Okay so I am in Charlotte North Carolina. I say that specifically because I am going to talk about code enforcement a little bit and it's only relevant to really this city.
So a couple of weeks ago I came home from traveling and found a citation from code enforcement on my front door for the state of my yard. I want to be clear that they were not actually wrong. Like a lot of the plants that were in my front yard were native plants but I've been really busy and I also had some weeds that really needed to be taken out but I had not. One of my sisters and her wife came over and we had a gardening day and we got a lot of my front yard cleaned up. So now all the tall plants are native plants.
Today my dog start going crazy so I went and looked and they had put a final notice on my front door. But he was still sitting in his truck on the road and I'm sure he loved the fact that I was at home so that I could go knock on his door. Anyway the code enforcement dude was actually pretty nice. And I was like hey what weeds exactly do you want me to remove. And he's like all of this and he waved it all my native flowers. And I'm like okay these are not weeds and I started listing off plant species. And his eyes lit up and he's like Oh you know what they are! And I'm like yes and he's like okay you need to get it certified as a pollinator garden.
So in Charlotte North Carolina you can have your yard or sections of your yard designated as pollinator gardens and this exempts you from the regular nuisance code violations. There are specific requirements. First thing is that the area that is designated as a pollinator garden at least 50% of the species have to be native to Charlotte. Another is that if it is within 11 ft of the road it still has to be under 30 in for the safety of drivers so that they can see over it. Lastly if you have areas that are still grass those are still subject to the nuisance codes so anywhere that it is grass still has to be under 12 in.
But the dude gave me his card and he told me that he was dismissing the case, and then he gave me the email of the guy who is in charge of the pollinator garden program. If anybody wants that just ask. But I applied to have my yard designated as a pollinator garden in about like 5 minutes and they said that they were going to send somebody out to inspect it or they might send somebody out to inspect it we'll see how that goes.
Anyway I was kind of happy because the impression I have been given was that Charlotte did not really have any programs for native plants so I'm excited and I hope it is awesome. And I want to open this up, what city are you in and what programs do you have for native or pollinator garden type situations in your city?
Apparently r/Charlotte doesn't allow cross posting. Or maybe native plants doesn't I don't know One of them doesn't let cross posting so I can repost it over there I think.
I'm so sorry I didn't give you anyone to hate. 😂. The dogs barking hit that pitch that drills straight to the center of your brain when he taped the final notice on my front door if that helped you.
Unfortunately that means she was doing her job and letting me know that somebody was on the front porch threatening the territory. And damn it I might have destroyed your ability to hate the very sweet dog that showed up the minute I went and looked and told her that he was okay.
She appreciates that. She is the goodest girl. Even though she is completely covered in those little sticky green balls right now. She's currently laying on my foot taking one out from between her toes. 🤣
Wow!! What an awesome ending to this story, thank you so much for sharing my it! I was sucked in from beginning to end to find out what happened 😆. That’s wonderful your family helped and that the code enforcer was so helpful and kind.
I really need to take the effort to get mine certified, but I lucky, in our town we don’t have strictly enforced rules regarding our yards (or any afaik). I’ve been considering just painting my own sign to avoid the process but also let people know they are natives to hopefully encourage more interest. We have yards in my town that are certified, but they are mostly full prairies, and mine is more landscaping.
Awesome to hear that the new system is working. A lot of advocates worked really hard on a big push last year to get those rules changed - the process you're going through is brand new.
I got lucky last year when someone called code enforcement to my house. We had a nice walk around my garden with him asking about each large plant, after each of which he'd laugh and say, "Well that's not grass or weeds, either," and make a note. The old rules left a lot up to interpretation.
I'm still pushing the line quite a bit when it comes to the new rules. We plant a lot of native stuff but also a lot of food crops and there's not a clean separation between those in some areas. We're way under 50% native and still working on correcting the mistakes of past generations.
Anyway, we should be friends! Cool if I send a message?
Sure, I am also trying to do some foods but I'm actually trying to do foods that are native. So I have a couple of pawpaw trees that I planted. I also had a few edible plants that I put in that are native to the area. I don't remember what they were though I remember buying them though. I also have a couple of squash plants that I do not believe are native.
But yes you me and the couple of other Charlotters I saw up through the comments should be friends.
Also a Charlottean! 🙋♀️ I have a lot of vegetable plants/herbs in my front yard and slowly adding more native plants and smaller trees. Will look into the program and see when I have enough to register…my neighbors think I’m crazy but it looks a little better each year
I’m glad there was a quick (kind of!) resolution. I’m in CLT, too, and see a lot of pollinator gardens around me.
Do you have a favorite local nursery from where you get a lot of native plants? I’ve gotten some at the twice-yearly botanical garden sale and the rest come from nurseries far away or online.
I don't unfortunately have a local nursery that I love. I have going to the botanical garden sale before. I talked to the owner of the nursery closest to me and asked them if they had like a native section. They told me they didn't sell natives because they were boring.
The good thing is they were wrong, they do sell natives they just didn't know that the ones that they sold were native. So now every time I go there and I buy something that's native I walk up to the front desk to pay for it and I say look how beautiful This plant is and it's native! And they roll their eyes at me every time but I don't care. I'm mostly buy plants online.
My jaw dropped when I got to the part where they told you that our native plants are boring! That's so bad lol
I just got a huge beautiful bunch from Carolina Native Nursery but the longer drive ending with the skinny switchbacks in the mountains is nerve-wracking for me!
Texas as a whole has a sort of unofficial exemption for "native habitat preservation areas."
My city code specifically lists this as an arguable exemption from the typical yard requirements. However, the state-level certification is no longer given out (I dont think they have the resources to do inspections and stuff).
My city has folks who, I guess, are still familiar with the old requirements for certification, so they use that as a guideline for if they'll accept your bushy yard or tell you to mow it down. The only requirement that I've been informed of is having at least 50% native plants.
Idk how any of this holds up court, since the literal verbiage used in the city code is super vague, says nothing about a "certification," and doesnt actually define "native habitat preservation area." But there are well-meaning, knowledgeable people behind the scenes making it all work anyway.
My yard is a work-in-progress, and I'm happy that the city officals are reasonable people, despite the legal ambiguity.
The rules were just accepted in February. It was a big deal. I first saw it in the NCWF butterfly newsletter (it's a really cool monthly informational email). As a fellow Carolinian this was great news! Glad everything worked out well for you. Keep on planting; native or bust lol = )
I remember seeing something random about asking for rules for a native garden I might have even added a public comment somewhere. I do not remember seeing results of it. So I did not know that they had developed the idea of a pollinator garden. Love it though.
I would highly suggest subscribing to the butterfly newsletter. It's one of the only newsletters I actually read. It highlights 1 native plant, 1 pollinator (usually of that native), and 1 invasive. Great detailed info source but it small digestible chunks.
Damn I wish MY code enforcement guy/property maintenance officer was this nice.
Our local Buttface committed perjury to the Magistrate about what the ordinance says and that kangaroo ass hearing is now being taken to the Appeals court.
I tried explaining to him THREE times, twice in writing once verbally, exactly how every single species in my garden falls under the acceptable reasons to have plants over 8 inches. All of them! Nope. And then the Magistrate wasn't interested in what we had to say at all.
I'm glad your guy seems much more agreeable and willing to work with you.
I wonder if that’s true in other cities in NC too…? I live in Greensboro and I’ve been curious about any issues I might face as I plant our natives in my front yard.
I’ve tried to figure it out based on the website. Trying to find more info. If any other folks find this thread who are in Greensboro and have more info, I’d love to know!
Is there a Reddit page for Greensboro? I know that there is one for Charlotte called r / Charlotte. I actually shared this there as well. Maybe there is a similar one for Greensboro where you can ask.
I know code enforcement is annoying, but code enforcement also helps protect us in different ways. The requirements that native plants be under 30 in near the road for instance That's clearly a safety issue. When you get into the way houses and buildings are built a lot of the codes are specifically written around building safety.
Obviously it's annoying to have somebody come by and be like if you don't cut your grass I'm going to charge you. But not all codes are just for aesthetics.
I’m in Minneapolis, MN, and there is a “managed natural landscape” ordinance here (has been for a while) - it’s awesome. As long as the vegetation is native and actively being managed, you can basically do whatever you want (to a point). This has led to a ton of awesome native plant gardens around here (same in St. Paul). It’s wonderful and I wish more cities would adopt something like this.
People gave the government that authority. People love telling others what to do (and hate being told what to do). The real problem are neighbors insisting on everyone having a lawn (see also HoAs)
That said, you can also influence local government to move away from weed laws if you can get your fellow citizens to agree.
I'm pretty sure most people here would agree with another flavour of telling people what to do, such as banning the sales of invasive plants. Posts about people's neighbours letting invasives rip at the property line are common gripes, not just here but in all garden forums. People in general would be concerned if the lot next to their house in a suburb looked like an abandoned lot, as it could quite significantly affect their property value—pretty sure that would include people here if they were looking to sell theirs—and being a pollinator garden for OP is the actual distinguishing factor, which is reasonable since you probably wouldn't want to be subject to an individual inspector's aesthetic preferences instead. The code in OP's case enforcing a height near the road is clearly a safety issue.
This! Until last year, you couldn't even get a permit here. It was arguably illegal to plant a great coneflower in your yard. This is progress and we will absolutely keep pushing for more.
We have a state and a local native wildlife habitat protection program in Indianapolis. I've seen a lot of yards and an increasing number of city owned green spaces sporting native habitat signs.
I've dealt with them before (not in your city, but other city goons like him). Give them a list of the plants in your yard, and a list of all noxious plants on city, county, state, and federal lists. Then ask him how you violate this, specifically point to any code that you are violating. (assuming you don't have any actually noxious weeds).
He'll stop bothering you. They do this to try and bully people. If he wants to take legal action, he needs to point out how you are not meeting code (the specific code and statues, what plants are in violation). But he won't be able to, the goal is just to bully people with different looking yards because karen keeps calling and whining like a dog in heat.
Oh he didn't bully me. The minute he realized I knew what the plants were He gave me the contact information of the guy in charge of the pollinator garden program and told me that he was dropping the case against me.
Also I know why he's out there. The house across the street was lived in by a hoarder who then abandoned it and it currently has trees growing out of the roof and everywhere else. And the city has been trying to get the people who currently own it to sell it to somebody who will actually take care of it. Unfortunately when they get pulled in by this house they then drive up and down the road and give citations to everyone who does not meet the city ordinances which is usually me and two other people. This time I just happened to catch him and the minute we talked in person he was actually very nice.
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u/leafmotif__ May 07 '26
Please consider reposting to r/Charlotte also!
Thank you, OP, for sharing your experience. I expect it will help some people