'Natural' yard could land owner in jail

Houston Chronicle ^ | March 24, 2003 | By TERRY KLIEWER

[Xenalyte]

US is a bit weird in our obsessive "short green lawn" worship; we're all basically trying to copy English country estates in a fit of aristocracy-imitation and this isn't England, hence the reason so many have trouble with their lawns and have to expend enormous amounts of effort trying to turn Texas or Arizona or whatever into Kent or Shropshire or whatever.

Bacon's dad suffers from an extreme form of the obsession. He used to mow his lawn three or four times a week.

[Sloth]

Never, ever, ever buy land controlled by a homeowner's association. They are pure evil, perhaps more fascist that Saddam. When there's an HOA, you don't own property -- you rent it.

[HairOfTheDog]

They are pure evil, perhaps more fascist that Saddam.

Easy there friend... when you exaggerate, you lose me.

[Sloth]

I doubt Saddam worries too much about whether the typical Iraqi paints his shack or builds a lean-to for storage in the back.

[Carry_Okie]

If she keeps what she has on her own property there shouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, that's hard to do. Certainly the wood sorrel is invasive, other species she has may be also.

She also lacks grazing species to control it and should do it mechanically.

[CobaltBlue]

Wood sorrel (oxalis) is a domestic plant that is probably better suited for her ecological niche than lawn grass.

I realize that some people love lush green lawns that can only be achieved by poisoning everything else.

I drive who owns the house next door batty. He is ex military, retired, and loves his grass perfectly green, and pristine. He cuts it into a nice plaid pattern twice a week.

When I told him that I had deliberately planted clover on my lawn for the bees, I thought he would blow a gasket.

Thank goodness he doesn't actually live next to me, the people who rent are very nice.

[countrydummy]

I need to say, that when did Texas get any kind of zoning laws and regulations? They have their land patents and as such go way beyound any other enity that would try and affect these land patents!

[AnAmericanMother]

That would be yellow jackets. Couple of reasons. 1. Nesting in the ground. 2. Late fall (prime yellow jacket time - bees are settling down for the winter at that point) 3. You were mobbed without warning - not typical bee behavior.

Word to the wise: go to the doctor NOW and get an auto-injector of ephinephrine (or whatever your doc prescribes) and carry it with you at ALL times. Multiple stings like that WILL sensitize you, especially if you felt your throat closing up, and the next time may be fatal - and Benadryl probably will not be enough. Although neither of us has ever been stung multiple times or had a bad reaction, we have epinephrine auto-injectors in our bee suit pockets and in the tool kit.

My doctor's wife was stung by yellow jackets and did not have her kit with her - by the time he found her she was already in a coma. She lingered for almost five years in a vegetative state until she finally died from pneumonia. He was devastated. You DON'T want to go there.

[Jhoffa_]

Leave her alone..

Contrary to popular belief, she has more right to do as she wishes with her property than her neighbors have a "right" to high property values.

Everyone is under the impression that an investment must show a return or they are being "wronged" somehow. The truth is, people have no right to high property values and have no place telling their neighbors how to landscape.

The neighboring town here even has guidelines for your garbage cans! If you put out one thy don't like, the trash guy's just throw it in the truck and off it goes. My buddy lost several before he found out about the rule.

Busy body-ism should be punishable by death, imo.

[HairOfTheDog]

Leave her alone..

I would leave her alone! - I don't know why people are so ticked off about her shrubbery.

[HairOfTheDog]

My Lord! - OK! I will call and consult with a doctor about this to be sure.... I think I could be tested for sensitivity too, so I would know, right?

[HairOfTheDog]

But unless you are interested in insects, they all are buzzy insects that sting

Yeah - I think that is the level of my sophistication on the subject!

[AnAmericanMother]

Absolutely. Your doctor can recommend an allergist who will test you for sensitivity - when my husband was tested about 20 years ago they divided his back up into a grid and put little tiny pinpricks of various substances in each square. They had a scale to gauge the severity of the reaction -- and he was allergic to just about everything (except bees!)

Do consult with a doc. Don't mean to scare you, but better safe than sorry. (If your doc thinks I'm all wet, go with his call! :-D )

[Jhoffa_]

I love ground nesting yellow jackets.. The last time I had some here I got attacked when I mowed over them. They are very agressive.

Sneak up on their nest at night and they won't bother you. Use coleman fuel and a match to take care of them.

[AnAmericanMother]

I have an elegant and instructive cure for yellow jackets.

Locate the entrance to their nest. At night, while they're all tucked in bed, cover the entrance with a large clear glass mixing bowl, pushing the edges well down into the ground.

In the morning, the nasty little critters will wake up and head out to work - but they bump their heads against the glass and fly in circles. If you block the hole with a bucket or a shovel full of dirt they will just dig another entrance, but since they CAN get out the door and they CAN see daylight, they never dig another entrance and they starve to death.

Ain't that neat?

Bees despise yellow jackets even more than I do, and if you keep bees they will get rid of them for you.

[Jhoffa_]

Ain't that neat?

Well, yeah.. But I just like to blow stuff up.

(That is very creative though.. I will remember it.)

[Carry_Okie]

Excuse me, but I don't need your condescending lecture on native plants. I am an expert on local plant propagation processes. I do habitat restoration on my property almost full time. I even transplant poison oak for erosion control and as a cover for wood rats (owl food).

That said, I don't care how "suited" wood sorrel is to her property, she doesn't have the right to infest other people's property with it no matter how PC you think it is, particularly in a neighborhood that has governing covenants that she accepted.

[gitmo]

Yeah. Our ASSociation is mad because the trees in my front yard haven't grown as fast as my neighbors' trees. I could have sworn I read the Soviet Union closed shop.

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh, I like to blow up stuff too!

My hubby and I are charter members of the Pyrotechnics Guild International - fireworks "R" us!

When my husband was a young student at GA Tech he used to work part time for Zambelli Bros. firing displays in GA and FLA. We used to travel around the country to PGA conventions and compete in the production contests. (This was all B.C. - Before Children - of course. We have to be staid and stuffy and all Establishment to set a Good Example, now. Ugh. )

Gasoline works well on yellow jackets, you don't even have to light it, it settles down and suffocates them. (We would toss a packet of Black Cats into the hole for effect though.)

[wideminded]

The woman in the red outfit earlier in this thread is not the homeowner, Lisa Wright, and therefore has nothing to do with this thread. It is a picture of "Ming Zeng, a falun gong practitioner."

I have recently had some dealings with an HOA when I attempted to talk to them on behalf of a single middle aged woman who has also recently had a stroke. I was trying to deal with all their concerns and make them happy by arranging to have some landscaping completed. Instead they seem to prefer to respond only with confiscatory fines and now a legal battle. It all could have been resolved with a few phone calls. I would agree with all the caveats stated earlier about moving into this type of neighborhood.