Cues of Care
Making native gardens look intentional
Your neighbors aren't judging your plant choices. They're judging whether it looks like someone planned it.
A native bed with a crisp mulch line and steel edging reads as intentional. The exact same plants without that edge? Looks like you stopped mowing.
The term for this is "cues of care." It comes from landscape research by Joan Nassauer, and the idea is simple: people judge gardens by how maintained they look, not by what's planted in them.
Most people are used to seeing turf grass. A front yard full of inland sea oats and blackfoot daisy looks unfamiliar, and unfamiliar gets read as neglect. That's not fair, but it's how it works.
Here's what's wild though: you can plant the exact same species, and just by adding a steel edge and some mulch, the whole bed goes from "are they even maintaining that?" to "oh, that's nice." Same plants. Completely different reaction from the street.
Cues of care are the structural choices that make a garden read as planned. They won't guarantee your HOA leaves you alone, but they make complaints a lot less likely.
Start planning your layout
Put together a plant list and layout you can print and bring to your HOA board or a landscaper.
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