Bill was introduced in Sep/25, but I only got a whiff of it in the last couple of weeks
See House Bill HB1878: https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/pa/2025-2026/bills/PAB00038963/
Are there any other states/countries taking similar initiatives?
Summary:
Pennsylvania homeowners deserve the right to choose native plant species they desire for landscaping around their homes. However, work is needed to remove bottlenecks for homeowners to select native vegetation for their desired landscaping.
This legislation will prevent homeowners associations (HOAs) from unreasonably prohibiting the use of native plants for landscaping on private property. This ensures homeowners residing within an HOA the same ability to choose native landscaping as other homeowners.
Native plants provide many beneficial functions that many homeowners desire. These include being aesthetically pleasing and providing habitat for pollinators while being adapted to the site and typically requiring lower maintenance than non-native plants. […]
Native plants is such a misnomer. It really just means “plants that aren’t grass” - as often the “native” plant will end up being some tall grass from another continent or region. Something people should be careful with when going into this if they truly want to pick plants that are “native” to the region.
No? It means “Plants that are native to this continent/region”.
If the plant was from another continent or region, it would be definition not be native.
this is just simply not true in the context of this discussion. these people want to grow native plants in a vulnerable ecosystem that has been limited down in scope through mining operations, human exploitation, and encroachment from non-native invasive species. in particular in central pennsylvania where this is occuring gypsome weed is choking out the native flowers that pollinators depend on.
in particular they are looking to grow sunflowers and goldenrod which are native to their area and offer a high value to local pollinators. however, these plants violate most HOA regulations because they grow taller than 6 feet
What? Maybe in Germany, but that is not the case in the US where the biome has only been exposed to humans for 1/10th the amount of time as in Europe. “Native” is pretty strictly defined here ecologically, legally, and culturally.