know that many people have lots of questions – from what happens when you stop mowing, to which flowers might pop-up.
So to help kick-start your journey, we’ve put together a handy guide with everything you need to know about the No Mow Movement – it’s the perfect place to get started.
The important thing is not to be intimidated and to give it a go – every wild patch can add up to huge gains for nature. And the aim is simple: to get people cutting less, for longer. So, whether you join us just for May or stick with it all season, it all makes a real difference.
Take part
It’s completely up to you how you prepare – you could just get to the first of the month and pack the mower away.
But there are a couple of things you could try to give your lawn the best chance of beautiful biodiversity:
That’s up to you – but we’d recommend pledging for No Mow May, flicking through your FREE guide (complete with wildflower ID), grabbing a cup of tea and basking in nature!
When May starts, the easy bit begins: sign up, stop mowing, sit back and let it grow.
May is a great month to get started, because that’s when most of our wonderful wild plants are getting going for the season. Giving them time to grow during this period gives them a good head start.
At this time of year, your garden can also become a haven for wildlife at a time when it is greatly needed.
We think of May as the starting point, a springboard for managing your lawn for nature year-round. If you can make a start in May, that’s brilliant.
But really, this is part of a much bigger movement of caring for your garden to help nature. The goal is to mow less for longer, and to manage our lawns like mini hay meadows.
By pledging to take part in the No Mow Movement, you’re joining a community of people all caring for their gardens and greenspaces with nature in mind. And the more grassy spaces helping wildlife, the better.
It’s very easy and takes just 2 minutes to pledge and get your FREE No Mow May guide.
Please pledge today (you can join at any time from March to June) and help us see how many people are helping nature by letting it grow.
You can just stop mowing and see what comes up – in fact, the plants growing in your garden can even give you a bit of a history lesson on what your garden might have been in a former life.
But if you want to give biodiversity a bit of a boost, there’s a simple trick – variety!
If you keep 2 to 3 different grass lengths throughout the summer, it can help maximise flower variety as well as the nectar they produce for our precious pollinators:
If you leave your lawn to do its thing, it’s going to look stunning no matter what comes through – nature is great like that.
Wildflowers are stunning and they’re certainly a favourite for our pollinators – but our gorgeous grasses often get left out of the spotlight.
When your grass is getting longer, take some time to sit out, watch the sun shining through the blades and the wind whisper through it.
Also, did you know that our native grasses are great for nature? Keep an eye out for the incredible Cock’s-foot Grass for example. It’s one of our tallest lawn grasses and can reach more than 1 metre. It provides pollen that honeybees love, caterpillars eat its leaves, finches feed on its seed and its tussocks provide safe places for nesting mammals and bees.
A rainbow of wildflowers in your lawn doesn’t just bring garden owners joy, but it is also the sign of a healthy and thriving garden.
Learn how to increase the number of wildflowers appearing in your lawn this year with our expert guidance.
Different flowers provide different resources for different wildlife species. Clover on a short flowering lawn provides a lifeline for bumblebees, long grasses provide an essential resource for butterflies and moths such as the Small Skipper, and Goldfinches are attracted to Knapweed when it sets seed.
But how do you increase the diversity of plants in your garden? Here are some tips from Plantlife’s wildflower experts to help you create a blooming bonanza!
They are some of the first lawn flowers to appear each year and provide much needed food to early bees and other pollinators when there is little else out in flower. Sparrows also enjoy feasting on their seeds as a tasty snack.
Known as nature’s meadow maker, Yellow Rattle, is the single most important plant you need when creating a wildflower meadow.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Yellow rattle, commonly known as the meadow maker, is one of the most important plants you need for a meadow. Without it, vigorous grasses can grow unchecked and smother flowers you want to encourage.
As Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor grows in a meadow the grass will become thinner, making room for plants like Oxeye Daisy, Knapweeds and Vetches to appear. And if you’re lucky, maybe even an orchid will pop up.
Then large bees, especially bumblebees, move in and pollinate the flowers of yellow rattle and it’s large seed pods dry and ripen. This leaves the seeds rattling around inside. Farmers used to use the sound of the rattling seeds as their cue to cut the hay – hence the name.
Yellow Rattle is a very useful starting plant when making a wildflower meadow, but it can be a little tricky to establish. Here are some top tips to get you started:
If you have very fertile soil, it might be trickier to grow Yellow Rattle. Poor and infertile soils are best and following the steps above will help reduce the fertility of your soil over time.
Late summer (August-September) is the best time to sow Yellow Rattle. It will not grow successfully if sown in the spring. The seeds can be sown no later than November because they need about 4 months below 5C to germinate in the spring.
Yellow Rattle is easy to collect by hand. Simply hold a paper bag under the ripe seed pod and shake it gently with your fingers. Collecting larger quantities can easily be done using a vacuum or leaf blower.
WATCH: Plantlife’s Sarah Shuttleworth collects Yellow Rattle with a vacuum.
There are a number of reasons why Yellow Rattle may disappear from a meadow, including:
For meadows, we recommend 0.5-2.5kg per hectare/10-20g per m2 if you are collecting your own seed.
There are several possible reasons:
Your go-to guide for transforming places into flower-rich meadows.
Yellow Rattle, is the single most important plant you need when creating a wildflower meadow. Here’s everything you need to know.
Managing or making meadows, whether in a lawn or larger site, can sometimes lead to prickly problem plants like docks or nettles. Follow our expert advice for managing problem plants.
Want to start a community meadow, but not sure where to begin? Read our guide to creating a flower-filled haven for your local community.
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘weed’? Join us as we uncover the myths #and delve into what it really means.
It’s a word we’re all familiar with, and one we hear often, especially during our annual No Mow Movement – ‘What about the weeds’?
The Cambridge Dictionary defines a weed as, ‘any wild plant that grows in an unwanted place’.
If you were asked to picture a weed, perhaps some people would think of a Dandelion pushing up through the pavement, or a lone Forget-me-not lurking in your lawn. Many people think of specific plants as ‘weeds’, but that’s not true.
So, join us as we weed out the myths of the word ‘weeds’.
Here’s the thing – the actual definition of a weed is simply, “a wild plant growing where it is not wanted, especially among crops or garden plants.”
Just a plant, in a place we didn’t choose.
Technically speaking, any plant can be a weed. Even our most treasured native wildflowers such as orchids, simply for existing in a spot we decided they shouldn’t.
So, what makes people think of a Dandelion as a weed but an orchid as a prized plant? It’s simply perception and context.
The word ‘weed’ has been part of the English language since at least the 9th century.
It’s believed to have come from the Old English word ‘weod’, which simply means a plant – including herbs or even trees.
Over time however it took on more of a negative tone, especially as agriculture became more dominant and plants that competed with crops then took on the name.
By the 19th and 20th centuries, with the rise of industrial farming and garden landscaping, ‘weeds’ became enemies. Something to spray, pull, or pave over.
But in nature there are no weeds. Just plants doing what they’ve always done – growing, spreading, surviving.
Non-Native Invasive Species aren’t weeds by definition, but they certainly can cause problems.
Non-native plants are simply plants that have been introduced to the UK, that naturally grow in other parts of the world.
Not all non-native plants become problems – many of them integrate into our habitats without causing damage (these are called ‘naturalised’ species). However, some thrive in our habitats, so much so that they out compete our native plants, these are known as Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS). These include common garden centre finds such as Rhododendron.
One in five species of UK vascular plants are at risk of extinction. The second biggest threat to biodiversity is Invasive Non-Native Plants, so they must be taken seriously.
Read our blog here to find out more.
While the majority of plants have value to wildlife, some can cause problems, mainly to other plants around them.
Think of a thicket of nettles for instance, there’s not much biodiversity in the swathe as it has a tendency to takeover. While large amounts of such plants can cause problems, small amounts are That said, it’s important to remember the benefit that plants, including nettles bring to our other wildlife. Nettles can be a great addition to your green space and support more than 40 different insects and butterflies!
So, while problem plants aren’t necessarily ‘weeds’ we recognise that some plants could benefit from some careful control. Read our blog here, to find out how to manage problem plants such as Thistle and Common Ragwort.
We ran a survey recently and found that 56% of people think of Dandelions as a weed. That’s not a huge surprise – Dandelions have had a bit of a PR problem. But the truth is, they’re not ‘weeds’ but wildflowers. And quite useful ones, at that! In fact they were once revered as a cure all medicinal herb and even appear in ancient Greek mythology.
Watch our video below to find out why we should rekindle our love of the humble Dandelion.
Dandelions are amazing! Did you know that Dandelions support more than 50 species of insects? Or that Dandelions have been used in medicine for centuries?
The good news? More than 90% of 19-24 year olds in our survey said they see dandelions and daisies as wildflowers, not weeds. This gives hope for the future of our native wild plants.
Perhaps in the future we will all see ‘weeds’ differently – as part of a bigger picture. ‘Weeds’ are our native plants and part of the planet long before we were. They make up important habitats, improve biodiversity, provide food and even medicine, they even capture carbon!
Let’s change our perspectives to see ‘weeds’ for what they really are, wildflowers that are symbols of resilience, beauty and wildness.
We will keep you updated by email about our work, news, campaigning, appeals and ways to get involved. We will never share your details and you can opt out at any time. Read our Privacy Notice.
