How to deal with weed ordinance violations and how to prepare to never get one:
Most communities have rules about how a yard should be maintained. These rules are our protection when the neighbor decides to park cars in the yard or allows the lawn to become a monoculture of thistles. But sometimes they can also be used against a native garden when neighbors don’t understand what we are doing. My local weed ordinance has this sweeping statement: “Grass, weeds and all other noxious vegetation which have attained a height of eight (8) inches or more … is hereby declared to be a public nuisance.” Many native plants are weeds in someone’s eyes and any plant can become a weed if it is growing in the wrong place. So, the key is to make sure that the plants in the garden are not seen as weeds. This sounds deceivingly simple.
Dealing with a weed ordinance citation starts with preparation early on. The benefit of being well prepared is that you can garden with confidence and hopefully never have to deal with this unfortunate bureaucracy. Start with education: educate the community and yourself about native landscaping. Set appropriate expectations, like any garden, that there will not be 100% flowers all the time. Be a good neighbor and respect your neighbor’s property the way that you want them to respect your garden.
How to avoid getting a citation:
· Become familiar with any regulations impacting the garden.
· Invite any neighbors to tour the garden.
· Drop off native landscaping information with all neighbors.
· Have yard signs displayed at the street.
· Know every plant in your garden by name.
· Keep receipts of all native plant purchases.
· Keep brush and compost piles out of sight of any neighbors.
· Keep the plants from crossing onto others property.
· Don’t block the street, sidewalk, power lines, or lines of sight.
· Have a tall privacy fence.
If the weed ordinance notice arrives:
If the weed ordinance violation letter still arrives in the mail one day, don’t panic. Contact the weed police and find out exactly what feature in the landscape is a problem. Invite the inspector to the garden to discuss the problem. If you manage to get an inspector in your yard this is an excellent opportunity to educate, have lots of pamphlets ready to send back to the office. Brush up your file on your garden with a complete plant list and receipts and get it to the inspector. Usually, a little education will cause the violation to be dropped.
If the cause of the violation can be easily remedied such as removing a brush pile or trimming plants back from the sidewalk, dealing with the issue is a quick way to restore neighborhood peace. One nice thing about native plants is that herbaceous plants can all be trimmed back to six inches without much ill effect to their long-term health. When necessary, it is advisable to trim all plants except trees and shrubs down to the required height. It will be unsightly and may affect blooming but will satisfy the weed ordinance requirements before the deadline. Do not let the deadline arrive, as the municipality may come in and mow the whole landscape. This can damage woody plants, cause ruts, and may even introduce weed seeds.
Fighting a weed ordinance violation in court is sometimes necessary to protect a garden and to change public policy to protect all native plant gardens. The Wild Ones organization offers personal advice to any landowner up against a weed ordinance. Banding together public support of native gardens by connecting with neighbors and local organizations helps to keep gardens safe from poorly applied regulations. Hopefully soon these worries will be a thing of the past.
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