A family in a southern Kentucky town has won a small battle in the rapidly growing conversation on replacing the typical American lawn with native landscapes.
Scottsville residents Tosha and Kevin Clark purchased their home in 2019. Situated on the corner of a main highway that runs through town and a small side street, it’s plainly visible to most drivers making their way through town. When the Clark’s first moved in, the yard was mostly a maintained grass lawn with a few mature oaks scattered throughout. But after years of living in an apartment, the couple had larger plans for their one-acre lot.
“Before moving here, we kind of had the idea of like, ‘Hey, we want to dedicate this space to native plants,’” Tosha Clark said.
Over six years, the couple converted their property into a thriving biodiverse ecosystem of native wildflowers, grasses, and more than 30 new trees scattered on the land.
Different species are planted intentionally, meant to mimic prairie and forest landscapes that work in tandem with the movement of the sun. Paths are mowed through the garden, winding between old-growth oaks and saplings still establishing their roots.
The couple says they’ve observed many wildlife species like songbirds, box turtles, owls and snakes making use of those habitats despite being only feet from a busy highway.
After years of labor putting those habitats in place, the couple received a notice from the city in 2023 saying their lawn was in violation of a city ordinance.
“We got it in the mail, and it said, of course, your property is overgrown, and there was a few extra notes that the code enforcement officer made, and it was almost like he was like, ‘Okay, I see you’re doing something, but just tell me what it is, like help me understand,’” Tosha said.
Following an inspection from Scottsville’s code enforcement officer, and an explanation of the benefits of the native garden, the landscape was allowed to remain.
However, a year later, a neighbor issued another complaint with the city regarding the aesthetics of the property. The Clarks were presented with a second ordinance violation and ordered to cut the lawn back to bare grass once again.
“It just felt like it was almost like a David and Goliath, you know, like–oh my gosh I’ve got to defend the yard. I felt like all this work that my husband and I had put in, it was just gonna go away,” Tosha said.
Cultivating wildlife...and allies
That same week, Tosha had a garden tour scheduled with Wild Ones of Southern Kentucky, a local chapter of a national nonprofit organization that champions efforts for native species.
Members of the Scottsville City Council agreed to join the tour and learn more about the benefits of a native lawn. Tosha included descriptions of each of the native flowers and grasses, explanations of the benefits to wildlife, and stories of the years of hard work put into the native garden.
The site now has designations as a Certified Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation, a Native Species Habitat through Wild Ones, and a Monarch Butterfly Waystation.
Scottsville Mayor David Burch is also a member of the city’s gardening club, and says the benefit to the steadily declining numbers of Monarchs was a key factor in swaying the council’s decision to update their ordinance.
“The population is decreasing, and we want to turn this around, or at least be a part of the effort to increase the population and make sure they’ve got places along the way to stop in their migration pattern,” Burch said.
After the tour, council members voted to introduce the new Managed Natural Landscape Ordinance. Mirroring a similar decision in Louisville, the ordinance encourages, “managed, natural landscapes which include native plants benefiting the city's environment and its residents by improving stormwater retention, increasing water quality and biodiversity, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and providing habitat for wildlife such as birds, butterflies, and other beneficial insect species.”
The ordinance describes a managed natural landscape as, “A planned, intentional, and maintained planting of native or non-native grasses, wildflowers, forbs, ferns, shrubs or trees, including but not limited to rain gardens, meadow vegetation, and ornamental plantings. Maintenance is defined as keeping the planting within the defined area, free of noxious weeds.”
Bugs on the windshield
Katie Marquardt, president of the Wild Ones Southern Kentucky chapter, helped organize the Clarks’ garden tour with city officials.
She said Scottsville’s decision is a step forward in a revolution of native landscapes nationwide, and many other homeowners have been searching for the means to restore species that have been lost in years past.
“I was born in the 80s, and I still remember a time where driving down the road in the summer, you have bugs hitting your windshield, and that was totally normal, and that doesn’t happen anymore. We are witnessing these changes in our lifetime, and we can tell that if we keep going down this path, eventually we’re hitting extinction of many species,” Marquardt said.
She said irreparable damage has been done to native habitats and species, in the effort to create the picturesque American lawn, but with more access to information, solutions are on the rise.
“It’s not just people who love nature and love wildlife who are getting in on this now, people are looking for ways that they can make changes in their own landscape to make sure we don’t go down that path of mass extinction,” Marquardt said.
Information on native landscapes, local plant sales, and educational resources are available on Wild Ones Southern Kentucky’s website.
