Sharpsburg officials have made it a little easier for environmentally friendly residents to not have to pay more green for having a green thumb.

Council recently passed an ordinance amending its nuisance vegetation code to permit pollinator gardens.

Pollinators are “the engine that run healthy habitats,” according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

They often have a variety of milkweed and wildflowers that are native to the area in which they are planted.

Pollinator plants include the cardinal flower, American fly honeysuckle, obedient plant or pink manners, buttonbush and hoary verbena.

Such gardens are designed to help butterflies and other insects thrive as they help pollinate the planet and play their part in the ecological food chain.

Its vegetation also tends to grow taller than a foot, which is past the line many municipalities draw before a property owner is cited for code violations.

“This ordinance will allow folks to grow gardens where a mowed lawn would normally be,” councilwoman Sarah Ishman said. “This really helps in a dense urban setting like Sharpsburg to allow bees and other insects to thrive and create a vibrant ecosystem. Our previous code treated areas like this as ‘weeds’ with no distinction being made between unkempt properties and purposeful pollinator gardens, which often take more work to create and maintain compared to a mowed lawn.”

Fines for property maintenance code violations range from $300 to $1,000, according to borough documents.

Borough manager Christine DeRunk said she could only recall one incident in recent years when someone was fined for vegetative nuisances and the person claimed to have a pollinator garden.

“It doesn’t happen very often because not very many people have a pollinator garden,” DeRunk said. “I don’t want this to sound like this is some rampant problem because it’s not.”

DeRunk said the resident who was cited spoke with council, and the ordinance is part of its response.

“We want to encourage people to have pollinator gardens, and this is one way we can do it,” DeRunk said.

Certified gardens

Residents cannot simply add a few flowers to their property and call it a pollinator garden.

The ordinance states residents would have to get it certified as a Pollinator Habitat by Penn State Extension or a similar certification program as approved by the borough.

The ordinance also states a copy of certification documents should be provided to the borough, and signage should be viewable from the public right of way.

“We added the part about an approved program so that we could ensure people were educated about what it takes to have a successful pollinator garden,” Ishman said.

Connie Schmotzer has been a master gardener since 1990 and served as coordinator for Penn State Extension pollinator habitat certification since 2011.

She hopes Sharpsburg leaders will work with any new pollinator creators because one of Penn State Extension’s certification requirements is to have the garden established for at least one year.

“Just like any garden, these pollinator habitats need to be looked after,” Schmotzer said. “Since the town put (certification) in their ordinance, they would be amenable to working with people. They already seem to kind of get it that pollinators are important.”

The master gardener also understands the balance between allowing certain vegetation and keeping a community tidy.

“The time that townships and so on get upset, I think, is when someone just stops taking care of their property and lets things grow up helter-skelter,” Scmotzer. “The borough wants to know that people are caring for their property, and creating a pollinator habitat is certainly caring for your property. You have a plan. You know what you’re doing. … They can use the worksheet as a planning tool.”

Certification process

Penn State Extension has a downloadable worksheet that outlines certification requirements and what it takes to have a successful pollinator garden.

They include having at least four different species of native, pollinator-friendly trees and shrubs.

Those using native perennial flowers must have at least three species for each bloom season, and each species must be planted in groupings of five or more.

Some plants, such as baptisia, are quite large with many blossoms and you may only need one of those plants.

“Not all plants are equal when it comes to providing good nectar and pollen,” Schmotzer said. “We know that our native plants, which were here prior to European colonization, have a much closer relationship to pollinators than ones we have brought in from other continents since. We base this certification on native plants.”

Pollinator gardens also must have at least three host plants that serve as caterpillar food sources.

A list of qualified plants is provided with the worksheet.

Owners must submit photos of their garden along with the completed worksheet as part of their certification submission. There is a $10 processing fee.

There are 1,187 Penn State-certified pollinator gardens in the state, including about 90 in Allegheny County.

Schmotzer said she looks forward to adding gardens from Sharpsburg and nearby communities to the list.

More information about pollinators and how to get Penn State certified is available at pollinators.psu.edu.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)