Yards: Beauty is in eye of the beholder

I love what Xilin Zhang is doing by turning her lawn into a native plant garden in New Hyde Park [“On LI, native gardens grow despite hurdles,” News, July 21]. But I am outraged the village threatened her with a $2,000 fine.

I have also turned a large section of my lawn into native and wildflower gardens. In different seasons, different parts take on varying gradations of beauty. In fact, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I would call it all beautiful even as they die because it is nature in living action, pollinators, and all.

I consider it an eyesore to see the multitude of yellow signs that spring up when a house’s lawn has been sprayed with pesticide. I think they’re ugly because they represent nature being suppressed and poisoned.

We are living through tough summer weather made worse by climate change, and still residents want to put down more chemicals and use more of our common valuable resource of water.

We have two choices, to harmonize with Mama Nature or fight Her. This I can promise: Mama Nature will win in the end with or without us. Let’s make it with us.

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— Janet Rudolph, Rockville Centre

I appreciated Matt Davies’ political cartoon about native landscapes vs. prototypical landscaping [“LI Fight Club,” Opinion, July 22]. It captured a real tension in how we think about our land. But this isn’t about choosing sides. We don’t need an “us vs. them” mindset between neat, beautiful yards and ecologically sound ones. We can have both.

Some invasive species look tidy but undermine soil health, displace native plants, and reduce biodiversity. Chemical treatments might seem like a quick fix, but they harm pollinators, contaminate water, and create long-term dependency.

At the same time, native landscaping doesn’t have to mean messy or wild. Well-designed restoration can be clean, intentional, and stunning — while also supporting local ecosystems. There are many valid approaches to restoration, and the goal should be collaboration, not conflict.

Let’s stop framing this as a battle between values and start focusing on shared outcomes: safe, resilient, and beautiful landscapes that work with nature, not against it.

— Frank Piccininni, Huntington

The writer is CEO of a company that restores native habitats.

If you want shade, go plant a sapling

I live on a shaded property in a community with other shaded properties and streets [“Recent excessive heat on LI highlights shade gap,” News, July 7]. No one here has $495 curbside town-planted trees. The last tree I planted, a Japanese maple, was a seedling I found growing on my property that I moved to a garden. It is now waist high. I had to water it the first year and protect it from string trimmers; total cost $0.

My parents didn’t have trees when they moved to their property in Levittown. They dug some saplings from under larger trees in a park and planted them in our front yard. The trees soon grew, and we had a shaded property and street.

Plenty of saplings at local parks are being Weedwacked for neatness. I don’t recommend people dig them up as my parents did — but maybe at Hempstead Lake State Park or even Old Westbury Gardens, the landscapers could stop Weedwacking saplings. Then, in the fall, they can put some in a pot and have a giveaway day for residents. They could give away the saplings with instructions on planting and care, and people could start making their own shade.

Shade doesn’t have to be expensive; it just takes time and care.

— Mary Connor, South Setauket

Lack of shade from tree loss isn’t just in low-income areas. I see tree loss in my own neighborhood. My block was once tree-lined, but gradually over the years the trees have been removed. Developers have been buying up older homes to knock down and build newer, larger homes. When they do this, they bulldoze the entire property, including the mature trees, leaving nothing. They pave over the entire front yard, diminishing rainwater that would recharge the aquifer. If you want to decrease the carbon footprint, stop cutting down the trees, or at least plant new ones.

— Ellen Greene, East Meadow

Let’s pitch in to save our environment

A reader beautifully wrote about our endangered environment on Long Island as well as nationwide [“Failed environmental bill is a loss for us all,” Letters, June 27]. My concerns are about the younger generations now maturing and very possibly not realizing how important it is to pay attention to what we are doing to our environment. If it continues, it will surely jeopardize their health and well-being.

If everyone paid just a little more attention to issues such as recycling plastic bags — most supermarkets have receptacles for them — putting out paper and plastic receptacles on recycling days, our environment would benefit. The impact on future generations will live on.

— Susan Broderick, Westhampton