June 8, 2026 | Mark Luis Foster

So many things have befallen the standard HOA in these times that you’d think we were all responsible for the high gas prices and flexing inflation. I suppose there’s still time to get those boxes checked.

Now there’s a growing buzz (pardon the pun) over the installation of natural grasses, rain gardens and pollinator gardens in HOAs, or the lack thereof.  From Yahoo News:

Pollinating insects play a critical role in supporting ecosystems and food production, but their populations are declining worldwide. In a new book, environmental researcher Jennie Durant explores an unexpected contributor to that decline: homeowners associations (HOAs) and the landscaping rules they often enforce.

There has been some contentiousness about this issue in HOAs coming up across the US, including here in Minnesota. In fact, last year a lawsuit was filed in a Bloomington HOA when a homeowner installed natural grass on her front lawn, purportedly against HOA rules and regs. I’ve been contacted by a reporter to opine on Tuesday about such matters as the buzzing (pun alert) ramps up on the issue.

So what’s the set-up in the Yahoo article? It’s all about a Maryland HOA homeowner and his wife going au naturel in their front yard:

Writing in Live Science, Durant highlights the experience of Janet and Jeff Crouch in Columbia, Maryland. The couple replaced their conventional lawn with a pollinator-friendly garden filled with native flowers that attracted a range of wildlife, including birds, butterflies, moths, and bees, creating a habitat that supported local biodiversity.

Sounds lovely and harmless enough. Where the stinger? (punny again):

. . . The couple’s project ran into trouble in 2017 when their HOA sent a letter requesting what it described as routine seasonal maintenance, such as trimming plants and tidying the yard.

It’s more than a small degree of difficulty for HOA boards who are bound to some element of uniformity and efficiency on HOA properties to undertake this eco-approach, largely foreign to associations here in Minnesota. After all, there’s efficiencies in scale in mowing and trimming operations when the hired contractor and his swarm (again) of machinery overtake the HOA property for an afternoon as they cut away obscene grass growth, all to leave behind what is hoped to be a fairway worthy of Augusta. Adding complexities like natural grass and butterfly gardens in an occasional front yard creates a different kind of maintenance, one that doesn’t really fit the current HOA mold (!!) if the regs don’t call for it. Not to mention, one person’s natural garden is another person’s poorly trimmed yard.

Things got so raucous in Maryland that their legislature drafted and enacted House Bill 332 in 2021, which prevents HOAs from banning environmentally-friendly landscaping, such as pollinator gardens and rain gardens. Several other states, including Illinois and Maine, also  approved similar measures according to the report.

But there is some worthiness here for HOAs to consider. According to the report:

Research shows pollinator numbers have dropped steeply in recent decades, with habitat loss, pesticides, climate pressures, and industrial agriculture all linked to the decline . . . Conventional lawns can worsen the decline. Durant noted that turf and mowed yards function as food deserts for bees because they eliminate many of the flowering plants, nesting spaces, and shelter that insects need.

It really boils down to education. I doubt many HOA boards have taken the time to understand the issue, and unfortunately it’s too late for embracing rain gardens and pollination gardens when Suzy up the street converts her townhome’s yard into the wild wheat grasses of South Dakota, leaving the adjoining neighbors to call for the repeal of the board. Common areas could be a great place to start such gardens, and some HOAs could stand to include rain gardens where it makes sense ecologically.

We have a landscaper addressing this topic next month (July) at our chapters to get some insight into this trend. I think we can all stand to learn something about this issue and see how HOAs might be able to become part of a solution (for once). We deserve some good buzz once in a while.

Read the Yahoo News story HERE.