Sherman, TX Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

Sherman has no native-plant or natural-landscape program in the code file reviewed. What the City of Sherman, Texas does have is a defense list inside the weed-height rule. Section 6.05.001(a) and (b) make it an offense to let weeds, grass or other vegetation grow past twelve inches, and subsection (c) then says it is a defense to prosecution that the vegetation is one of five things.

The five are agriculture crops, except grass or hay; cultivated trees; cultivated shrubs; flowers or other decorative ornamental plants under cultivation; and wildflowers. The words "under cultivation" matter for the flower and ornamental category: a planted bed that is tended qualifies, while volunteer growth left alone does not fit that wording. The agriculture item carries a printed note, "100-foot fire lane/open fields", which ties into the one hundred foot strip that subsection (b) protects next to neighbors' habitable buildings.

The wildflower defense has a built-in end date. Wildflowers are excused only until such time as seeds have matured following the final blooming of the majority of the plants. After that point the plants are ordinary vegetation again and the twelve-inch limit applies. A homeowner who lets a native meadow patch bloom therefore has to cut it once the majority has finished blooming and seeded.

The defense does not remove the underlying duty in subsection (d), which requires whoever controls a parcel to cut and remove vegetation as often as necessary to comply. Notice and abatement follow § 6.05.004: certified mail or posting, ten days to correct, and city mowing billed to the owner with an administrative fee of eighty dollars.