Out Front In Ferndale
WHEN I WAS LITTLE OUR NEIGHBOR KATHERINE HAD A VEGETABLE GARDEN instead of a front lawn. the corn stalks were taller than she was. She pumped her own water and hitchhiked to the Eastern Market on weekends. When we picked her up, she’d bless our car. She’d fit right in here in Ferndale.
Ferndale front yards are varied and unique: Christmas lights, wind chimes, sculpture, political signs, all kinds of furniture. And flags – seasonal, rainbow, American. I love “lawn gardens” – officially called “natural landscaping.” A year and a half ago, work started to pass an ordinance to protect them. At the April 13, 2015 City Council meeting, the council approved “natural landscape ordinance changes.” Crystal A. Proxmire of Oakland County 115: “An ordinance passed changing regulations of lawns and encouraging ‘Planned Natural Landscaping’ – a planned, intentional and maintained landscaping of native plants, ornamental grasses and ground covers, rain gardens, shrubs and trees.”
Fellow Ferndalians spoke up. Resident Erin Molnar: “The regulations are necessary to ensure that “planned” remains the operative word, to protect those who are doing these types of yards from code enforcement and still enforce those who are just letting their lawns get out of control.”
It is definitely not a mandate to get rid of lawns. Laura Mikulski: “They are leaving it to the homeowner to decide.” Lucy (my dog) and I love watching neighbors Jessica and Jess develop their natural landscape lawn. It’s a lot of work! Digging up the lawn is, in itself, quite a chore. And there is the initial investment in whatever it is you want to grow.
I asked my husband, Tony (the family gardener) about possibilities. He mentioned “herb gardens, raised bed gardening, companion gardening, butterfly gardens” Don’t forget “Victory Gardens” which the government encouraged during World War II, so that citizens could have fresh fruits and vegetables during a time when it was very hard to get them from farms to neighborhoods. Over 20 million participated, and victorious vegetables grew in yards, vacant lots and even on rooftops.
Companion gardening: Certain plants help each other grow when they are partnered, and lessen or eliminate the need for chemical pesticides. There’s a website called “My Square Foot Garden” that shares a companion planting color chart to help you get your plants to co-exist. And there are flowers that repel, or lure insects away from vegetables – marigolds, geraniums and petunias. Raised bed gardens allow you to control soil texture and ingredients, they warm quickly and drain well. Vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruits (particularly berries) do well in raised beds.
Butterfly gardens – important! No insecticide!! Butterflies are members of the insect species. Insecticides will kill them. Break out the nectar and host plants – and maybe even a butterfly house – to bring them back to us.
The consensus – “live and let live.” Those who enjoy their lawns want to keep them, but are fine with well-tended front gardens. The gardeners enjoy their unconventional yards. Colleen Parsons Novak said, “I am for anything that helps save water or creates or flowers.” “There are drought-resistant choices,” said Christine Szarek Knight. She waters on most occasions using her rain barrel.
Take a walk, enjoy the lawns and gardens, the birds and butterflies. From my perspective, the front yards of Ferndale are a wonderful place.
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