'I planted 50 kinds of moss': HOA reprimands resident for not having "uniformly green" garden, resident maliciously complies by planting a ton of moss

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
May 31, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

No one likes being told what to do. Regardless of whether you're a kid following class rules or an adult following proper protocol at work, there will always be rules that feel absolutely pointless to follow. This certainly applies to the various policies and regulations that are enforced by homeowner's associations, which tend to attract the worst kind of individuals to become board members.

It's hard to find ways to break HOA rules without facing severe consequences, so much so that it's almost always not worth testing the ire of your local HOA board members. They will bury you in legal fees and drain you of your resources, all over something minor like the height of your fence. That being said, it's always amusing when someone actually manages to pull it off. This resident, for instance, successfully disregarded the wishes of his local HOA regarding the upkeep of his garden by some carefully maneuvered malicious compliance.

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    Cheezburger Image 10511878656
    via Unsplash+ (Faruk Tokluoğlu)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • The key to this kind of defiance is in the details. This resident was able to separate the implications of the HOA's orders from the actual wording. He knew that they wanted him to pick a boring color for the grass on his garden but the wording they chose to use was that his garden needed to be “uniformly green.” They did not, in fact, say anything about only planting grass. That's where the 50 various iterations of moss come into the picture!

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    "HOA said my garden must be uniformly green. So I planted 50 kinds of moss."

    I live in a neighborhood with an HOA that loves making rules for the sake of making rules. They sent me a letter saying my front yard lawn (a mix of grass, herbs
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    and clover) was too wild and not in compliance with neighborhood aesthetic guidelines. Specifically, the letter stated:
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    The front yard must be uniformly green in appearance to match the neighborhood standard.
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    I guess they expected boring old Bermuda grass like everyone else. But they said uniformly green, not grass, right?
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    So I complied, maliciously. I ripped up the existing patchy grass and replaced it with over 50 different species of moss from a local nursery and some online specialty stores. Shade moss,
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    rock moss, fern moss you name it. Some bright green, some deep forest green, some almost velvety in texture.
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    It took a few weeks, but now my yard is a soft, surreal, undulating blanket of lush green mosses. And guess what? It's completely uniform in color from the street.
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    The HOA hasn't said a word since. I think they're too confused or afraid to admit they don't know how to argue with it.
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    Meanwhile, the neighbors come by to touch it and say it's the coolest yard on the block. Mission accomplished.
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    Cheezburger Image 10511874560
    via Unsplash+ (Monika Grabkowska)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    Orsted 10h ago Mosses are so freaking awesome! It's perfect for lawns, because you don't need to do any maintenance, it
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    supports a buttload of insects and bugs, and it manages droughts so much better than grass. I hope you start a trend.
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    Another Throwaw... 10h ago I'd love to see a picture, if you can anonymise it enough
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    hexidecimals • 10h ago How are several different shades of green moss uniformly green when your clover and grass were not uniformly green? Am I misunderstanding the meaning of uniformly? I thought it meant the same/without variation?
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    LittleStarClove 9h ago • Native wildflowers + wildlife sanctuary certification = zero compliance that they can't do a thing about.
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    SkwrlTail 10h ago • Moss is awesome. Mossome.
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    immer9000 • 9h ago Plant protected vegetation, then they can't force you to remove it.
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    Dechri_ 10h ago I still don't understand the concept of hoas. It's just dumb. Just another concept of rules in the land of the "free".
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    seeyouspacecowb... 8h ago We used to have a lot of moss in the lawn of an old rental house. The garden backed onto a wood. It was the softest, squishiest garden to go barefoot in.
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    One time we were sat out there having a barbecue with friends, and one of them asked when we were going to ask the landlord to send a gardener round to get rid of the moss.
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    I was just like, why in the h I would I do that? Same friend went on a warpath against moss in her lawn when she bought a house. Can't understand it in the slightest, personally.
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    Why would you WANT a monoculture that looks, feels, and just IS worse?
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hoa hoa stories neighborhood drama malicious compliance neighborhood garden entitled people karma entitled people hoa members
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