WHITE CLOVER AND YELLOW WOOD SORREL

      During June of 2025, I noticed that white clover and yellow wood sorrel plants were abundant and obvious on many short-grass lawns in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Those flowering plants grow close to the ground, which means many of their lovely flowers are not cut off by regular lawn mowing.  Together, the attractive blossoms of these adaptable plants of human-made, short-grass habitats add beauty and interest to mowed lawns in summer. 

     White clover and yellow wood sorrel have different strategies to cope with lawn mowing.  Clover plants grow new flowers after each cutting, which replace the ones sliced off.  This plant, therefore, provides new blooms, and fresh nectar to worker honey bees and bumble bees all summer.  

     Yellow wood sorrels' pretty blooms are so low to the ground, they don't get mowed off.  In fact, grass removal allows more sunlight to reach the leaves of clovers and sorrels.  

     White clover plants have three-parted leaves and clusters of tiny, white florets.  These florets are so abundant on some lawns that those short-grass habitats appear white.  Bees sip nectar from those blooms and their stomachs turn that nectar to honey, which honey bees store in waxy cells to later feed to queens, larvae and drones.  Worker bees also consume much of that honey during winter when flower nectar is not available.  

     Yellow wood sorrels have three-parted, heart-shaped leaves and five-petaled, tiny blooms of yellow that make lawns richer in beauty.  The attractive sorrel flowers appear as innumerable flecks of gold among short grass.  

     Sorrel blooms produce nectar that handsome butterflies, including yellow-clouded sulphurs, cabbage whites, meadow fritillaries, skippers and other kinds, sip through much of summer, pollinating those flowers in the process.  After fertilization, each blossom grows an upright seed capsule, full of tiny seeds.  Finches and sparrows ingest many of those seeds from lawns.  

     White clovers and yellow wood sorrels make many local lawns more attractive and interesting through summer.  Get out on a lawn to see these lovely, flowering plants, and the intriguing bees and birds that benefit from them.   

    

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