When a family in Ontario aimed to create a sanctuary for pollinators in their garden, they probably didn't expect to end up galvanizing Redditors from all over to support their cause.
Several Reddit posts, including in the r/SaveForests and r/NoLawns subreddits, amplified the sad story of the Barnes family in the Toronto suburb of Burlington.
The Toronto Star reported on how a city crew came unannounced and destroyed the yard after threatening daily fines of $10,000 Canadian (roughly $7,308 USD) to both the Barneses and their mortgage company.
The city ripped up a butterfly haven in this Burlington woman's front yard. Now she's in court fighting the move on religious grounds https://t.co/lPhaM9eMUD
— Toronto Star (@TorontoStar) January 5, 2026
The Barnes garden had been a vibrant display, featuring milkweed, goldenrod, coneflower, pasque flower, asters, and more, attracting pollinators and providing essential nourishment. The family says the yard attracted endangered monarch butterflies and bees, and The Star called it a "butterfly paradise" in the headline.
As a pretense for raising a stink, the city claimed their garden violated a bylaw stating that plants should not exceed 20 centimeters (about eight inches) in height. That prompted the warnings about harsh punishment.
"Giving butterflies a safe haven, you want to fine them $10,000 a day?" environmental lawyer David Donnelly told the Star. "It's perverse."
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If the threat of a sizable fine wasn't bad enough, undoing around eight years of planting and naturalizing the space went beyond addressing height bylaws. Workers came in saying they were there to cut the grass, but they ended up destroying the habitat.
"There's a lot of grief because we know these plants and they're like our friends and our family in a way, so you like have a relationship with them and to just see them massacred in front of us," said Julia Barnes.
The Barneses are seeking justice in showing the City of Burlington violated their constitutional rights. They argue their lawn should be exempted as a naturalized area, regardless if an overbearing neighbor made a complaint. The city obviously disagreed with that assessment.
Redditors criticized the city's harsh measures, and many shared resources to fight this sort of action.
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$200 or more 💰 "Illinois passed a 'right to garden' law that gives property owners the right to grow food, native plants, flowers, etc. in their yards," a user wrote, referencing this measure.
"I hope they can sue the s*** out of that city," another Redditor said.
"They were intentionally planting and maintaining a set of native plants, which by Burlington's own by-laws should be exempt from that ridiculous 20-cm rule," a third viewer argued.
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