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"No matter what the day brings, I am at peace in my small garden."
As I look toward my retirement, I am filled with excitement of designing my little peace on earth. Simple colors that will last through the seasons and a few vegetables to snack on at my leisure or share with a neighbor. At this age and lots of trial and error, perennials have become my best friends. I have grown accustom to greeting them each season without disappointment.
However, lately I am feeling a little anxious when thinking about submitting my planting plans to an HOA. Moreover, it is the possibility of being denied a simple pleasure. My garden tends to be a work in progress like a canvas.
Gardeners, who sought permission to plant around or behind their home please share your experiences good and bad; identifying the community, would be very helpful. Keep in mind I am only referring to the 55+ communities.
To be fair, I would also like to hear from HOA board members.
I previously posted this to the Delaware forum, but everyone must be in their gardens.
We live in a 65+ retirement community and it's kinda complicated, but compare it to a single story condo but without a HOA. Wife is a great gardener and when we moved here from the country she was somewhat distressed about what to do about a space for her flowers and few vegiesl. So, she didn't ask and dug up a three foot strip on two sides of our concrete patio. No one on the staff said a word but they and the neighbors would stop by to admire the flowers and vegies and when she started sharing the vegies, everyone was very happy. It's been six years now and no problems.
I guess though, they had already decided we were "different" because where most of the residents have a flower garden along the entry walk, I put down a ground cover and covered it with my rocks/minerals I have collected from "everywhere". I tell new neighbors that where everyone else has a flower garden in that spot, I have a rock garden.
Good luck with your efforts and I realize your situation is different from ours. I learned, in the Army, a long time ago, it's easier to get forgiveness than to get permission.
...Gardeners, who sought permission to plant around or behind their home please share your experiences good and bad; identifying the community, would be very helpful. Keep in mind I am only referring to the 55+ communities.
To be fair, I would also like to hear from HOA board members.
...
Just curious: do you think HOA rules & regs, garden-wise, are
quite specific to/different for 55+ communities vs non-55 areas?
I garden, and I've been on our HOA at our Winter Escape home in Naples, FL for the past 4 years,
but it's not a 55+ community, so I guess I will refrain from opins.
GL, mD
You should have specs defined in your documents, whether it's 55+ or whatever.
Here (sw fla.) ours only allows for in pots on our lenias, or immediately up against our homes (single family dwellings). The reasoning being; our fees include our landscapers; which the HOA have agreed with them not to encumber the open space, as it would make their job more difficult and would cost more. No clotheslines, ponds or any other stuctures allowed either.
And boy, coming from upstate NY where I had 160 acres and a 30 X 20 veggie garden, clotheslines and fruit trees and various pionies, roses, forsythia, and spring bulbs, and many naturalized things, it made me cry, and had many regrets moving.
It took a couple of years of walking the dog in the miserable summers of heat & mosquitoes, no-see-ems, to realize they've done me a favor. ...And I've taken up orchids, which surprisingly are easy to work with and are clutivated on my lania, hence, no bugs at dawn or dusk, when the heat is milder, but bugs are worse.
Our area is riddled with HOA, some 55+, 65+, some no age restriction at all, some single family homes, some condo developments, and all of them seem to operate with very similar rules, and are listed in their documents.
I have landscaped over a hundred homes in +55 communities. The best was Del Webb. You need to examine your CCR's and determine what is allowable. Make friends with several home owners who have gone through the approval process with your HOA board. I created the plans for the clients and went in front of the Boards for approval. Again see what has been done in your community already. Get some examples of the plans your neighbors have submitted if you are going to do it your self. Hopefully your HOA board is still run by the developer and has not been turned over yet to the homeowners.
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