Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/hookedandrooted and use code HOOKEDANDROOTED at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life!
Repurposing front lawns is one of the most divisive trends in suburban gardening right now. From rewilding and native plant gardens to front yard vegetable beds, homeowners are rethinking the traditional lawn, and not everyone is happy about it. We’ll look at real examples, including public backlash, viral stories, and homeowners who’ve been criticized for planting outside the norm. I’d love to hear where you land, traditional lawn, fully rewilded, or somewhere in between. Thanks for watching, Steph🌱 #suburbangardening #angryneighbor #flowers #gardening #diy #plants #nature #landscape
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*** This video includes excerpts from copyrighted film or images for the purpose of education and commentary under fair use. ***
Sources used for Video:
Elizabeth’s Garden Tour: https://youtu.be/Jhi5-YsshTs
Wild Beauty by University of Georgia article: https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/features/rewild-your-lawn/
Wild Beauty by University of Georgia YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGvhmfhR2GY
Homeowner With ‘Wild’ Yard Doubles Down article: https://www.newsweek.com/homeowner-wild-yard-doubles-down-after-persistent-neighbor-files-dozens-complaints-2066833
Replaced Lawn with Native Plants Reddit article: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/comments/1juv0o2/replaced_lawn_with_native_plants/
New York Mayor upset with Residents Front Yard: https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/native-plants-lawn-long-island-woman-fined/
Nature vs. Suburbia – Monarch Gardens: https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/nature-vs-suburbia-reviving-wildness-at-home
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Hooked and Rooted is a gardening show on Youtube. My shows & content include topics such as: Offering gardening tips for beginners, low maintenance garden ideas, landscaping for beginners, new build garden transformations, how to make your garden beautiful, sharing perennial plants and evergreen shrubs for the garden, and the best ground cover plants you can plant in your garden.
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Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/hookedandrooted and use code HOOKEDANDROOTED at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life!
Repurposing front lawns is one of the most divisive trends in suburban gardening right now. From rewilding and native plant gardens to front yard vegetable beds, homeowners are rethinking the traditional lawn, and not everyone is happy about it. We’ll look at real examples, including public backlash, viral stories, and homeowners who’ve been criticized for planting outside the norm. I’d love to hear where you land, traditional lawn, fully rewilded, or somewhere in between. Thanks for watching, Steph🌱 #flowers #gardening #diy #plants #nature #landscape
———————————————————————
* This video includes excerpts from copyrighted film or images for the purpose of education and commentary under fair use. *
Sources used for Video:
Elizabeth's Garden Tour: https://youtu.be/Jhi5-YsshTs
Wild Beauty by University of Georgia article: https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/features/rewild-your-lawn/
Wild Beauty by University of Georgia YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGvhmfhR2GY
Homeowner With ‘Wild’ Yard Doubles Down article: https://www.newsweek.com/homeowner-wild-yard-doubles-down-after-persistent-neighbor-files-dozens-complaints-2066833
Replaced Lawn with Native Plants Reddit article: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/comments/1juv0o2/replaced_lawn_with_native_plants/
New York Mayor upset with Residents Front Yard: https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/native-plants-lawn-long-island-woman-fined/
Nature vs. Suburbia – Monarch Gardens: https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/nature-vs-suburbia-reviving-wildness-at-home
———————————————————————-
My Amazon Store Where You Can Find Many of My Favorite Garden Items
👉 https://amzn.to/49F9RTU
🌱Thank You for using my affiliate links🌱
———————————————————————-
✨Vego Products Click here 👉🏼 https://glnk.io/HookedandRooted
✨✨Be sure to Use the Exclusive Hooked and Rooted Discount that can be used in addition to any current Vego sales or promotions: HOOKEDANDROOTED10OFF
🌱Thank You for using my affiliate link🌱
———————————————————————-
☕Gift Steph or George a coffee ☕: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/hookedandrooted
I've heard the advice to plan your native garden so that it has nice edges and the stuff towards the front is showier, not as tall, and has drifts of the same thing so it looks intentional. I also think it's worth thinking about design to minimize upkeep. Natives already don't need as much supplemental water and fertilizer, but it's important to think about maintenance and spread a few years down the road or if you resell. But it's certainly true that a lot of people prefer a more natural look rather than a formal garden, so that mayor is out of line by imposing his aesthetic standards to someone else's house.
You can have nicely landscaped beds the contour with your neighbor’s yards and flow of the terrain. If the front yards are all flat with no hills, low growing (<1ft) native plants could work out in front of the houses closer to the street in small beds. Reserve taller native plants to the sides and closer to the house. Most people just want an unobstructed view of the sidewalk and street. Thankfully I live in an area where I have minimal city ordinance as long as visibility is maintained and seasonal plants are cut back and maintained.
So that mayor hates nature is what I'm hearing. The choas is what many don't like because they don't understand it. Just like with anything else people are fearful of what they don't understand. They think snakes are hiding out just waiting to bite people, which is a fundamental misunderstanding of nature. I personally leave some grass but use only warm season grass that needs less mowing and no chemicals. We're slowly converting more and more space back to natural areas though.
I see post online every once in a while.If people complain about things like not enough butterflies or not enough fireflies flies anymore. Those same people don't seem to realize that they're darn lawns and how they care for them are the problem. The grass we grow as lawns is useless.Put some extra flowers in the mix.
People are brainwashed by lawns
I get nothing but compliments on my native garden.
Empty lawns are dead spaces. They aren't even useless, they are damaging. There's nothing that provides sufficient shade on the soil to manage summer heat, nothing that slows down wind, nothing that stops rainwater runoff, nothing that absorbs noise. An empty lawn doesn't provide comfortable space for spending time outside and it doesn't provide a habitat for any kind of wildlife.
The ideal garden combines flower beds with shrubs and a small tree or two, meandering belts of turf and a nice place to sit down an relax. For healthy growth and low maintenance, the plants need to be selected carefully to fit the local climate. Shrubs and trees should also be selected for their final size to minimize maintenance throughout their lifetime.
As a non-American, I can't get my head around the fact that there are officials over there telling people what they can or can't do with their private property just because they find it "ugly" or "clashing with the other houses". If what they are doing caused actual problems to the neighborhood that would be one thing but otherwise, they should be allowed to do what they want.
Who cares what the neighbors think, it's not affecting them. What looks good is subjective as many other commenters have pointed out. I think monoculture lawns are truly abhorrent, as a southern Californian who has grown up knowing about the drought, I would LOVE to complain about these green lawn people wasting all of our shared water. Our standards as a society won't change until people like this Hyde Park woman, and the other house showing the front yard BRAVELY stand up to what we consider "aesthetic" as a society. I was a disappointed to hear the presenter say they would NOT plant natives in their front yard to appease their neighbors. Planting native plants is THE BEST thing we can do as individuals, (if we are lucky enough to have a yard) to help fight climate change and give back to our local ecosystem.
There needs to be a tweak in the system where municipalities start charging fees on individuals who file countless nonsensical complaints within a span of time. Curb Karen behaviors.
Why doesn’t everyone just mind their own business? 🙄
Hideous? Truly, truly, I say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Where i grew up the yards where tiny and yes most of them where grass. Grass was great as it helps manage the home heat over bare dirt. However even back them there where a few people who did either flower lawns or even vegetable lawns. Rare to be sure but not unheard of.
This neighbor just sounds like a jerk on a power trip that thinks he/she is god of the neighborhood. She needs to be charged for the cost of the harrasment she is creating. This costs public services that could be better used elsewhere.
Shared spaces does not exist past my property line. Stop being facist with big government dictating other peoples lives!
I don’t like yards with tons of grass but I also don’t like the wild weed filled wildlife gardens. I prefer something in between I guess.
I'm a garden designer and horticulturist and messy works if you live in a rural or semi-rural area like me. But if you live in a more suburban area where everyone has perfect green lawns and not much else I think it would be smart to hire a professional to design something that can be beneficial to nature but still attractive enough that your neighbors are less likely to complain. Have some hardscape to tie it all in. Have nicely defined beds with evergreen shrubs or other plants that offer year round interest in the front yard unless you want to waste time fighting with the city or neighbors. Keep the wilder area in the back. Of course there may still be plant hating weirdos like in the first example with the beautiful yard full of California natives.
Our situation is unique. You will love this. My husband likes an English garden. I like a very structured boxwood border with cool colors in spring and warm in fall. He could care less. There is no place for your eye to rest in his space. We live on a corner right down town. He has the left and back of our house and I have the front and right side of our home. It has become quite the talk
In our town. Lots of people walk their dogs down our street. We have team jeremy and team marnie in our town. A great hobby and fun for our neighbors. No-one has complained. In our town they just cut and steal our shrubs and flowers to propagate. 😢
6:02 organize it, design it, something! Conscious neglect!
13:10 “the other look” is the excuse that people whom don’t to put any effort into it use. I bet they are all hoarders too…
I do it all for the bees and butterfly's but for every person that says people don't like a wild overgrown look I clap back with the hordes of mothers and fathers that stop to take pics of their kids on the sidewalk next to my mess of wild flowers. Seriously nothing will warm your heart more then seeing that !
I saw one of the yards in question online. Gorgeous old neighborhood with beautiful formal gardens. Just breathtaking. The "natural" garden had few flowers and was a chaotic mess that just looked like a neglected yard. I hate these kinds of feuds – nobody wins – which is why even in rural Wyoming I avoid HOAs but keep my landscaping tidy and consistent with my neighbors' yards. People who "rewild" in suburbia are being passive aggressive.
No HOA should be able to determine what you do with your lawn as long as it doesn't have a significant ecological impact, flooding impact, create significant heat islands, or have heavily spreading invasive plants. Basically if it doesnt effect your neighbors or the environment do what you want.
People get mad about the stupidest things
Good on the gardening homeowners! Some people are so entitled. You live in the same world as the rest of us, yes you have to share it, yes other people have as much free will and right to enjoy their lives as you do. Imagine being so bitter about flowers. There’s always that one neighbor who expects the rest of us to be totally silent and entirely unseen so they can exist in uninterrupted misery.
Honestly, I do get it. It's jarring to see an overgrown yard amidst all the other smooth, cut lawns. But maintaining grass is costly, bad for the environment because of pesticide use, time intensive, and unless you are out running around with your kids, not very functional. I think we need to redefine what is "normal" for our yards. There will be growing pains, but it will be worth it.
In india no gives a damn u hv a property itsurs even in a society u can grow any plants u want . Like wht is the use of spending all tht money wen u cant even do wht u want . Its so point less my money wish u give me the money i will listen
When you have close neighbours you need to be cognizant of how they react to what you do on your property. Must be a way to soften the eye’s transition from a re-wilded yard to a grass lawn. Otherwise move to the country.
Generally, I prefer freedom. Freedom for each homeowner to create the yard of their own choice, whether or not I personally agree with their choice.
My personal taste is the rewilded yards and the in-betweens. A vast expanse of just cut grass looks dull and sterile to me.
The American government is too involved. Stop micromanaging. Native plants over lawns is wise.
My garden and Front lawn Looks like i like it. Every garden and Front lawn in my area is different. I dont give a damn in the slightest way, when someone complains about my shiet. Greetings from somewhere not US.
A bunch of self-righteous fascists we have in America. They want to dictate how everybody else should live. I knew quite a few of those people in the church I went to.
Yeah i have this exact problem in my area. Im not an hoa, its code enforcement, while im not growing this stuff i do grow medicinals, now plantain and dandelion i seed on my yard the bigger stuff by the edges, and boom code enforcement had a field day and i had to pay 1200 for "noxious weeds". Im currently saving money for me to move to 40 acres middle of nowhere arkansas.
I love the wild look. But in a suburban area, people need to be cautious because in the dry summer months, it’s an easy fire hazard that can spread with the dried out grasses and shrubs
Another non existent issue when one lives by the Rooster. Never live where a Rooster can't.
If you're going to use it, walk on it, run on it, etc, then a watered and mowed lawn is completely sensible. Certain plants like clovers grow just fine under the same mowing treatment as lawn grass, while also doing things like fixing nitrogen. When I mow I don't have the bag on; after everything is cut I go over it once more to chop up the cuttings into mulch. It contains the same minerals the plants grew from!
People who like perfectly uniform lawns should cultivate moss.
Living in Australia, lawns are only a thing in the richest suburbs with big land and houses.
There is a grassroots local council push to rewild nature strips/sidewalk lawns within council code to provide habitat for natives.
Plus in the current Australian drought, lawns are hideous
Rewilding looks good
The 'land of the free' demands absolute conformity.
A lawn is like a blank canvas. The mona lisa might look good to some people and horrible to others. Either way, adults should respect each others tastes in the property. Remember also, it looked different before man showed up and decided to redefine ' normal ', because that is NOT normal.
They think it looks too pretty so complained out of jealousy . Only when i started growing nice plants did i start getting bothered by an annoying lady that lives too far down and is not a direct neighbour .
Grass makes more homes for ticks that fragrant edible growdcover does not. Will get lots of sage next year
I didn't get formal complaints, but in the past I'd been pressured a lot by a neighbour in keeping the garden tidy, while I was creating a food forest in my front yard. He was a doctor, all time obsessed in trimming his grass and in fixing things, I always thought of him as mentally ill
I was never raised with an invasive grass mowed green yard, every time I see one I vomit in my mouth a little bit just because they're so fucking ugly and useless. It's not a sheep pasture, it should reflect the environment in which you live rather than killing everything that isn't a species of grass from Algeria.
i have wild flowers in my front yard. just that is enough to have people openly call me a slob.
I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. Keep some wildflowers, sure, but have them bordered off to maintain a manicured look. Having the entire garden “wild” isnt just ugly, but you are also bringing in ticks and vermin which can spread damage and disease in your community.
Absolutely look at your local codes, it can do a lot to help avoid ordinance fights, to be conscious of the letter of the law when you decide to remove your yard.
It might not even be a bad idea to contact your local department of code compliance to put a drastic lawn removal on the home’s permanent record, since lawns are treated differently than plant beds or meadows in many counties/cities.
We tore up our entire front yard in 2022 and replaced it with plant bed mulch and native meadow plants. Something is always blooming for 9 months out of the year. We don’t weed-wack in the winter because pollinators use the closed flowers and stems for their babies to grow in.
Well, in the dead of winter 2023 we got a citation for ugly overgrown lawn over the local growth height max for grass.
We responded courteously, stating that we’d gone to great lengths to follow the codes in our plant bed and were under the understanding that the height limit was 4 ft for planters, not the 1.5ft for lawns, underlining that we’d cooperate with anything needed for compliance but that we were pretty sure we were already in compliance. The official was actually very friendly about agreeing with our conclusion and even put a note in our file to dismiss any future complaints. Its been two years since then and not a bad word since. (Also, other neighbors have made a point of telling us they love what we did, and more native yards have started going in our neighborhood!)
One thing that I think is often missing from this discussion, around lawn removal, is forgetting the history of why lawns became a thing. A couple centuries back, lawns were exclusively the realm of the ultra rich. It was a flex to be able to have property that served no function and required resources to maintain. The first lawns were at places like Versailles. Most people’s properties were food gardens, untouched forest, or forageable meadows- places where they could supplement their food sources instead of paying for every ingredient.
In the era of urbanization, lawns spread to upper middle classes, and then spread to everyone else with the dawn of suburbs. This is a common trend with wealth indicators, that more and more people adopt them, as they become more readily available, to prove they are upright or successful members of their community. Ironically, this eventually undoes their function as wealth indicators so the wealthy move on to something else.
Fast forward to now where everyone is expected to upkeep a lawn, regardless of class, time, or income situation. Many people are having to work two jobs while raising families and are still expected to take the time to mow for a former wealth flex that people now take for granted.
Front gardens being productive or allowed to re-nativize are seen as the oddities and we now have to justify what our ancestors could have for their own wellbeing. I think it is telling that even the host of this video expressed that her primary hesitation about lawn removal was conformity- not a criticism of her, but a statement about the social pressures we place on each other- over sometimes absolutely baffling expectations.
When we don’t stop to question why something became a norm, or if it is a norm that even still serves us, it becomes meaningless to uphold it and especially to hold others to that standard.
If people do that here in the south they’re gonna end up with snakes, insects, and rodents all in their houses 🤷🏼♂️