It's a real nice idea, but sadly, many places simply won't let you do something like that. You'll always end up with some "sterile yard" fan who will complain to the city about your "weeds"

Of course you could become a member of your Association's Board and promote rule changes.

This is the exact obstacle I haved faced in trying to make my yard more to my liking. And getting the bylaws changed is extremely difficult in the homeowner's association that I belong to. It takes something like a 75% vote of all residents to get something changed. That's virtually impossible. We usually can't even get a quorum to elect new officers every year.

This is why it has to be done right.

My yard still has grass in a lot of places. We also have a HUGE 100-year-old spruce, a couple of smaller trees, and some extensive rose and herb gardens.

I have added several native rose species, and expect to add various native shrubs this year (most particularly a native currant called squawberry).

Furthermore, I also include various native and naturalized plants such as white yarrow (Achillia Millefolium) and Woolley Mullein (Verbasculum Thapsis). None of these plants are considered weeds by any of my neighbors and they all provide a variety of habitats for various animals, most particularly various forms of birds.

One should still be artistic. And still most of my lawn is intact. The difference is that my flower gardens are habitat-friendly, and honestly they look great too.

Lawn is treated with organic fertilizers, and overly acidic soil is treated with wood ash (we have wood heat). It isn't *that* hard to go without pesticides. You just have to understand it can be more work for the first year or two.

Native plant garden doesn't mean "dandylions and cheat grass" (neither of those are native species anyway). It means incorporating in a decorative and functional way, native plants into gardens.