Aimee Kemp, right, and her son, Auron, have transformed their yard into a native plant garden. While it helps to restore native habitats, their yard has faced violations by their Long Island village government for being "unsightly."
Modern American suburbs have been defined by pristine, evergreen lawns. Some are now opting for native plants to ease temperatures, reduce flooding and restore habitats for pollinators that have seen population loss in recent decades.
Native plants surround Aimee Kemp's Long Island home. She has worked to educate her neighbors about the plantings as she faces violations and a court appearance before her village court over her native garden, which officials have cited as "unsightly and hazardous."
Aimee Kemp points out native flowers she has around her home on Long Island, New York, on July 28, 2025.
Aimee Kemp's 8-year-old son, Auron, holds a spotted lantern fly, an invasive species, outside their home on Long Island, New York. Auron refuses to kill bugs, he said.

WILLISTON PARK, New York − A pristine, evergreen lawn has long been the dream of American suburban homeowners, but in recent years, a new ideal has begun to sprout in yards across the country.

Some call it rewilding and say it cuts down on water bills, reduces flooding, restores habitats and supports helpful bugs. Others see the lawns as messy, weedy and even illegal.

The issue is coming to a head this summer in a suburb outside New York City, where one science teacher is defending her family's native plants against an onslaught of criticism from village officials as she awaits her first-ever court appearance Sept. 3.

The tickets and warnings she's received represent "an outdated mindset" by the village of Williston Park, said Aimee Kemp, 37. Her corner property, which once featured a standard lawn, now blooms with milkweeds, perennials and even fruit trees. She and her husband still maintain a smaller lawn in the backyard.

"People don't know because they've grown up in areas with lawns their entire lives," Kemp said. "They don't know what the alternative could be, and that it's something that is actually very beneficial."

They water and mow the rest of the yard far less, Kemp said, saving money. During heavy rains, their property doesn't flood. Her 8-year-old son Auron has been studying the diverse plants that grow there and learning to pull up invasive species.

Still, the village has described the Kemp front yard in citations as "unsightly." Elsewhere on Long Island, residents who have tried to add native plants have faced thousands of dollars in fines. Neighbors complain about unsightliness and worry rewilded lawns will lower the value of their own property.

Village officials didn’t respond to calls or emails requesting comment.

Christopher Devane, mayor of New Hyde Park, a scant 3 miles from Kemp's home, said officials there recently reached a successful resolution with a village resident who rewilded her lawn. She agreed to keep her plants from growing taller than 4 feet.

Even though the resident’s yard still wasn't his “cup of tea,” Devane said, the agreement shows appropriate communication and outreach can resolve such disputes.

“We’re not anti-native garden,” Devane said in a phone interview. “It can be done in a better way."

Going native can combat droughts and floods

In 2020, Kemp, her husband Prabhjot Narula and their son moved to the suburban village of Williston Park, just 10 miles from America's first planned suburb of Levittown.

When they moved in, their two-story home was surrounded by non-native bushes and a typical suburban lawn. Beginning around the mid-19th century, middle-class Americans began to idealize the velvety green grass of European manor houses, according to the Smithsonian Institution. That became the suburban ideal.

But while Narula initially wanted to keep the grass, Kemp replaced the bushes with woody perennials ‒ red osier dogwoods, a spicebush, sweet pepper bushes, as well as smooth-leaf hydrangeas. A plant lover, she wanted species that would bloom at different times so pollinators could eat all year, without fertilizers or pesticides that could kill them.

Narula soon became a convert to native plants, said Kemp, currently in a master’s program at Miami University of Ohio, focused on conservation.

Now, during heavy rains, their property doesn’t flood as it did when they first moved in, or as other nearby properties do, Kemp said. Native plants set their roots more deeply, allowing them to take in large amounts of water. They also store reserves during droughts. Floods and droughts are increasingly common in a warming climate.

Native plants have lots of long-term benefits, said Deryn Davidson, a sustainable landscape state specialist at the Colorado State University Extension.

Limiting runoff from pesticides and fertilizers often used on lawns can reduce saltwater intrusion in aquifers and contamination in waterways, Davidson said. The world is also facing exponential declines in biodiversity, primarily among insects. Native plants can provide needed habitats.

Issues such as habitat loss and climate change can feel daunting, said Matthew Shepherd, education director at the environmental nonprofit Xerces Society. But a backyard garden can make an immediate difference.

“It may not seem like much, but even the small planting will bring benefits to the insects in your neighborhood, on your block,” he said. In doing so, neighbors see this and start their own garden down the street, creating more patches for insects to frequent, he said.

Kemp put seeds in the front yard to see whether grass or natives would prevail during last year's drought. By spring, natives had won: North American primrose, goldenrod and coneflowers sprouted. Their nearby peach tree, which isn't native, yielded even more fruit.

The village government noticed, but not for the same reasons. In mid-June, Kemp received a notice of violation on her front door for “Overgrowth of Brush & Grass.”

Confused, she sought clarification for the violation. Kemp and her son Auron dutifully maintain their front- and backyard. They unearth unknown plants, placing them in pots for study until they can determine whether they’re invasive. Auron recently found a plant that turned out to be a partridge pea, a legume species native to the East Coast that has bright yellow flowers in summer and fall. It’s become one of his new favorites.

The village wasn't impressed. Kemp received a letter on June 26. Failure to address the property, the letter said, “shall” result in a summons and the building department to maintain the property at the owner’s expense.

In July, she received a ticket to appear before the village justice court, the first she’d ever received.

'Stick to your guns' with native plants

As she awaits her court appearance, Kemp has tried to educate her neighbors about what she's doing with her property. She and Auron posted fliers around their neighborhood, and they’d talk to anyone willing to listen.

On a Saturday morning in mid-August, Kemp organized a “Native Plant Day” session at her local library. About two dozen people joined.

Some attendees were seasoned native planters. They shared trade secrets, such as how to kill the invasive spotted lantern fly ‒ a “rifle” that shoots table salt. They told others to avoid the "Dirty Dozen" invasive species that harm local environments, including bamboo and English ivy.

Vivek Jain, a 48-year-old pharmacist, said he was making the transition to native plants in small steps. He accepted a gifted goldenrod for his New Hyde Park backyard. His wife won't let him rip the grass out just yet, but he's hoping to add "more pollinators and native plants.”

Part of the presentation focused on helping people overcome their fear of being ostracized for having plants seen as too wild.

"Stick to your guns,” Marshall Brown, president and cofounder of the Long Island Conservancy, encouraged the crowd.

Kemp is doing just that ‒ and hoping that peer pressure works both ways. She is making a native planting showpiece out of a triangular section of her front yard. Once her neighbors see it and realize the advantages, she trusts they will want to rewild part of their yards, too.

Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The government says her lawn is 'unsightly.' She's fighting to keep it that way

Reporting by Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect