Sherbrooke resident flouts flower rules, letting front garden flourish freely

When Dany Baillargeonbought his house onBrl Street in Sherbrooke two years ago, the lawn was dry and wasn't much to look at.

Now, he's transformed the front yardinto a lush garden of wildflowers and other plants.

While thegarden may appearchaotic and unkempt,Baillargeonsayshe actually does put work into weeding and tending to it.

"I make a distinction betweenleaving it abandoned and leaving it natural," he said.

Baillargeonsaysthat he doesn't want to cause any problems with his neighbours over the appearance of his yard, and has spokenwith several of them to gauge their reactions to it.

"My neighbours said:'It's maybe not the choice I'd make for my yard, but seeing as it's yours, it's acceptable.'"

"It's not like I'm leaving cars parts to rust in front of my home," he added.

Instead of putting in grass and maintaining it,Baillargeon sayshe wanted to let nature take its course and not try to tame the wildness by cutting all that growth.

"This year, at the beginning of summer, all these flowers started to come up, different colours at different times.AndIfound it was nature taking over. I found it wonderful and poetic," he said.

"It didn't seem right to mow all this and put instandard grass."

Baillargeon doesn't use any pesticides on his property and wants to make it a place that's hospitable for animals as well as plants.

"There's lots of bees, butterflies who come, birds hopping around. There's life there and that's what I want to celebrate."

Noting that people would sometimes stop and stare at his front lawn,Baillargeoninstalled a signindicating that the state of the gardenis not the product of neglect.

The sign reads: "Our yardis like society: we find specimens that are invasive, colourful,unco-operative, original, unexpected, bizarre and splendid. It's the cohabitation that makes it all magnificent."

Bylaw doesn't allow for unsightly tall growth

In a Facebook post,Baillargeonjoked that he was committing "horticultural disobedience."

Technically the garden could be deemed in violation of a Sherbrooke city bylaw which governs tall grass and flowers facing the street.

The rule prohibits growing plantsat an excessive height if the yardbecomes an eyesore or damages theestheticappealofthe neighbourhood.

WATCH |When it comes to his front lawn, thisSherbrooke man is letting nature take its course:

When it comes to his front lawn, this Sherbrooke man is letting nature take its course

3 years ago

Duration 1:38

Rather than maintaining grass like many of his neighbours, Dany Baillargeon embraced the natural wildflowers and plants that sprang up in his garden and even installed a sign so people would know the appearance of his yard isn't due to neglect.

However, city spokesperson Vanessa Migliacci told Radio-Canada that tall gardens are tolerated as long as no one complains. If someone does complain, an inspector maybe sent over to check out the situation.

Baillargeon said that if it does become a problem, he hopes he can work something out with the city.

"If the argument is 'your lawn should look like everyone else's' then, I might defend myself a little bit," he said. "From what I saw in the rules, it's not that clear."

"If the city comes one day because of the rule that I maybe misunderstood, we'll see what's possible to still maintain this idea that I'm working on and this way of thinking about grass, gardens and landscaping in residential areas."

While his garden has attractedsome stares,Baillargeonsaid so far no one has complained.