Tall Grass Trouble? Here’s What Rockford Does When Neighbors Let Yards Go Wild

Fed up with your neighbor's unkept yard? Before you send a complaint to the City of Rockford, there are a few important things you need to know.

No Mow May

Let's be honest for a minute, when spring finally arrives in Illinois we see two major kinds of homeowners emerge:

1. The ones that start mowing/cleaning/and fertilizing their yard the minute the grass starts turning green and temps rise above freezing consistently.
2. The ones that will hold off mowing as long as possible, and that think a yard covered in yellow dandelions is a beautiful thing.

I may be guilty of judging people with a messy yard in the past, but I'm trying hard to suppress my judgement during the month of May. Here's why: the "No Mow May" movement.

If you're unfamiliar with what this movement is all about, it's basically waiting until at least Mid-May, (preferably June 1), to mow your yard for the first time so that vital bee populations can have plenty nectar and pollen to snack on, which will help them thrive.

I'm all for protecting bee populations, but I also understand looking at an overgrown yard is hard to handle, especially if it's a neighbor's yard.

Yard Maintenance Ordinances in Illinois

Last summer a house near me, (that was absolutely being lived in),  had a ridiculously overgrown yard that many residents complained to law enforcement about...repeatedly.

I saw officers talking to the homeowner on several different occasions, yet the grass kept growing, and people were wondering why nothing was being done about it.

It turns out every county, city, and town throughout the Stateline area has their own ordinances when it comes to yard maintenance, and getting residents to comply is not as simple as saying, "go out and mow your yard".

How to Report Yard Maintenance Violations in Rockford

Due to growing concerns (see what I did there?) , the City of Rockford posted some guidelines for residents who want to report lawn maintenance violations.  As you can see, it can be a lengthy process...

If reporting a yard maintenance violation is something you really want to do, perhaps you could consider these two things first?

1. Is the yard unruly because the homeowner is physically and financially incapable of taking care of it? If you know the answer is yes, help thy neighbor and mow it for them!
2. Is your neighbor purposely letting it stay wild to help vital pollinators? Take the time to find out before you involve city officials.

Honestly, I'm not the kind of person who would ever report an unkept yard, I'll just continue to complain about it to my husband instead.