Flowering Lawn

Grass with clover, mowed at 4 in, with no herbicides. The flowering lawn covers March and April better than any bed: purple dead nettle and dandelions open while the beds are still dormant and feed emerging bumble bee queens. White clover and mini clover then carry bumble bees from May through October. Violets (fritillary host), avens (Geum canadense, Ohio native) and ground ivy fill in between. The lawn also produces butterflies: three grass-feeding skippers and eastern tailed-blues have been recorded on it.

Next: a lyreleaf sage nursery started this fall from volunteer seedlings. I'll confirm the ID at spring bloom, then mow some into the lawn. Aerate in early to mid October once rain softens the clay. The fall crocus go into the beds, not the lawn.