Your front yard

Ok, I know this is a highly subjective outlook, but I really appreciate houses that have either a front-yard garden or natural landscaping that doesn't require too much fuss. In my area, that would imply prairie grasses and wildflowers or, perhaps, a raised-bed vegetable garden.

I once had an appraiser comment on our front-yard vegetable/flower garden as being potentially "problematic," but I think I eventually persuaded him that this was an asset, at least for our area. (We had received many effusive expressions of praise from passers-by.) My guess is that he had spent too much time in HOA-land.

Apart from stale convention, what are the limits where you live to what you can do with your yard(s)?
And do those limits affect your sense of ownership?