For three years, Chester Perry filled the front yard of his East Ridge, Tennessee, home with native and exotic plants meant to feed bees, butterflies, birds and other insects. In September, a neighbor complained. By the time the city’s crews finished, the garden had been cleared to the ground and an oak tree on the property had been cut down, after his emailed appeal landed in a city spam folder.
A Pollinator Yard Built Over Three Years
Perry told WTVC NewsChannel 9 that he grew the plants to “create a habitat for declining insect populations.” He spent three years cultivating the yard, choosing plants to support wildlife.
He came home for lunch one day and found it gone. Perry told the station he felt “heartbroken and just despondent” when he walked up to “this devastation.”
The Chattanoogan reported on Oct. 25 that the clearing at his home at 3840 Altima Drive took more than the flowers. The yard was mowed down and an oak tree was cut down as well. Perry described the garden as a pollinator garden for bees, butterflies and birds, and said the clearing destroyed many small insects along with the plants. Scraping the yard all the way to the ground, he said, made the loss worse…