Hello! In the spirit of Wild Ones and our township's encouragement of native plantings, we have naturalized our property. At the street, we primarily have crown vetch. Asters, goldenrod, and coneflower also grow there. We spray the grass which appears and weed the crown vetch areas of goldenrod and other plants. We keep our planting to an acceptable height by road commission rules. Despite approval of the road commission for our curbside planting, we have been mowed several times by mowing crews from the road commission. We commissioned some "Do Not Mow" signs from a couple artists and have put them in the area. A Master Gardener we know suggested we try buffalo grass, but I don't think it will grow well this far north and in a shaded area. The crown vetch thrives where it's sunny, but our shaded areas are less successful. The shaded area sometimes has lots of acorns on the ground. The whole planting gets plenty of salt plowed on it in the winter. We do not want to create what one of the founders of the Michigan Nature Association called an urban desert, otherwise known as a lawn. We don't even own a lawnmower but scythe the area in the fall. Do you have any suggestions for what we could plant in this location that is native, hardy, and won't invite mowing by the road commission? We know we're unconventional, but we're not ready to give up the fight yet. It's been almost 30 years that we've maintained a wild property, and we're the only property that has been mowed in our one-mile stretch of curbed roadway. We would value your advice on what we might do to continue being an example of native plantings in our community. Thank you! John Kreutzfeldt Flushing, Michigan