What Is a Bee Lawn? Plus How to Plant One

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Flowering bee lawns are an exciting lawn alternative that combines low-growing flowers with grass seed. Traditional turf grass lawns come with serious costs to the environment (not to mention your time and bank account) by requiring frequent mowing, watering, herbicides, and fertilizer to thrive. It’s little wonder why some people are choosing to remove their turf grass lawns entirely and install meadowscapes,xeriscapes, or artificial turf instead. Ditching your lawn is a big step, however. Bee lawns provide an eco-friendly option for folks that aren’t quite ready to give up their grass.  

Bee lawns are great for pollinators (hence their name). Bee lawns, originally developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota, combine white clover, shelf-heal, and creeping thyme flowers with fine fescue grass. They’ve been found to attract over 50 species of beesand support a higher diversity of bees than lawns with clover alone.  

“There’s a lot of interest in helping pollinator communities through intentional planting of these flowers,” says Eric Watkins, a professor and turf grass specialist at the University of Minnesota who helped develop the bee lawn seed mix. 

The benefits of bee lawns extend beyond pollinators, however. Bee lawns require fewer inputs (water, mowing, fertilizer, and pesticides) than traditional lawns. “You’re mowing less, you’re watering less, and you’re not applying fertilizers that have the potential to runoff into nearby bodies of water,” explains James Wolfin, a conservation specialist at Twin City Seed Company, a commercial seed company based in Minnesota. 

For some people, the drought tolerance of bee lawns is even more important than the benefits to pollinators, notes