The idea for this contribution emerged after seeing a post on the Sustainable Delaware Ohio Facebook page in mid-July 2023. It recounted a very painful encounter between a home-owner who created a pollinator garden and the city’s enforcement of ordinances. We have not faced this situation ourselves because our native landscape is mostly in the backyard of a county road property. Even so, it is important to support native plantings in public facing areas of properties and to address potential objections from neighbors and municipalities. There are a couple of reasons for this.

One reason is simply that for many people, public facing areas are the best location for native plantings that accomplish their landscaping goals.

A second reason is to foster change in the longstanding assumptions and practices of landscaping in the US. Change is needed for reasons of ecology, sustainability, health, and well… beauty (Doug Tallamy and many, many others). Cloistering native plants in the backyard does not help change attitudes about our landscapes. In fact, it probably reinforces notions that native plantings are weedy unkept areas. Native landscapes need to be publicly visible to shape people’s imagination about possibilities and challenge assumptions. That visibility can run afoul of neighbors and municipalities.

Here are some resources I tracked down about dealing with obstacles from neighbors and municipalities. One grouping addresses homeowner strategies and the other grouping deals with changing ordinances.

Homeowner Strategies:

• How to Pass Weed Inspection — A Real Life Story & Guide
  This is a post by Benjamin Vogt, author of Prairie Up and A New Garden Ethic. He describes conversations with the municipal “weed superintendent” that moved from ideological corners to collaboration. Eight tips are included.
  
• Working With Weed Ordinances and HOAs
  Here is a video presentation also from Benjamin Vogt.
  
• Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes has several resources available.
  • “What To Do When the ‘Weed Police’ Knock on Your Door” by Rosanne Plante who is a member of the volunteer Wild Ones lawyer team. She speaks from her own legal confrontations and advises to keep calm, ask for documentation and specific law violated, and contacting the right people.
    
  • “How to make friends with the ‘Weed Police’” is a video presentation by Rosanne Plante. It weaves together education, change-making, and collaborative efforts in dealing with ordinances.
    
  • Wild Ones web pages on this topic also note “Need help from a Wild Lawyer? Contact Support@wildones.org.”
    
• Neighborly Natural Landscaping in Residential Areas
  This comes from Penn State Extension. The article addresses why “weed laws” exist, myths and facts about native landscapes, first steps to take in installing an alternative lawn, talking points for explaining one’s project with others, changing ordinances, and design tips.

Changing Ordinances:

• Wild Ones Sample Native Plant Ordinance (Word Doc | PDF)
  This document is a template that can be used by municipalities for drafting a “landscape ordinance promoting the use of appropriate native vegetation.”
  
• Landscape Ordinance Promoting the Use of Appropriate Native Vegetation
  This document names common issues that should be addressed in ordinances to support native landscaping.
  
• These resources offer changes to ordinances mandating use of native plants in public property and building codes… shifts the debate from limitations to advocacy for native plants.
  
  • Native Plants/Vegetation – Sustainable Development Code
    
  • What is a Native Plant Ordinance and How You Can Get One?
    In this video founders of Green & Open Somerville (MA) discuss getting a Native Plant Ordinance passed to establish minimum requirements for native plants and trees to be planted in city-owned parks, open spaces, and streets in Somerville.
    
  • Model Native Plant Landscape Ordinance Handbook

Themes for dealing with neighbors and municipalities running across these resources is keeping calm, clear communication (verbal, written, signage), providing education, negotiation/collaboration, and advocacy. It is all worthwhile work contributing to the needed change!