One idea is to approach a local garden club or nature organization and start a program for designating 'native gardens,' then have yourself designated. Seriously, I think many garden clubs, audubon societies, etc. would be more than happy to have such a program, especially if you do the work to create it. is there an indiana Native Plant society? Then they weither have a program to designate native gardens or they should. You could start it. It shouldn't be too hard to set up a reasonable set of guidelines for native gardens and start certifying them. There must be a few programs in existence sonewhere that would have rules you could modeify to suit your local needs and community sensibilities. It doesn't seem far fetched that in a year or two you could be holding garden tours of certified native gardens around Indianapolis. Once you have a program established, you could meet with the City staff, explain the benefits of native plants, demonstrate that your certification program includes provisions for not making a nuisance of yourself or your garden, and perhaps have them adopt a policy that gardens certified under your program are OK in the city. I think it would be best to get the program started and have a bunch of certified gardens owned by respectable citizens before you go to the city.

Is there a fence bordering your front yard?
I believe that what the city is interested in is the
general appearance of the front in regards to the rest of the neighborhood. I do not believe that code enforcement really would have done anything UNLESS A NEIGHBOR COMPLAINED. If you do not have a fence you may want to consider a typical picket or appropriate fence set off from the street that will give you space to plant in front of the fence the
usual landscape type plants that are generally on the low growing side, such as agapanthus or day lilies or whatever is suitable. This will change the focus of anyone who may object to your prairie.
Also on your prairie you may want to set paths up in the prairie with maybe a large rock for sitting on and perhaps a small tree such as an oak or a hickory tree or a large shrub trimmed to appear like a tree. Even though it is a prairie you can still determine where each plant grows and perhaps have an effect grouping of asters with some grasses on the margin that merge out into a group of grasses that may feature a rise with a bird bath, such as a large boulder with a concrete bath nested on it. There are all kinds of ideas but having a garden that is chaotic only suggests to the illiterate that it is a weed patch even though it is not. Making it aesthetically appealling will thwart any untoward comments.

Here is a link that might be useful: Praririe Garden Island

I think the easiest way to make a somewhat wild planting appear well tended (I am sure yours is well tended, but might not appear that way to your neighbors) is to have nice edges. if you have a lawn, mow it regularly and make a nice edge between it and the prairie, if you have a path, trim along the edges. If your prairie goes right up to the curb, trim at least some of the plants along the curb to make a nice looking edge. If you are like me you hate to trim any plant that may produce a flower or seed, but i think nice edges are the easiest way to give the prairie a neater appearance. Another idea is to put up signs - make sure they are nice looking, not junky - with plant names. This makes it clear that you are trying to grow the plants that are there, and they're not merely weeds.

I doubt you'll find anyone anywhere who is opposed to native plants. What you'll find is people who are opposed to untidy gardens. I personally think our gardens should strive to be part of the natural world, the concept that nature should be tidy is ridiculous, but I am in the minority. MOst other people would appreciate native plant a lot more if the native plants were grown in a typical garden setting instead of a more wild-type garden.

I think you need an attorny to be honest. Sooner or later they are going to mow you down, and while you could litigate post facto, you're garden will still be mowed while it was actively growing... not good.

Between now and then why don't you contact the Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower society. Ask them to write a letter on your behalf, come to a city meeting, or create a certification program. Certify your habitat with the National Wildlife Federation. Meet with someone high up enough to get this crap stopped, like a city councilmen or city building inspector. Take all of your evidence and slideshows and such to a city hall meeting and ask them to call off the dogs or have an attorny do this for you. Find a community college professor of botany or ecology who will atest to the value of your garden. I think unless you take massive action soon, then all your work in the garden will have been for nada. I've seen too many times for one year they finally mow the person down and then it's too late.

Here is a link that might be useful: Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society

Wow your yard sounds fantastic and that you've done a ton of nice work. What is a sod couch??

I'm sure I would think your prairie garden was beautiful! But since most people have a more conventional taste in gardens, I make the front yard gardens a bit more formal, ornamental, and they are about a 50/50 native/non-native mix of plants. "Formal" still being somewhat loosely defined. The borders have nice curving edges with a patch of grass in the middle that gets healthier every year topdressed with compost and lime. The grass is where the leach field for the septic system is located, so I wouldn't plant anything there anyway.

As you go back on the lot and get behind the house, the yard gets more native and naturalized. In the back are assorted gardens, all are being heavily planted in native plants, the exception being veggies and annual vines/flowers. The back yard is not really visible from the street, so no complaints made about tall "weeds" or grasses, or the dead trees I've left standing for the birds.

Making the front garden a little more formal is a good idea. I think that Prairie Garden Island is too adorable! You could consider certifying your yard with NWF as a backyard habitat and/or as a Monarch Waystation, and display the plaques from those certifications. I'm planning to get around to that one of these days.

A few notes on the thread:

" I do not believe that code enforcement really would have done anything UNLESS A NEIGHBOR COMPLAINED". To be honest, people complain about anything and everything, this does nothing to legitimize or delegitimize a situation. People complain when African Americans move in a neighborhood, does this make housing segregation any more acceptable or legal? However, point taken that perhaps a few well placed signs could prevent a complain from being filed in the first place.

The native plant tour: You don't even have to create your own tour, just get your native garden on the conventional garden tours as an example of a native plant garden. Being on a tour lends credibility to your garden and shows that there is a public interest in maintaining such a garden.

It is ironic that large scale pollutors are not investigated yet native plant gardens are tagged as an "Environmental Nuisance". I cannot imagine that lack of ecological education it must take to create such a sign and place it in a native plant garden.

My neighbor had this problem in establishing a native grass lawn wich was recommended by one branch odf city Gov. but the neighborhood nazi turned him into another branch of city gov. and he had to spend a long time straightening them out . Is their a program in creating wildlife habitat. I know they are certified here in Austin and it might be a national rogram . Blue stem is a host food for some kind of butterfly, I forget which one, maybe skipper or American snout. Do a little research on that level and have it doccumented. And do all the stuff mentioned above

I can commiserate. I was fined $450 by the city where I used to live. The "evidence" against me was 5 purple coneflower plants that I had let go to seed in the front yard, and some common milkweed plants that I had mowed around in the back yard. I recognize that common milkweed is not the most attractive plant, so I only had them in the back yard (maybe 10 plants). I was taken to court and they showed me pictures of my asclepias and echinacea and I wrote a check for $450 to the city. I promptly moved away to a different area. Just recently my new community has started meetings to enact stiffer weed laws. I wish you well, but I fear it's a losing battle. People love the carpet look - they have that company with the picture of a monarch with swallowtail wings on the side of their truck spray chemicals all over their yards and then decide you have created an "Environmental Nuisance" when you have native plants.

Its not really a losing battle. There are plenty of existing court cases one can use to defend their natural landscaping.

Most communities are fairly open to amending their weed control ordinance to define and protect natural landscapes. Wild One's provides a model ordinance and sample amendments that you can work with your community to get your ordinances changed.

Here is a link that might be useful: wild ones weed laws

There is a lot of progress being made across the country in regards to native landscapes. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of horror stories too. We live in a society that is obsessed with meddling in others affairs--telling them who they can marry and what part of town they can live in depending on their skin color. We cannot expect oppression to dissappear overnight and we certainly won't make any progress by agreeing to go to back of the bus willfully.

A city within 10 miles of me just redid their ordiance to encourage native landscaping and they have changed their plans for future street trees and shrubs to include only native species now. It's interesting to watch this unfold, as the native landscaping movement grows stronger roots there will of course be some who wil become resentful and try to defy the evitable course of things, just as they have done there. However, I am told the resistance is all but over now in this particular town. Similarly in a park near me a large scale savana restoration occured 5 years ago. I am told that for the first 2 years quite a few people tried to create some resistance but they quickly tired and the park now receives no complains and many compliments including people asking how to reproduce their results.

I also want to thank those who have spent time, energy, and money contributing to this movement which givens greater freedom to all. I rejoice in the fact that today I have the freedom to do what I please on my property, a right I didn't have 10 years ago and a right far too few Americans still enjoy.

I moved into a neighborhood that was all a bunch of old people with antique odd plants and hippies living in old bungaloes. The grass emulated their hair in length.The city red tagged it as a possible slum. I knew I was safe for me to be me in. The weedy bermuda grass turned brown in summer except for one double lot and she was very proud and very safe in her status as the "green lawn master of the universe". Well, the hippy's grew up and became judges and doctors ,their hair grew short and their plantings grew in interest but still the lawns staid brown in the summer if there were lawns. Most had morphed slowly into wild and xeric plantings. In moved a dealer , or so the roomer goes, and unlike the dealers of old he seemed not in the least mindful of keeping a low profile. He started walking his dog and acting as if he owned the joint by turning people in for unclipped yards and wild grass in dadaaist planting schemes . He was put back into his box and was sued by a judge for dog sh*t. The neighborhood resumed its natural evolution. Now buffalo and bear grass a is ever so chic and azaleas have disappeared from all but a few plantings in Central Texas. Manfredas and things with the name of lindheimerii and englemann seem to be gaining precedence, I can only thank those old german botanical explorers for there journeys over my hills and saw value in the tall plumed grass and the delicate blue morning glory. Now the gated community people want to tear down the old bungaloes and uproot the old german plantings of Markus's great grandmother. What an absolute treasure is being lost and plowed under. For progress. I would rather see a sky scraper condo minium. At least then I would know that 300 people were not tearing up 300 other treasures. I know,It is urban progress.

Oh, our city hall is built to resemble a hill country limestone cliff on the river side and all is natural plantings. very well done in a designery sort of way.