Springdale, AR Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

Springdale takes a voluntary, education-based approach to native-plant landscaping. The Springdale Code of Ordinances does not require native species on private residential property. Excellent regional resources for Springdale homeowners include the Arkansas Native Plant Society (anps.org), the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service (uaex.uada.edu) which is headquartered in Fayetteville just south of Springdale and publishes specific Ozark and Boston Mountains native-plant guides relevant to Washington and Benton counties, the Arkansas Department of Agriculture's Urban & Community Forestry program (https://agriculture.arkansas.gov/forests/urban-community-forestry/), and the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in nearby Fayetteville. The City Code's nuisance grass-and-weed standard remains the operative limit, but maintained, intentional native-plant or pollinator-habitat plantings read as 'cultivated gardens' rather than rank neglect for enforcement purposes — documentation of an intentional planting plan helps. Arkansas's Right to Farm Act (A.C.A. §2-4-101 et seq.) provides nuisance protection for established agricultural operations against complaints raised more than one year after the operation began, which can be relevant to native-meadow or pollinator-habitat plantings tied to bona fide agricultural use, particularly important in the historically agricultural Springdale Tyson-era landscape. Springdale's zoning ordinance landscape standards encourage — but do not require — native or drought-tolerant species in commercial and multifamily landscape buffers.