Homeowner exposes passive-aggressive neighbor's repeated actions: 'Be careful of neighborly neighbors'

While native lawns are becoming a far more popular choice today, many homeowners still cling to the grass they've always known. That's understandable — change can be hard for us all — but once your neighbor starts glaring at your native yard with a not-so-subtle side-eye, that's when lines start getting crossed.

You'll find many accounts of such interactions on Reddit's r/f***lawns forum. The subreddit is dedicated to people who envision a future without monoculture lawns. It also offers catharsis to those who live near people who would rather die than see that future come to fruition.

Take one Redditor's agonizingly passive-aggressive neighbor, for example:

The post, titled "Us vs. Our Neighbor," describes a typical conversation between this native lawn proponent and their opponent next door.

"Every time we're outside working in the front yard our neighbor comes over to 'talk.' And as usual tells [us] they are preparing to spray iron in their yard to rid it of moss and we chuckle that our whole backyard is moss so we never need to mow it," the caption reads.

"Then they looked at our front yard and groaned about all the clover," the original poster continued. "We didn't have [the] heart to tell them we're actually spreading clover seed, we just say 'oh, we're letting the native ground cover take over so we don't need to spend money watering it and time mowing it.' 😁"

Having a monoculture lawn while your neighbor goes native shouldn't be a huge problem. Passive-aggressively bemoaning their (environmentally friendly, cost-effective) choices is the real issue.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem like this judgy neighbor is willing to take things beyond snooty comments. One commenter suggested the neighbor might spray the OP's moss and clover while they're away, to which the OP replied: "They would never come over to spray our yard… it would be so out of character for them or anyone in this neighborhood to do."

Still, neighbors like these create a barrier to the eco-friendly lifestyle. Leaping that barrier is well worth it, though.

If you were to switch from a grass lawn to a more natural option, which of these factors would be your primary motivation? Making it look better 🌱 Saving money on water and maintenance 💰 Helping pollinators 🐝 No way I ever get rid of my lawn 🚫 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

Commenters both commiserated and shared a laugh with the OP.

"Yup be careful of neighborly neighbors," one quipped.

"Meanwhile over in r/lawns: 'How can I get through to my neighbor how to get rid of their moss and clover, they're not picking up on any of my hints,'" another joked.

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