A WOMAN took on nature and her homeowner’s association at the same time as neighbors praised her for bringing wildlife back to their yards.

Jerilyn Maclean from North Carolina made it her mission to improve the ecosystem in her neighborhood which sparked a community movement.

However, it was not all plain sailing with Maclean’s HOA and some neighbors taking issue with her methods.

In 2014 Maclean was diagnosed with a chronic health condition and in order to cope she started gardening working on her 1,000-square-foot yard and the park behind it.

She aimed to return native plants to the area which would bring in more native animals, some of which are facing extinction.

The plants would also be able to thrive in the natural condition of the land without pesticides and other harmful products.

They also do not need as much maintenance as they naturally survive in their native areas.

The avid gardener planted coral honeysuckle, coneflower, and milkweed among many others which brought in bees, monarch butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Maclean told the Chatham News and Record: “If you plant, wildlife will come. Every plant makes a difference.

“Five years ago there were butterflies all over my yard every day.

“And now I see fewer and fewer, even with all the food that’s available to them. Do people care about that?”

In a bid to get more locals to join her mission, Maclean founded the Briar Chapel Native Plant Club which now has over 500 members.

She also began selling native plants outside her neighbor’s cafe in 2021 with customers travelling from all over.

Cafe owner Amy Coughlin told the news outlet: “She got a lot of attention, and she had a lot of opportunities to promote the importance of native plant sales.

“Customers and patrons really, really liked it.”

Despite her best efforts for the community and relative success, the Briar Chapel Homeowner’s Association was not in full support.

According to the news outlet, the HOA called her yard “messy” and then quickly changed its mind to get a slice of the pie from her plant sales.

Meanwhile, a neighbor of the cafe complained about the Saturday morning plant sales and she was forced to sell her plants from somewhere else.

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Maclean had hoped to sell them in the community center but the HOA asked for 10 percent of her total sales in return, which she could not afford.

She criticized her HOA for happily paying the physical and natural price to have perfectly pruned yards that all look identical.

According to the gardener, the HOA spends $150,000 every year on pine needles to cover empty garden beds around non-native trees.

In addition to this, she claims that they use Sod, a grass that needs constant watering in the warmer months, and have hired landscapers to blow leaves from the sidewalks and medians three times a week.

“They want an old-fashioned, colonial look, even if it means the extinction of our butterflies, bees, birds, moths, fireflies, amphibians,” she said.

Over two years, Maclean estimates that she has sold over 5,000 plants, showing that there is an appetite for protecting the natural habitat.

As a result, she hopes to announce the Briar Chapel Pollinator Pledge which would see 250 homes committed to community gardens full of native plans.

Her neighbors are delighted with her efforts with one saying: “Jerilyn has changed my life.

“Nature is coming back to my yard and it’s all because of her.”

“What Jerilyn has done is educate so many neighbors like me who had the same mission and goals, we just didn’t know how to get there, neighbor Rhonda Jones said.

She added: “I probably have a hundred different species now…that I’ve bought from [Jerilyn].

“I haven’t been back to a garden center in two years and I see my little plot of land flourishing.”

However, with four children and her mother living at home, Maclean is worried about how she will continue selling plants as the bills are piling up.

She looked towards the community garden behind her home saying: “I have a grand idea in my head. But I don’t know how to get there.”

In an ideal world, she would find an investor to support her efforts which could help fund the salaries for three to five people who would work with local organizations to educate and develop land for native plants.

“We’d have HOAs calling us and asking us to help save on their maintenance costs, help with runoff and erosion, and help bring butterflies and bees and birds back to neighborhoods,” she said.

“Plant by plant, yard by yard. They won’t go extinct unless we let them.”

The U.S. Sun has reached out to the Briar Chapel Homeowner’s Association for comment.