News Animals

Want to see butterflies in your backyard? Try doing less yardwork

A no-mow patch helps caterpillars live long enough to turn into butterflies and moths

One yellow butterfly visits a purple flower while a second one flutters nearby. They are in focus while an area of wild grasses and flowers, with some buildigns visible behind them, is blurrier.

Leaving no-mow zones in a yard creates a safe zone for moths and butterflies.

Butterfly Conservation

By Susan Milius

Making the world safer for butterflies can be as easy as doing a bit of nothing.

Letting some part of a yard go unmown can boost the number of butterflies and moths sighted there, says ecologist Richard Fox. That long-grass patch may be as elaborate as an all-native meadow dotted with flowers or as simple as some didn’t-mow corner by the back fence.