Her Neighbor Reported Her Wildflower Lawn to the County—So She Transformed It into an Official Certified Wildlife Habitat
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A typical yard is full of grass that ideally should be kept short, but that’s not the only type of hard. For example, in a hot and dry climate, drought tolerant yards are quite popular where instead of grass, there are stones and succulents.
In this story, a homeowner has another type of yard. It’s full of wildflowers that attract animals like bunnies and bees. She makes sure the plants don’t block sidewalks or inconvenience neighbors, but she likes the natural look.
Unfortunately, one of her neighbors does not like the way her yard looks at all. In fact, she received a notice from the country about her overgrown yard.
I’m sure her response was quite the opposite of what the neighbor was hoping.
Let’s read all about it.
I had my yard certified as a National Wildlife Habitat to spite a busybody neighbor
Our yard is wild. I mean that in the real definition of “living or growing in the natural environment”.
We have no “lawn”.
We aggressively remove and prevent invasive and noxious species of plants and ensure that what grows is native to our area and drought resistant.
The wildflowers that grow are things like Lupine, Blue Flax, Spiderwort, Black eyed Susan, and Sunflowers, among others.
There’s much more than just wildflowers in the yard.
We have natural elements like driftwood logs to retain water and we even have an elk skull in the yard to act as a shelter for critters.
There are a plethora of birds, bees, bunnies, and other wildlife. More wildlife than any yard in the area, as far as I can tell.
It’s beautiful and alive, but definitely not a manicured lawn with perfectly cut grass and landscaping.
One of their neighbors must hate their yard.
Last summer, we got a notice from the county that our yard was in violation of some county ordinance.
My husband called the number on the notice and got a very “over it” employee who let out a big sigh and said he had gotten like 30 complaints from one person for the entire strip of road that we live on.
Keep in mind, you can’t “batch” report an area. You have to file reports house by house. So someone had the time and energy to pull up Google maps and file a report for about 30 houses for “overgrown weeds.”
She double checked the rules.
I checked the county ordinance and made sure everything we had in our yard was in compliance. Things like “purposely cultivated,” which our wildflowers definitely were.
We planted specific species of seeds and we remove whatever’s not native.
None of the wild plants block any sidewalks nor do they hang over onto any other properties.
This was a brilliant idea.
Now knowing that it was someone with way too much time on their hands, I did some reading and learned that my yard has everything needed and then some to qualify as a National Wildlife Habitat. So, I filled out the form, paid the fee, and got my certificate.
My husband called the county employee back who said “Send me that certificate.”
He looked it over, thanked my husband for the new information he can use in the future, and closed our case.
I now have signs on my yard that announce the property as a wildlife habitat and the birds and bees get to keep living happily in the wild.
Now, she won’t be bothered if the neighbor dares to complain again.
Her yard sounds beautiful.
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Let’s see how Reddit responded.
Here’s a story about a drought tolerant yard.
This person loves the story for two reasons.
This is a good point.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who calls on dozens of whirlygigs to combat the neighbor’s complaints about the fence.
Another person thinks they might be neighbors.
A yard full of grass is so boring. Wildflowers sound much more beautiful.
Currently, my yard is boring and grass, but I’ve thought about turning it into an actual garden full of fruits and vegetables so that the yard serves a purpose instead of just being wasted space that needs to be mowed.
I’m glad she can keep her beautiful wildflower garden forever.
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