Naturalist Gardener runs into trouble.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2079145

I wish a picture had accompanied this article. I guess one person's flower is another person's weeds.

This makes me so sad.

This is indeed sad. Some people are so ignorant of all the good this woman is doing.

I'm active in the Florida Native Plant Society. Heaven help me if there was an association in my neighborhood, they'd surely be after me! My neighbors have made comments a couple of times about "the jungle" and their lanscape guy has offered several times to clear it for me. The only plants I would consider having cleared are split leaf philodenrons that are just getting a little overgrown, but I'd just cut those back.

Anyhow, as I have replaced the non-native plants with natives, I have seen a remarkable increase in the variety of wildlife in my yard. More birds, mammals, snakes, amphibians, insects, etc. etc. etc. It's absolutely astounding the increase in activity caused by simply returning native vegetation to even a small lot (~ 1/4 acre is the size of our lot). On top of that, you use less water, less fertilizer, and little or no pesticides/fungicides to maintain the landscape. It's just a great thing all around. To think somebody would want it removed amazes me.

I will get off my soapbox now lest someone think I'm sine sort of an "environmental wacko."

I agree it is sad. Especially since she has worked to get the status and recognition from the State of Texas as a wildlife habitat. I've often thought that if neighborhoods could agree to just let the back five feet or so of their yards go natural, there could be a 10 foot wildlife corridor down streets. Anyone who doesn't like the wild look can have a hedge in front of it. I kind of have that where I live (without the hedge) and I have seen fox, coyote, deer and racoon traveling down it. The house next door to me is up for sale and I wonder what kind of landscaping the new owner is going to do. The old gentleman there now can't really see how wild it is.

My dad always left a small part of our yard "wild." We had a woodchuck living back there one year. It drove our 90-year old neighbor nuts but gave us quite a bit of entertainment watching him try to shoot the thing at point blank range and missing it every time. We also had a mommy skunk try to raise baby skunks once. Boy those little baby skunks were CUTE! Dad put a kabosh on that, though. I think they became compost for the garden...I remember he stunk when he came back to the house and we ran out of tomato juice and lemon juice that day cleaning up afterwards.

I just took my trash out and there was a white skunk in the neighbors yard. Right under his lamp post. I saw no black at all. I ran back into the house for the camera but when I came out he was gone. That could have been an interesting experience. LOL