As a City, we place a high priority on our natural environment, just as residents do. While some local municipalities are joining in on No-Mow May, Eagan has a different approach to helping pollinators.

Our plan, which has been in place for more than a decade, centers on:

  • planting native grasses and plants in parks and green spaces throughout the City,
  • helping, promoting, or installing rain gardens in public, private, and even at City facilities,
  • adding pollinator-friendly perennials and shrubs to our landscaping whenever we can,
  • avoiding any chemicals that contain neonicotinoids.

Quick pro-pollinator tips for residents

  1. Raise the blade. Grass grows deeper and needs less maintenance when maintained around 3 inches tall.
  2. Plant native perennials and shrubs. Native plants require less maintenance, are hardy to the Minnesota climate!
  3. Keep it blooming. Choose plants for your garden with different bloom times so something is always flowering.
  4. Create safe spaces. Most of Minnesota’s native bee species are ground-nesters, preferring loose, undisturbed soil or otherwise bare patches of ground. Leave a patch of bare soil, or top-dress areas with leaf mulch or compost instead of wood chips
  5. Don’t panic, It’s organic! Manage invasive and aggressive weeds but use herbicides and pesticides as sparingly as possible. If you find a nuisance beehive, don’t spray it!  There are lots of local resources who will relocate honeybee colonies for free. 
Learn more about how you can help. and how the City is helping.


How is the City helping?  Educating residents on how to help pollinators  Expanding prairie and pollinator areas each year: 26+ acres currently  Allowing residents to keep bees with a permit