The Convenant and Why We Are Not In Violation

In the violation notification letter we received on 2002-8-7, the following sentence stated the violation:

"Upon inspection of the District, we photographed the following violation: Maintenance - Mowing Needed."

The first sentence of the following item was highlighted in the except from the restrictive covenants:.

"3.08 Maintenance
Each Owner shall keep all shrubs, trees, grass, and plantings of every kind on such Owner's Lot cultivated, pruned, free of trash, and other unsightly material.  All improvements upon any Lot shall at all times be kept in good condition and repair and adequately painted or otherwise maintained by the Owner of such Lot.  Declarant and the Architectural Committee shall have the right at any reasonable time to enter upon any Lot to replace, maintain, and cultivate shrubs. trees, grass, or other plantings as deemed necessary; to paint, repair, or otherwise maintain any improvements in need thereof."

We are not lawyers, but after reading the covenant titled "3.08 Maintenance" we believe we are not in violation and our property not in need of mowing. Our property contains a garden that is cultivated, pruned, and free of trash and other unsightly material.  A requirement of lawn grasses and mowing is not stated in the referenced restrictive covenant.   Thus our garden meets all of the requirements of the restrictive  covenants and no mowing is needed.

To demonstrate we are not in violation, we shall look at each item listed in the ordinance.  

Cultivated is defined as:

cul·ti·vat·ed   Pronunciation Key  (k l t -v t d)
adj.
  1. Of, relating to, or produced in cultivation: a cultivated plant.
  2. Educated; polished; refined.
cul·ti·vate   Pronunciation Key  (k l t -v t )
tr.v. cul·ti·vat·ed, cul·ti·vat·ing, cul·ti·vates
    1. To improve and prepare (land), as by plowing or fertilizing, for raising crops; till.
    2. To loosen or dig soil around (growing plants).
  2. To grow or tend (a plant or crop).
  3. To promote the growth of (a biological culture).
  4. To nurture; foster. See Synonyms at nurture.
  5. To form and refine, as by education.
  6. To seek the acquaintance or goodwill of; make friends with.
The plants in our garden have been grown on purpose.  They were tended to and nurtured as they grew.  Hence they are cultivated.

Pruned is defined as:

prune2   Pronunciation Key  (pr n)
v. pruned, prun·ing, prunes
v. tr.
  1. To cut off or remove dead or living parts or branches of (a plant, for example) to improve shape or growth.
  2. To remove or cut out as superfluous.
  3. To reduce: prune a budget.
We cut off dead parts of the garden plants to improve growth continuously.  Plants pruned within the last month include Live Oak, Cenizo, Partridge Pea, Silver Bluestem, Black Dalea, Mexican Buckeye, Standing Cyprus, and False Willow.  Hence we prune the plants.

Relating to "free of trash and other unsightly material", trash is defined as:

trash   Pronunciation Key  (tr sh)
n.
    1. Worthless or discarded material or objects; refuse or rubbish.
    2. Something broken off or removed to be discarded, especially plant trimmings.
    3. The refuse of sugar cane after extraction of the juice.
  2. A place or receptacle where rubbish is discarded: threw the wrapper in the trash.
    1. Empty words or ideas.
    2. Worthless or offensive literary or artistic material.
    3. Disparaging, often abusive speech about a person or group.
  4. A person or group of people regarded as worthless or contemptible.
We place no refuse or rubbish in our garden, and we remove all refuse and rubbish that blows into our garden.  Hence our garden is free of trash.

Unsightly is defined as:

un·sight·ly   Pronunciation Key  ( n-s t l )
adj. un·sight·li·er, un·sight·li·est
Unpleasant or offensive to look at; unattractive. See Synonyms at ugly.
Unsightly is very subjective: one man's weed is another man's rose [Rappaport 1993].  Our plants have pleasant foliage and blooms.  We have no ugly structures in the garden.  Hence the garden is free of unsightly material.

A requirement of lawn grasses and mowing is not stated in the referenced restrictive covenant 3.08.

Thus our garden meets all of the requirements of the restrictive covenants and no mowing is needed.

The following dictionary was used for these definitions:

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.