'Native landscape' bill would make Minnesota cities more pollinator friendly, one lawn at a time [View all]

Blame George Washington.

America’s first president maintained a lawn at Mount Vernon, copying the style from English manor houses and castles. Being first in war and first in peace also, apparently, made Washington first in landscaping for Americans — at least the wealthier ones.

The love of the turf grass lawn has hardly abated since, so much so that it eventually became encased in law. Cities and towns across the country adopted ordinances to impose the ideal of the grass lawn, and then used code enforcement officers and fines to compel compliance.

This week, though, a Minnesota Court of Appeals ruling exposed a conflict between that standard and the desire by some policymakers and homeowners to swap manicured lawns for native plantings. In a ruling written by Judge Denise Reilly, the court found that North Mankato’s attempt to force Edward Borchardt to cut back his trees, bushes and grasses wasn’t legal.

“We conclude that the evidence presented to the city council does not support the city council’s determination that the vegetation on Borchardt’s property constituted a ‘rank growth’ or that it unreasonably annoyed a considerable number of members of the public,” Reilly wrote.

Read more: https://www.minnpost.com/state-government/2021/10/native-landscape-bill-would-make-minnesota-cities-more-pollinator-friendly-one-lawn-at-a-time/