Cues of Care

In some places there are laws, weed ordinances, HOA restrictions, or rules for how you can maintain your garden. Luckily, even with restrictions like these there are still an abundance of ways you can create a robust and wildlife-friendly habitat.

Some examples of restrictions that can be found across the country include:

• Weed ordinances that restrict the planting of certain native species
• Restrictions on the length of grass in lawns
• Watering requirements or restrictions. Some areas may require gardens to be well-watered to avoid brown lawns while other areas may limit your water usage to conserve water
• Restrictions on feeding wildlife using feed like birdseed
• Restrictions on compost or brush piles

Getting your garden certified will not exempt you from these rules, so it is important to follow them. If you plant a variety of native species, your garden will provide robust habitat for wildlife, even if you must avoid other features like bird feeders or brush piles.

If you are concerned about restrictive landscape rules, we have some helpful tips to accommodate those practices while promoting natural, wildlife-friendly landscapes and native plants.

Remember that creating a wildlife habitat in your outdoor space is not the same as letting your yard simply "go wild" or get "overgrown," which can do more harm than good to native species while at the same time leading to neighbor complaints.

Creating beneficial habitat for wildlife takes intention and work to maintain. This process typically includes the manual removal of invasive and nonnative species, followed by the planting of native plant species. Even once the initial planting is done, maintenance will be required to keep invasive species from returning.

Discover resources on how to add the essential elements of habitat into your garden here.

An unmown lawn is often the quickest path to neighbor complaints or HOA fines, and at the end of the day it isn’t even the most wildlife-friendly choice. For this reason, we don’t typically recommend leaving your lawn unmown.

Instead, we recommend:

• Removing turfgrass and creating intentionally planned native garden beds in its place.
• Maintaining existing turfgrass by mowing it regularly to a height of 3 inches which reduces the amount of water needed to maintain your lawn.
• Avoiding pesticides and fertilizers for lawn maintenance.
• Switching to hand powered or electric mowers to reduce your carbon footprint.

Certifying your garden does not override any HOA regulations, laws, or local ordinances, and gardeners should take those requirements into account when designing their gardens and engaging with the Certified Wildlife Habitat program.

The Certified Wildlife Habitat program is designed with the goal of recognizing and celebrating gardeners for their efforts to support wildlife in their outdoor space. The application is a voluntary, honor-based system and certification does not provide special legal status at any level.

We recommend that you always do your research on restrictions or laws that your state, city, town, or even your HOA may have regarding yard maintenance, prohibited plants, or wildlife feeders. Some of these restrictions may require you to avoid some elements in your own garden. Even within these restrictions though, there are many ways to create a wildlife-friendly garden and get it certified.

We first recommend ensuring that you have done everything in your power to make sure your garden follows applicable rules. Common areas of concern are:

• Any turfgrass lawn spaces are well maintained and mowed.
• Your garden generally follows your neighborhood’s aesthetic and does not look unkempt.
• Your garden is free from any trash.
• You are not using supplemental feeders or animal feed.

If your garden still receives complaints or fines, here are three things you can do:

• Contact local native plant groups and see if they have local resources. Rules, fines, and regulations can vary significantly from place to place. Get the most local information you can.
• Communicate the importance of native plants and wildlife habitat to the source responsible for the complaint or fine.
• If you are concerned about restrictive landscape rules, we have some helpful tips to accommodate those practices while promoting natural, wildlife-friendly landscapes and native plants.

Natural gardeners across the country have successfully made the case for their gardens, and there is an ongoing dialogue around best gardening practices. For example, after pressure from their HOA to get rid of their wildlife garden, this couple's garden inspired a new environmental law limiting HOA’s control over eco-friendly gardens.

Creating change in your community is not something that happens overnight. Neighbors may have preconceived notions about wildlife gardens looking messy or simply not fitting their personal aesthetic. Other neighbors may simply not understand why wildlife gardening is important or not view it as a priority.

Using your own garden as an example of how beautiful native plants can be is the best thing you can do to inspire change.

While having friendly conversations with neighbors can be helpful in spreading the word, militantly pushing the idea of native plants and natural gardening can sometimes backfire. People don't often respond well to direct approaches to educate them or suggest they change their gardening methods. You might similarly feel annoyed if a neighbor suggested you spray pesticides on your lawn. Instead, when you talk with your neighbors about wildlife gardening, we recommend sharing stories of how much you love your garden, unique wildlife visitors, or the positive changes you have seen from planting native. The National Wildlife Federation offers a variety of resources to educate around these areas.

While it might not feel like you're doing much to change your neighbors’ minds simply by gardening naturally, studies show that this kind of positive "peer pressure" is one of the most impactful ways to inspire change. People are more likely to do something if they see their neighbors doing it. In fact, this "social comparison" was more effective in changing people’s behavior than education or monetary incentives!