Hi, everybody, it's Joe Lample, the Joe behind Joe Gardner and welcome to the Joe Gardner

show.

A few weeks ago, we did a podcast episode featuring the incredible story of Janet and

Jeff Crouch and their multi year battle that they had with their homeowners association.

You might recall this one.

It was simply to keep from having to rip out their longstanding 17 year native plant

landscape and convert it all back to lawn simply because somebody complained.

It was an emotional and expensive experience, but ultimately they prevailed.

And the story was featured in the New York Times and its sense received a lot of exposure,

including my interview with Janet Crouch, three episodes back.

And some positive outcomes emerged from that fight as well, including legislation passed

in their home state of Maryland, making it illegal for HOAs to require homeowners to have

turf grass.

Now HOAs have to allow homeowners to have environmentally friendly landscape if they want, which includes

pollinator and rain gardens.

That's a big deal.

And while Maryland and a few other states now have laws protecting pollinator native plant

landscapes, we have a long way to go.

For example, my guest today, Melinda Soltis, has a similar story as the crouches, a long

battle with her northern Virginia HOA and her efforts to convert part of her front yard

lawn to a native plant garden for attracting pollinators and other beneficial wildlife.

Unfortunately, the Soltis's outcome did not end up as they had hoped.

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