Henry and Vera Jones have spent months planning their back-to-nature wildflower garden.
Photograph by: Pat McGrath, The Ottawa Citizen
Posted on 07/07/2009 5:38:01 PM PDT by fanfan
OTTAWA — Henry and Vera Jones have a dream of a new kind of backyard, one that is an oasis of nature. But that dream is threatened by a City of Ottawa bylaw that appears to suggest they should mow it all down.
For nine months the Constance Bay couple have been planning a new ecologically tuned garden on their half-acre lot on Allbirch Road. No manicured lawns to be watered, fertilized, cut and weeded. Just lots of flowers, trees and vegetables to create a sanctuary for wildlife, especially the kind that pollinate flowers.
They call it the Allbirch Pollinator Garden. The city calls it a violation under bylaw 2005-208.
A few days ago they got a registered letter from the city saying that their property is in violation of the city's bylaw because they had failed to remove heavy undergrowth, long grass or weeds. The city instructed the couple to cut the long grass on their property by July 8 or risk having the city do the job, then bill them for the work.
They were shocked.
They have planned their return-to-nature garden for many years. They used to live in Nepean and bought their house at Constance Bay a year ago. Henry was a scientist with Fisheries and Oceans and has accumulated a lifetime of concern about what we are doing to the natural world. Vera is an environmentalist who believes that caring for the natural world is a deeply moral issue and that the alternative yard being created is their free expression on that issue.
So their garden is no monochrome piece of Kentucky bluegrass. It's more like a meadow in training, with a diverse array of plants and wildlife. There are some paths mowed, but there is also tall grass, a lot of wildflowers, many perennial plants and trees. They have also planted fruit trees.
The Fletcher Wildlife Garden at the Central Experimental Farm has donated 140 plants and they are being installed.
There is no trimmed lawn because Vera and Henry Jones don't like how lawns suck up precious water, become ecological dead zones that fail to support insects and birds, and sometimes encourage soil erosion.
Their first year with the alternative garden has attracted lots of birds and dragonflies, frogs, pileated woodpeckers, a family of cardinals and large numbers of goldfinches.
Vera concedes that the garden is very much a work in progress. She says it will take many more months before all of the plants have filled in and grown to create a rich meadow that doesn't require watering or significant maintenance and is mowed only once a year, in the spring. When the garden is fully planted, they hope that people will come by and see it, and that the idea of an alternative garden that returns land to nature will spread.
But someone isn't impressed. The city got a complaint about the property and a bylaw inspector visited on June 23 before issuing the order.
Vera says to follow the city's order would mow down nine months of work in a few minutes. "This is anything but a derelict property. The city has more serious issues to deal with."
Henry says the garden project is an attempt to "leave something for the kids of the future," and to mow it down "would be a violation."
Councillor Eli El-Chantiry, who represents West Carleton-March, said Monday that he has asked city bylaw officials to hold back on the complaint until a supervisor in the department has visited the couple's garden.
El-Chantiry said the city's bylaws regarding property standards are a complaint-driven process and complaints cannot be ignored. The city doesn't want to see people neglecting their properties and claiming they are doing it for environmental reasons, he said, but if people are just gardening in a different way, that shouldn't be a problem.
The couple promises a legal fight if the city pushes the matter. They say they have a growing group of supporters, some with legal expertise, who want this new kind of garden to flourish. © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
"Not in their backyard: Bylaw threatens to mow down couple's ecological, back-to-nature, meadow-like yard following complaint".
Ping.
Could turn on technical issues like what plants are in it and how high they grow. I know, I’ve been hassled myself over my grapevines.
Henry and Vera Jones have spent months planning their back-to-nature wildflower garden.
Photograph by: Pat McGrath, The Ottawa Citizen
Why should anyone hassle you about you grape vines?
What ever happened to freedom?
Sounds like a euphemism for an overgrown lot. It also sounds like a couple of hippies and we all know what kind of yard they might have.
It's impossible to tell without pictures.
you = your grape vines.....
we have laws here about how high your grass can grow.....they WILL come in and mow it down and bill you if you do not comply......along with lots of fines.
I would never live in a community were I am told I most mow, or I must preserve trees or I must maintain an old house like it was during the signing of the declaration of independence.
to he!! with that.....
See post #4.
Over grown grass yes, but a natural garden?
See #4.
They should check to see if there are any “nature conservancy” laws which allow a person to declare their property a “nature sanctuary” for the preservation of plants and wildlife and insects.
If not, they should start a national movement for such laws which are in existence in the U.S. In fact, my upper backyard and my neighbor’s look like a grassland (Mine is because I have blackberry bushes growing there for my granddaughter. My neighbor’s because he is too lazy to cut it, but the cats love it, the birds love it, the insects love it, and frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.
“Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow.”
sporadically planted flowers surrounded by grass.......looks like they are planning a meadow, not a yard....to each his own, but move out to the country and it can work.
My 5 acres is pretty much the way God made it, I like it that way. Looking at a wide expanse of grass gets boring really quick.
Whatever happened to freedom you say?
I dunno. Ask AmeriCorps. They are the folks who sent me my latest nastygram about it.
I have grape vines that every year grow into the branches of an overhanging tree. I think it’s a wonderful clump of greenery and it shields my house from the afternoon sun. The botanist of the county says it’s weeds but as long as “neighbors don’t complain” he’ll let it slide. So I have to not annoy said neighbor with my dandelions or prickle weeds or whatever.
It’s their yard, look at yours, and leave them alone.
No. I’m all in favor of making life for you stinking hippies difficult.
...got me some mowing to do!
Mess with me and I’ll start a hog farm!
Goats
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