NOVA HOAs acceptance of native gardening, clover lawns, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you do a clover lawn well, no one will care. If by native your mean a field of dandelions, neighbors will not be happy

That is not what it means. Stop perpetuating that stereotype.

It's not what people intend, but if you don't use herbicides and you aren't serious about weeding on a regular basis, it's what happens

I've never used any herbicides or pesticides in my lawn and garden, and I have very few weeds. The few I do have pop up get hand-weeded.

I keep my grass pretty long,, about 4 inches, which precludes most weeds from taking root.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you do a clover lawn well, no one will care. If by native your mean a field of dandelions, neighbors will not be happy

That is not what it means. Stop perpetuating that stereotype.

It's not what people intend, but if you don't use herbicides and you aren't serious about weeding on a regular basis, it's what happens

I've never used any herbicides or pesticides in my lawn and garden, and I have very few weeds. The few I do have pop up get hand-weeded.

I keep my grass pretty long,, about 4 inches, which precludes most weeds from taking root.

+2. To all of it. The above PP is clearly clueless, dispensing in ignorant arguments but w/o having any knowledge on the topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone moved into my non-HOA Alexandria (Fairfax section) neighborhood and went this route. They ripped up all the grass and bushes in the front yard and planted dozens of little native bushes. Then they covered the entire yard with bark. When the tree in the front fell over, they just left the 4-ft high stump and cut up the rest into rounds and put them in the yard, in some sort of walk-way kind of situation? It looks absolutely bizarre. Now they've got lots of weeds or grasses growing up between the bark. No one else in the neighborhood has a front yard like this so....yeah. Glad I don't live next door to them.

Well so, exactly. Imagine if this PP could complain to or control an HOA.

I'm the PP and I'm not the type to get involved in an HOA. I've never lived in an HOA community. That said, I'd be really interested to see how all of you do when you have to sell your homes with these great native gardening, clover lawns. Other buyers may not be quite so enamored with this back-to-nature look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone moved into my non-HOA Alexandria (Fairfax section) neighborhood and went this route. They ripped up all the grass and bushes in the front yard and planted dozens of little native bushes. Then they covered the entire yard with bark. When the tree in the front fell over, they just left the 4-ft high stump and cut up the rest into rounds and put them in the yard, in some sort of walk-way kind of situation? It looks absolutely bizarre. Now they've got lots of weeds or grasses growing up between the bark. No one else in the neighborhood has a front yard like this so....yeah. Glad I don't live next door to them.

Well so, exactly. Imagine if this PP could complain to or control an HOA.

I'm the PP and I'm not the type to get involved in an HOA. I've never lived in an HOA community. That said, I'd be really interested to see how all of you do when you have to sell your homes with these great native gardening, clover lawns. Other buyers may not be quite so enamored with this back-to-nature look.

Here we go. Just stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone moved into my non-HOA Alexandria (Fairfax section) neighborhood and went this route. They ripped up all the grass and bushes in the front yard and planted dozens of little native bushes. Then they covered the entire yard with bark. When the tree in the front fell over, they just left the 4-ft high stump and cut up the rest into rounds and put them in the yard, in some sort of walk-way kind of situation? It looks absolutely bizarre. Now they've got lots of weeds or grasses growing up between the bark. No one else in the neighborhood has a front yard like this so....yeah. Glad I don't live next door to them.

Well so, exactly. Imagine if this PP could complain to or control an HOA.

I'm the PP and I'm not the type to get involved in an HOA. I've never lived in an HOA community. That said, I'd be really interested to see how all of you do when you have to sell your homes with these great native gardening, clover lawns. Other buyers may not be quite so enamored with this back-to-nature look.

It’s not that hard to just till it and lay sod. They’re only plants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone moved into my non-HOA Alexandria (Fairfax section) neighborhood and went this route. They ripped up all the grass and bushes in the front yard and planted dozens of little native bushes. Then they covered the entire yard with bark. When the tree in the front fell over, they just left the 4-ft high stump and cut up the rest into rounds and put them in the yard, in some sort of walk-way kind of situation? It looks absolutely bizarre. Now they've got lots of weeds or grasses growing up between the bark. No one else in the neighborhood has a front yard like this so....yeah. Glad I don't live next door to them.

Well so, exactly. Imagine if this PP could complain to or control an HOA.

I'm the PP and I'm not the type to get involved in an HOA. I've never lived in an HOA community. That said, I'd be really interested to see how all of you do when you have to sell your homes with these great native gardening, clover lawns. Other buyers may not be quite so enamored with this back-to-nature look.

Given the amount of business growth native plant sellers are seeing, and the fact that we're starting to see even regular garden centers start to offer natives, I think that offering a low maintenance, native yard is going to be a selling point for a house. We're not quite there yet, but we will be in the future.

[Anonymous]

I love gardening and native plants but there is nothing low maintenance about it. This isn’t Arizona.

Here, the only way to grow native plants in a suburban setting is to be constantly at war with invasive weeds.

That’s the reality and I wish the native plant lobby would be more up front about it.

It’s also nearly impossible to outsource.

The reason people do lawn and bare mulch with shrubs is because it’s by far the easiest option to maintain and to outsource said maintenance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love gardening and native plants but there is nothing low maintenance about it. This isn’t Arizona.

Here, the only way to grow native plants in a suburban setting is to be constantly at war with invasive weeds.

That’s the reality and I wish the native plant lobby would be more up front about it.

It’s also nearly impossible to outsource.

The reason people do lawn and bare mulch with shrubs is because it’s by far the easiest option to maintain and to outsource said maintenance.

OP here and I don't really get the difference. The weeds are there no matter the kind of plant, native or not. If you plant your plants closer together, less weeding to do. I still mulch because my plants aren't filled in enough not to and that works well enough. too. But in my experience, natives don't mean more weeds whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love gardening and native plants but there is nothing low maintenance about it. This isn’t Arizona.

Here, the only way to grow native plants in a suburban setting is to be constantly at war with invasive weeds.

That’s the reality and I wish the native plant lobby would be more up front about it.

It’s also nearly impossible to outsource.

The reason people do lawn and bare mulch with shrubs is because it’s by far the easiest option to maintain and to outsource said maintenance.

NP. I thought 11:17 might have been talking about me but I haven't had to have a tree cut down in years. I did, though, get rid of the turf grass in my front lawn, mulched it all and put in mostly pollinator friendly/native plants.

I think we have different ideas about the level of effort needed to maintain it. I don't see it as being constantly at war. I DO like spending time puttering around doing stuff but I could do a lot less and it'd be fine. A good design and installation can go a long way in reducing the maintenance that is required. You may not be able to reliably outsource the maintenance work but that, like everything, is a choice.

I recognize not everyone likes what I've done or may not want to maintain it. That's fine. I don't like their sterile, pollinator scarce spaces and wouldn't pay money to perpetuate them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love gardening and native plants but there is nothing low maintenance about it. This isn’t Arizona.

Here, the only way to grow native plants in a suburban setting is to be constantly at war with invasive weeds.

That’s the reality and I wish the native plant lobby would be more up front about it.

It’s also nearly impossible to outsource.

The reason people do lawn and bare mulch with shrubs is because it’s by far the easiest option to maintain and to outsource said maintenance.

NP. I thought 11:17 might have been talking about me but I haven't had to have a tree cut down in years. I did, though, get rid of the turf grass in my front lawn, mulched it all and put in mostly pollinator friendly/native plants.

I think we have different ideas about the level of effort needed to maintain it. I don't see it as being constantly at war. I DO like spending time puttering around doing stuff but I could do a lot less and it'd be fine. A good design and installation can go a long way in reducing the maintenance that is required. You may not be able to reliably outsource the maintenance work but that, like everything, is a choice.

I recognize not everyone likes what I've done or may not want to maintain it. That's fine. I don't like their sterile, pollinator scarce spaces and wouldn't pay money to perpetuate them.

+1 I might pay extra for a home with good garden landscaping design. But in the end, it doesn't matter all that much because I can make the land what I want. If someone wants grass, it's not such a big deal to add it.