Harrisburg, PA Invasive Plant Rules: Front Yard Gardens (2026)

Chapter 3-363 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is titled Tall Grass and Weeds and was adopted 4-8-1997 by Ord. No. 3-1997. Section 3-363.1 defines TALL GRASS AND WEEDS as all grasses, annual plants and vegetation, other than trees or shrubs, and then adds the sentence that matters for gardeners: the term does not include cultivated flowers and gardens.

The prohibition itself is in § 3-363.2. It applies to all premises and exterior property within the City, and the text draws no line between a front yard, side yard or rear yard. Such property must be maintained free from tall grass and weeds in excess of 18 inches, and noxious weeds of any height are prohibited. Because the definition removes cultivated flowers and gardens from the term, a flower bed or vegetable garden that is actually cultivated is not measured against the 18 inch limit. The exclusion reaches only cultivated flowers and gardens: uncultivated grass, annual plants and vegetation in the same yard remain tall grass and weeds, and the ban on noxious weeds of any height is a separate sentence in § 3-363.2.

The Property Maintenance Code the City adopted in Chapter 8-107 repeats the same carve-out. Section 8-107.3 amends Section 302.4 of the International Property Maintenance Code to require premises and exterior property to be free from weeds or plant growth in excess of 10 inches, to prohibit noxious weeds, and to define weeds as all grasses, annual plants and vegetation other than trees or shrubs, a term that does not include cultivated flowers and gardens. A garden bed therefore stays outside both the 18 inch rule and the 10 inch rule, while a weedy strip beside it does not.

Enforcement runs through § 3-363.99, which provides that whoever violates the chapter is subject to the issuance of an immediate non-traffic summary citation.