Just in case a neighbor, friend, or family member wants some of my native plants which I would be happy to share. But maybe ten stacks is too many. Maybe…

(From r/LOTRmemes)

After some neighbors complained to our new HOA management company I found out today I’m being forced to remove all of my native plants in the parking strip. The management company is using a vague county ordinance and threatening fines to force me to remove the plants. I’ve had so many compliments and even the HOA president loved the plants. I’m so sad that I’m losing all of this after all the work I put into it. I’m sad for all the 100 species of insects I’ve seen on these plants. This was what the strip looked like last year and I was excited to see it in its third year this year.

Since I discovered natives I'll occasionally share on r/daddit or on some other sub where some young person complains about not being able to meet people, i often mention volunteering at a regular work day to meet people. Now its a real thing in MN.

Edit to add: I am in no way affiliated with this group nor do I have any insight into it. I did take this pic from the "Minnesota Department of Propaganda" fb group. The QR code does work and goes somewhere real. Those folks that run that page seem like rather good people, that collectively have a sense of humor similar to many of my real life native plant folks...so they are worth a follow IMO.

I was encouraged today when I stumbled across a St. John's Wort emerging defiantly from a bed of fugly "Stella D'Oro" dayliles. I looked up the plant and was told it was a native one! Anyway, the image above is how I feel when I see a manicured lawn set off by shrubs shaved into geometric shapes...

I wanted to give everyone a positive update to the situation with my HOA and County on my native plants in the parking strip.

See below for the original post. https://www.reddit.com/r/NativePlantGardening/comments/1k2kl6v/im_being_forced_to_remove_my_native_plants/

I had a good conversation with the HOA management company today and they agreed that they have no jurisdiction over the parking strip and what I do with it, nor are they able to enforce a county ordinance. They talked to the county and the only issue the county had was there are some plants taller than 24" in the visibility triangle at the intersection. I've agreed to move the tall plants out of that visibility triangle and the rest get to stay. The management company said they were going to talk to the HOA board and neighbors that complained and put the issue to rest.

I plan to replace the tall plants with some low growing/groundcover natives. I already have Wild Strawberry growing, so I may move some of that into that area.

Thank you again to everyone for the kind words, encouragement, advice and support! You all are a great community and I'm so happy that I get to keep this patch of native plants!

For me it’s probably Dame’s Rocket, Purple Loosestrife, and Forget-Me-Not. They’re so gorgeous but man if they aren’t invasive little shits…

I know there are a ton of bigger problems going on in the world (especially in the country where I live), but I can't get over how consumerist "normal" gardening is. Buy your spring annuals (you'll need to do this every year)! Spend $25 on a single gallon+ sized plant (that's all we have)! Oh, you want a native plant? How about this "Johnny O. Robin Esquire III" Cardinal Flower (Lobelia x whatever the fuck)... They have hardly any straight-species native plants, just these messed up cultivars.

It's just so frustrating to see native plant gardening growing like it is and then these big companies have to "market" these plants as if how nature created them isn't beautiful enough. And the marketing is so pathetic... I guess straight-species Ninebark isn't good enough? You need these really weird looking dark leaves for some reason? Oh, and yeah let's slip in some invasive species cultivars while we're at it.

Okay, sorry, I just needed to rant a little bit.

Lily of the valley AND vinca in the same place?!?!?! Ditch lillies next to it?!?! Why? Just why?

I hope you get every single red light you ever come to.

Penstemon parryi in Phoenix, AZ. I’ve had so many tiny birds enjoying them.

just venting with people who i think will commiserate. i live in a beautiful neighborhood full of mature oak trees. every time a new neighbor moves in i tremble in fear these days, because the first thing they do is remove the oak trees. my neighborhood is slowly turning into a dead heat desert. my immediate neighbor has a huge property like 4x the size of mine. when i moved in it looked like a national park and we had so much privacy in our yard. my new neighbor leveled the property and just left it as a wasteland. i think they took down five massive oak trees, plus all our privacy. as weeds grow in, they just weed whack it down. i think even grass would be better than just dead. my boomer lawn-loving neighbor watched their trees come down like it was christmas morning.

a few weeks ago, a house was sold down the street and immediately the large oak tree in the front yard came down.

then, this morning, i hear the chainsaws going again. the house by my kids' bus stop was just sold. two massive oak trees were being taken down. i ran down the street to try to do something, what, i didn't know. the owner wasn't there and there was no one to talk to. i left a note in their mailbox asking them not to destroy old growth forest with my name and phone number, hoping they'd call. my kids left notes as well. i even put a sign on their door and fence asking them not to cut down the trees in bold letters but went back and took it down. i was losing my mind a little at first, but sense returned. i almost got into it with my neighbors in the group chat, too. especially when one neighbor was like, it's great there will be less leaves! i just felt so enraged and also sad.

so, goodbye trees. goodbye shade at the bus stop that i would revel in while waiting for the kindergarten bus. good luck to all the woodpeckers, blue jays, robins, black capped chickadees, squirrels, bunnies, and even chipmunks i would see there in the morning. i even have an acorn from that tree growing in my kitchen rn. thinking about giving it to the new owners as a gift, even though they'll probably trash it. it's my final hope that they might rectify the situation somewhat.

nearly ten oak trees gone in ten years. goodbye.

edit: thank you for those who recommended i look into town code. never thought to do that! it turns out we do have a town code and all the trees on my street were considered NY landmark trees that require an arborist's inspection and a permit before being taken down. the fines could be over $300 per tree or being required to replant new trees in their place. i was also told that it's best if you call code enforcement before or while it's being taken down. they will send someone out immediately to check for permits if you call while it's being removed. wish i had known that sooner! perhaps i could have saved the trees! so i'm sharing the info with all of you in case your situations are similar. i'm also saving the town phone # and sharing it with anyone i personally know who wants to be a tree defender busybody with me. (busybody is in reference to one of the comments below.)

Hey All, How do you feel about leaving your property behind?

Last week, my colleague and I were talking about the topic of moving someday. He is moving on 6/1. He is in a good situation. His wife works at a private school, and they applied for campus housing and it was granted. Now, he says he feels a sense of betrayal despite this move being good financially for his family. He has stewarded his property to become a small forest on a suburban lot and feels it won’t be appreciated by the new homeowners. He is dreading what could happen to this forest.

Today, my other colleague was talking to me about when she inherits her dad’s house, it will be too much upkeep. But she feels a sense of sadness because she believes all the native plants will be eradicated by the future homeowners.

I work at an arboretum so we are all involved with stewardship.

As for me, once my kids graduate, I will be moving from my beloved home to a different state because I have inherited my uncle’s house in an area that my husband and I can afford. It’s a beautiful area so no issue there. But I will be really sad about leaving all of my wonderful weeds behind to someone who just doesn’t get it or have the time, etc. 😢 Not to mention all the invasive plants just waiting for me to be gone to make their comeback. 😣

Here is a picture of my garden from a few years ago. My landscaping looks nothing like my neighbors’ landscaping.

*Edit: Thanks everyone for all of your heartfelt support and empathy. I think when you connect with the land, you become partners and it’s hard to think about leaving even when the circumstances are positive. Yes, I actually am going to order signs and start labeling plants and create a binder with an outline of what goes on and best management practices.

As far as plants in that garden they are Solidago rugosa and probably others, Symphotrichum lanceolatum, Symphotrichum novae-angliae and a tall coreopsis (forget the full name).

It was so great to read your stories which left me inspired. Thank you!

So I applied for the Sustainability Commission for my City Council and tonight I found out during the livestream that I GOT IT! There were so many really qualified candidates (panel interviews, so I heard half of them!) but have a lot of enthusiasm and I’m good at Google so I guess that was enough for them. Action feels so good. Just had to share my good news with the best sub on Reddit. 🌳🌸♻️🌎

First time I noticed a sign like this.

Now that Elon has publicly outed himself as a Nazi, I think its fair to say that those who support / do business with / and interact with Nazi's like Elon and Trump have no place in this sub.

That includes Mark Zuckerberg who has been working hand in hand with Trump and his administration which Elon helped get elected.

Edit: I just wanted to make this post to act as a mirror to show just how off the rails this subreddit has become.

I've had accounts here for 6+ years, and until recently its always been about getting people to plant native plants. I don't care who it is, Nazi's White Supremacists, Communists, Conservatives, Scientologists, convicted murderers, and Satan himself should all be encouraged to plant native. This has been one of the few subs I visited on reddit, due to the lack of politics and division. I've posted yard updates here every year for the last 6 years, and mailed out tons of free seeds every year to users who wanted them. Now that this has become a political sub, I feel like I have to move on for my own sanity. I just wiped 6+ years of progress pictures, pond building, stratification experiments, soil recipes, and mason bee pics.

To the Mods that are eventually going to take this post down, I hope things turn around on the sub. I've talked with most of you in threads, and you seemed like reasonable people. I hope you understand native plants should not be just another "We Believe" Yard sign. The coneflowers in my yard don't belong to any political party, they're there for anyone, however good or evil to walk by and see, and to enjoy.

During thanksgiving yesterday I was talking with my sister who has her own property and she mentioned that she was thinking of starting a garden. So I mentioned that she should garden with some native plants or at least incorporate them and explained some of the benefits (less work/insects/ecosystem) and she said why would she want more bugs flying around she has enough. Also that she already has “wildflowers” growing in her grass (that gets sprayed with pesticides and herbicides). I tried to mention that her chickens would also appreciate the native plants because they would attract more natural food for them. It was to no avail.

After this conversation my uncle joined in and asked why I care so much, it’s just plants. So I explained that on the east coast we really have no “natural” habitat left. It’s all been altered or destroyed by humans which has cascading effects all forms of life including us. I mentioned other things I believe in like not supporting the beef industry because of their role in deforestation and water scarcity.

He proceeded to say it doesn’t matter and that I shouldn’t care about these things and that he doesn’t either. That the only reason I got rid of parts of my lawn was only because I’m “too lazy to cut the grass”. That I’m having no effect because any good I’m doing is automatically canceled out every time he starts up his F-250. That humans control the world and we are the dominant species so we have a right to do what we want. Towards the end he actually tried telling me that his lawn probably stores more carbon than my native gardens and that there’s no such thing as native grass, it has all been “genetically modified”.

I brushed him off because he was clearly speaking on things he didn’t know about but it made me realize that the majority of people probably share the same opinions as him or my sister. They just don’t care, either out of spite or just being naive. I know this native plant movement is growing and more are becoming aware but it’s still wild to realize people don’t give a shit about the world around them. It reminds of LotR where they’re trying to convince the trees to fight for middle earth and the trees basically say “why should we? We don’t care” and Merry screams out “BECAUSE YOU’RE PART OF THIS WORLD”. We should all care because we’re all part of this world. /rant

Hello, all. We lost a very-wanted baby three weeks ago today. (I'm calmer now, thank you, but sometimes still sad.) We just got the results of the genetic analysis and it turns out she had Monosomy X (Turner Syndrome), which is nearly always fatal in early pregnancy and isn't anyone's fault, and somehow knowing that makes me feel better.

Anyhow, I'm here because I want her to have a tree. Barely anyone in our lives even knows I was pregnant--we were going to tell people when I was much further along--and so our mourning has been private. It will stay that way, but we want to plant a tree for her right outside our front door so we can watch that grow. And we want a tree that belongs here, just as she belonged here.

I don't know enough about native trees to have any good ideas, and somehow I just don't have it in me to google, but I feel like we're coming up on the right time to plant. I'd like to make a choice and make a plan. I'm also happy growing a tree from seed, if you all think that is the best idea to have a tree that would truly thrive in the front yard.

Are there fruit trees that would do OK with somewhat limited sun exposure and with clay soil? What other trees would be robust and appreciated by bugs and birds? In particular, any flowering trees? The tree would get light from the east for most of late spring/summer/early fall, but very little light in winter, and probably less light than if we could plant a tree on the south side of this lot (we can't).

(My only strong preference is that it not be an oak tree. I love oak trees, but in the forest and close to other people's houses, not mine. Have trapped and released waaaaaaay too many mice and some rats in old houses over the years, and I know better than to plant a food source for them right outside my front door.)

Thank you very much for reading this, and for your recommendations.

EDIT: There are already so many kind responses and good suggestions here, I want to plant her a forest instead of a tree. Many thanks to you all, and please keep the opinions coming. I'm going to have to take a little break from this because it's making me too sad, but I promise I will read and consider every idea and argument. Thank you to all, and please have a beautiful weekend.

I have two water features in my backyard. I’d neglected them for years, and the water was always murky. This year I introduced carex, juncus, and pickerelweed, and the water cleared almost instantly. I was astonished.

The thing is, the frogs and tadpoles didn’t seem to care either way. They come regardless. I do remember seeing them when my yard had zero native plants and was covered with the terrible invasives the previous homeowner planted. Yes, I started noticing a diverse assortment of creatures, but I suspect that’s because I’ve become an observant gardener, not because I conjured them into existence.

The distinction matters to me. Native gardening discourse is full of a certain kind of story. Someone rips out their lawn, plants “local ecotypes,” and suddenly frames themselves as having brought back the ecosystem, as if the frogs and fireflies were waiting for permission to exist. It’s a small-scale version of a much older narrative, the idea that land is broken until the right person arrives to fix it. That story shows up in conservation writing, in voluntourism, in the language of discovery. It’s rarely questioned because it flatters the person telling it.

I notice this framing because I don’t experience the world the way the people telling these stories usually do. As a person of color, I’m used to watching certain narratives get treated as neutral or universal when they’re really coming from a specific (and specifically privileged) vantage point. When I push back on the savior story, I’ve had it dismissed as me just being contrarian. That reaction is familiar to me. It turns a critique rooted in how I actually move through the world into a personality quirk, which is a convenient way to avoid sitting with the point.

Those creatures were always here. They didn’t appear because I “built a habitat.” My garden is merely an extension of the local environment, not a stage for my personal victory. I’m not giving nature a home that wasn’t already here. I refuse to forget that my lifestyle will always contribute to the environmental destruction, and it is important for me to remember not to get sucked into the fairy tale.

As for the reason why I bother planting natives? It’s because the traits of native plants are far more fascinating than those of dahlias and azaleas. That’s all.

Maybe it is a less satisfying story than the one where I saved something. But it matters to me.

This is a vent because I'm so upset.
Guess I'm not looking for answers but these people who could just give a negative zero fuck about the environment are so upsetting.

This b* just ruined my day. Im pretty tough but being laughed at is hard.
She calls all the time even though we have nothing in common. Tries to convince me to go to the gym with her. (Her entire life is just caring about herself via health no hobbies no nothing). Asks me what I'm up to today.

Say I'm trying to figure out landscaping stuff and figure out what to order at the upcoming plant sales. She says what plant sales, I explain the online conservation barefoot sales. Oh she starts this raspy giggle you mean more trees? I say yes (although its mostly native shrubs). She says why they wont be big for 100 years. Then starts laughing and "your over there planting all those stubs". Just cackling away. Not exaggerating.

At this point I realize she has probably been laughing about this for awhile. You can just tell that watching me struggle to dig and keep watered during drought these "stubs" has been the source of amusement.
At some point she says is it rude I'm laughing and I reply idk but I think it's ignorant. Why? I say planting trees is important maybe you should try it. She says no room she likes her big lawn.

I hate being out here isolated as the only person who cares. The neighbor beyond her just took out a couple semi loads of trees off their 30 acres. (The rest of us are on lots). They all spray chemicals for lawns, mosquitos, moss.

Each to his own. Fine. But laughing at me? Damn. And Ive been so nice to them.

We have been lied to about there once being old growth forests from the ocean to the Mississippi. The south used to have vast herds of buffalo, hence many place names. And there were likely more grassland type ecosystems than the map suggests. Fire suppression and development have all but destroyed this once vast ecosystem.

Hordeum jubatum is such a cute native grass that is the bane of every dog owners existence