Gene Hargrove stands at the edge of his lawn — a sea of soaring wildflowers accented by zigzagged rows of sheared grass — and laughs at his state of affairs.

Just weeks ago, the city slapped him with a violation notice for “high grass and weeds” at his home on a sprawling 1.4-acre lot near the University of North Texas. Now, city workers say his yard could be a model for a pilot project encouraging wildflower areas.

The irony isn’t lost on Hargrove, who’s used to his yard inciting divergent views.

Some neighbors see the mishmash of springtime bluebonnets, prairie spiderwort, wine-cup and goatsbeard as an oasis of natural flora. To others, it’s an unsightly mess of weeds.

“It just looks unkempt,” said Larry Clark, who lives down the street from Hargrove on Houston Place. “I’m glad he’s not across the street from me directly. I would probably sneak over there and mow it.”

Hargrove and his supporters bemoan such talk. It’s exactly that attitude they want to change.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

Gene Hargrove, who lives on a 1.4-acre lot on Houston Place in Denton, has held his ground against people who have complained to the city about his yard, which is filled with wildflowers. This year, a city code officer cited him for tall grass and weeds, even though the city has an exemption for wildflowers.

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But change won’t come overnight, says Jackie Gibbons, a member of the Texas Master Naturalist Elm Fork Chapter who lives next door to Hargrove.

“This kind of beauty takes time for people to get used to,” she said.

Mother Nature’s yard

For Hargrove, an environmental philosophy professor at UNT, convincing some people of that beauty has been a struggle in recent years. But he initially enjoyed his yard with few problems.

Hargrove built the house on an empty lot on Houston Place in 1994. Gibbons, his neighbor, made him swear he wouldn’t kill the wildflowers that sprung up each year.

He tried planting buffalo grass, to no avail. When the last of it died about three years after he moved in, Hargrove gave up planting and let Mother Nature take over.

The bluebonnets start appearing in March. Throughout the spring, other wildflowers pop up, go to seed and get mowed. The seemingly haphazard mowing pattern — where meandering lines of freshly cut grass divide sections of knee-deep wildflowers — perplexes some passers-by.

“This is a baffling process that we all watch,” Gibbons said. “We know that he only knows half of what he’s doing, but he’s having fun.”

Hargrove laughed at the good-natured jab.

“I’m experimenting,” he said.

Complaints arise

Still, if people didn’t like Har­grove’s lawn, they didn’t complain much to him. Four years ago, though, someone started complaining to the city.

Each July since then, someone — he thinks it’s a neighbor — reports his yard to code enforcement for high grass and weeds. City code prevents grass and weeds taller than 12 inches, but wildflower areas are exempt until the plants go to seed.

By July, most of Hargrove’s wildflowers are gone and mowed over. But Indian blankets are still going to seed. The complaints spawned violation notices, but Har­grove said he avoided citations by “talking my way out of it” or mowing before the city’s deadline.

This year the violation notice came early, on April 9, before most of the plants had even gone to seed.

“The plants were hardly in bloom yet, so I was kind of amazed,” Hargrove said.

Turns out, the code officer was new and didn’t know about the wildflower exemption. The city closed the case without issuing a citation.

 “Dr. Hargrove’s yard is actually fine,” said Lancine Bentley, program manager for code en­forcement. “You don’t have to mow until the majority of your wildflowers in your yard have gone to seed, so he’s OK.”

Looking for remedies

Still, the mishap highlights the perils of wildflowers for property owners, neighbors and code officers.

In response, city workers are considering a “pocket prairie” project whereby residents could receive a small sign designating their property as a wildflower area. The sign would include an expected mow date, so neighbors would know when — or if — they should complain to the city.

“We want to look for some remedies,” Bentley said. “A pilot project of this sort is of interest to us. That sign helps them [land­owners] to harness the protection of the ordinance, but it also in­forms the neighbors that the yard has been reviewed by the city and deemed within the guidelines.”

Bentley said the idea is still in the discussion phase.

Lawn etiquette

Gibbons, a retired teacher and former board member for the local Master Naturalist chapter, supports a pocket prairie program. She hopes more people learn about the benefits of wildflower areas, which require less water and mowing than traditional yards and offer habitat for bees, butterflies and other in­sects.

“When you look at this, you are reminded of the diversity that is in nature,” she said, surveying Hargrove’s lawn on a recent morning. “And diversity is one of the key elements of good health for the planet. When we bring it all down to a monoculture, as we do with a single type of lawn, we’ve compromised with one of the basic rules of nature.”

Down the street, Clark remains skeptical. As far as he’s concerned, the only things being compromised are the basic rules of lawn etiquette.

“It’s a lot of bugs and a lot of stuff you don’t want near your house,” he said. “I don’t understand the attraction.”

Despite what his critics think, even Hargrove has limits to what he’ll tolerate in the yard.

“If something annoys me, I go through and kill it,” he said.

The confession prompts a laugh from Gibbons.

“That’s what a weed is,” she said. “It’s what annoys you.”

Or a neighbor.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.comc .