'It looks absolutely feral': Homeowner protests an uppity HOA by meticulously following a "native plants only" landscaping rule, transforming their yard into a wild, indigenous North Carolina ecosystem

A landscape architect perfectly followed his HOA's landscaping rule to a T, but to the dismay of this uppity HOA, their "native plants only" rule meant this homeowner would be transforming his yard into a true North Carolina ecosystem, just the way nature intended.

Landscaping is a hot-button item for snobby HOAs. You pay a monthly fee to a group of old, batty Karens to survey the neighborhood, and suddenly they're measuring your lawn with a ruler, judging your wildflower choices, and tsk-tsking if you miss a month of trimming your trees back. However, there is a hilarious loophole that homeowners forget about when dealing with the bureaucracy of your average HOA: Free will. 

Alas, with a little petty snobbery of their own, homeowners can give the HOA a taste of their own medicine, employing malicious compliance to do their bidding. When an HOA suddenly got nitpicky about the neighborhood's non-native plants, this landscape architect became thrilled with his new challenge to overthrow the HOA, one indigenous ecosystem at a time. As it turns out, the native landscape of North Carolina isn't as well-kempt or as appealing from the curb as the HOA initially imagined, and their water-saving initiative backfired when a property owner took their rules literally, letting his yard run wild with the consequences.