Woman Plants A Yard Of Weeds After Her HOA Complains Her Lawn Isn't Green Enough
Nothing like a little good old-fashioned malicious compliance.
RossHelen | Shutterstock Benjamin Franklin famously said that "nothing is certain but death and taxes," but if he'd lived in the bizarre times of the 21st century, that aphorism would surely have had a third item on the list: "insane HOA overreach."
Like so many living under these mini-dictatorships, one woman on TikTok has had it with her HOAs complaining and decided to meet their petty aggression about her yard with a solution that was both a pettiness and gardening win-win.
When a woman's HOA complained her lawn wasn't green enough, she fought back with malicious compliance.
TikToker @garden_buds is, as her username suggests, an avid gardener, but apparently, her efforts haven't been to her HOA's liking. She explained that she's received numerous complaints from her HOA that her lawn isn't "green enough," — which is odd since the lawn she shows in her videos is… perfectly green. But trying to make sense of the slings and arrows of an HOA's fits of pique is a fool's errand, so let's just move on.
Her HOA seems to be on a particular level of insane — they've put liens on other people's homes for their "violations" of the HOA's standards for greenness, so @garden_buds wasn't about to blow them off. Instead, she got petty.
Jupiterimages | Canva Pro
The gardener planted an entire lawn of weeds — leafy, bright green clover — that doesn't need to be watered.
Part of the problem with the woman's yard is that grass requires a lot of water to stay green. Living in the drought-ravaged West — even usually wet Washington, where she lives — had a tiny amount of rainfall last year. She said that constant watering is an irresponsible choice she's not willing to make.
So, instead, she covered her lawn with clover seeds. Yes, the very plant that makes all those lucky "four-leaf clovers." It's considered a weed, and people spend tons of money hiring services to spray chemicals on their lawns to abate it.
But @garden_buds saw it as a very simple solution. It's bright green, for starters, and requires very little water or maintenance of any kind. It basically solved every problem she was facing, easy peasy.
Plus, there was an added bonus — the clover she planted produces darling tiny yellow flowers and bigger purple ones, turning her yard into a whimsical splash of color. You can probably guess, however, how her HOA felt about that.
Clover lawns are increasingly popular for their ease and environmental benefits. So naturally, her HOA hates it.
As climate change intensifies, more and more people are getting rid of their lawns because of how much water and maintenance they require, especially in the Western states, where rain and snow are becoming increasingly rare.
There are many options instead of grass, from xeriscaping — replacing lawns with native plants that don't require irrigation — to rockscaping, which is just throwing down a bunch of rocks and calling it a day like they often do in desert states.
Clover is an option that provides similar benefits. It's drought tolerant in nearly all U.S. growing zones, stays green and leafy, and, as this gardener experienced, even flowers. But do you think it was good enough for her HOA? Absolutely not!
They complained yet again that her clover lawn was "bringing down property values," precisely the kind of absurd nonsense fantasy an HOA loves to spin. This gardener was unfazed. She wrote that she simply cut it shorter with her lawnmower so that it looked like grass and kept it pushing. Here's hoping that when spring comes, the clover flowers will grow in a pattern that reads "Try Me."
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.