I myself would talk to the daughter and tell her your concerns. See what she suggests and if she has none...ask if she minds if you tackle it!

Good luck!

In my experience, D.I.Y. is often the best solution. People can be the nicest folks you ever want to meet but then there's still that f#$%!** invasive mess every day to look at. To keep myself sane and to keep from being run over entirely, I DIY. I can get awful selfish, not to mention other emotions when I'm out there sweating while trying to control the nice people's aggressive plant mess. I have been known to use herbicide, clorox, shovels, saws, nips, guerrilla garden techniques, trespassing and swear words. Whatever fits when my arm is all bloody from being scratched by the fence.

I wish I was only dealing with wisteria, if can be far worse. Sounds like that "baby" wisteria is a full grown adult now.

Maybe the house will sell and the new owners will be nice in the maintenance dept or get rid of it (miracles do happen). One can always dream but thats usually all it is, a dream. I do a lot of dreaming but mostly I D.I.Y. a lot because it keeps me from complaining to them, which I don't like to do and it wouldn't do any good anyway because I tried that initially but not for long, we all want to be liked + some people don't "see" it or care. Yesterday I dumped stagnant water out of containers. Yes, I trespassed again.

If it was your wisteria that your mother had lovingly planted 60 years ago and you spent many hours trimming it with your mom, how would you feel if your neighbor poisoned it?

Maybe spending a few minutes clipping a few runners once a month is not so bad.

Wisteria can be a beautiful monster and I worked hard to controlled my (inherited) vines at my previous house and it took a lot of work. With that said that was my "job" and not my neighbors job. Things change and sadly your neighbor's situation has changed. I doubt anyone is going to tell her if you kill the Wisteria.

I drove by my mom and dads house which is out of town about a month ago. Then there is my mother in law's house I also drive by from time to time. Both were gardeners and no longer live there, neither place is the loved garden they once were in fact both are hardly recognizable.

Life being what it is, things change, people move on. No one has said kill it but honestly a bit of common sense is in order. It may sound real nice to say you should take care of another persons once loved plant (even if it is a monster) but practical issues are also important, come on!

I don't expect my garden to survive after I'm gone nor do I expect it to be adopted out to the neighbors care when "its mother" is no longer working on it out of sentimental nonsense. No one else I know would work around the cactus & it won't really matter much when that time comes to me. I love, baby & enjoy it now, thats what its all about.

She enjoyed it while she was there, don't get carried away by feeling responsible or guilty. You are just a neighbor and you don't owe that vine loyalty. Geeze!

My neighbors yard is full of weeds that blow into and creepy under the fence. It never occurred to me that it was my right to go and do anything with his weeds, and those aren't 70 year old wisterias. Just clip the runners.

I spent my day digging out and removing my own wisteria.

But I would not me happy if a neighbor rather than asking if there was solution decided that they had the right to poison the plant. You do have the right to trim what is on your side, but if the shoe was on the other foot, would you want your neighbor killing your plants while you were busy dealing with your ailing parent?

Karma...it can get ya...next owner of that house might like throwing beer cans over the fence or singing loudly and off key to his one favorite song over and over. Right now you have a very quiet neighbor. Enjoy that while you trim the runners....fyi they are easy to trim.

My first house in this town had a large tamarisk right in the front garden bed sticking up like an eyesore. It wasn't really nice looking enough for the more formal situation it was in. I left it for a while as it was the original owner's favorite plant. She had lived in the house also for 40 years, and I got to meet her and her daughter later. She was a very sweet lady. Well, when I found out that tamarisk is on some list of invasive plants here, I was so excited to have a reason to take it out. I felt badly in a way, but very very relieved overall. But this was my own plant in my own yard. I would try to talk to the daughter and see what can be done. She just might not care one way or the other. If someone had asked me if they could remove My neighbor's barberry hedge along my parent's driveway that I spent hours of my childhood life getting the leaves out of every fall, (Ouch! Ouch! Ouch) I would have been first in line with a blowtorch.

I think some people are misunderstanding me, in that I have no actual plans to kill the vine. At least not while the poor lady is still alive. But I just DO NOT have the time to keep it under control. It is a huge vine.

Sigh. I guess I'm stuck.

Wait it out. Sounds like the situation is in a state of transition and anything could happen. There are really only two choices. Trim it or let it grow and hope the neighbor keeps it in check. Right now is probably not a good time to bring it up one way or another to the daughter.

seedisapromise--weeds next door is one thing & I could ignore that. I'm battling fast growing volunteer nuisance trees. I wish I could turn back the clock and cut these down as seedlings because we now spend a lot of money and effort dealing with the ones that were neglected and allowed to come up along the property line. They are taller than our two story house now. I keep the new ones from getting a foothold, its an ongoing chore of property line maintenance I do on both sides. Even if a trunk is technically in your neighbors yard, the top is in yours along with all the damage + expense. I have no qualms about hopping over to dump out stagnant water in containers, I've been doing that for years now. Just want to set the record straight.

I pull my neighbor's garlic mustard, so I hear you Tex. I also didn't really think about what the daughter is going through right now, so thanks for that. Sorry about the trees you have. I have a nasty bunch of boxelders and willows along one side of part of my property, and so I pull up the little trees all year. Also buckthorn. I dug a couple of largish ones from my neighbor's weedpatch. He doesn't care about that, I've talked to him and he just mows it sometimes to placate me. I've never had wisteria, I don't think it would grow here. But I'm sorry that saralee has to deal with a problem that all she can do is wait until it is really a pain to deal with it.

I hear ya. My neighbor doesn't care either. I mean, its no secret I do this, its easier than complaining, but every now and then I feel like blowing a gasket since its his mess and he really just doesn't care, its makes a lot of extra hard work. I've heard about buckthorns and not good things either. The ones I deal with are hackberries but I also take out privet seedlings , trumpet vine and trim the tangled growth of vinca vine because otherwise this stuff just insists on coming washing or growing downhill onto my property at a fast clip which is another problem--I'm downhill dropping about 2 feet at the property line so its all higher up and more visible. I've improved it visually a lot over the years adding desirable border plants on both sides but still, it gets old. I root cuttings and plant them, its coming along.

I had a crummy rental property next door and the owner - in an attempt I guess to spruce it up - planted a whole bunch of Snow on the Mountain right next to the property line and right next to my garden. No way was I going to take a chance with that crap invading my garden. Early in the morning, I was out there, spraying the stuff with Round-up. It died. I have no guilt. Eventually he lost the property to foreclosure.

Kevin

True confession. I poured clorox on running bamboo. Neighbor wanted to block out nasty neighbor in back as a vendetta and planted one. No way I was letting that happen. "It died mysteriously". They moved a year later & now the 2 party girl daughters live there. Vendetta is now just a memory but the bamboo would have been there forever spreading a foot a day.

No guilt either.

TexasRanger, while I agree with your action, I would always be careful not to admit to the action publicly where the original neighbor/owner could notice. The law is pretty clear that you can cut anything hanging over into your property, but if you damage a plant or tree to the point where you kill the "tree/plant" where it originates on the neighbor's property you are liable for damages to remove and replace the original at the size it was when you killed it. It doesn't even matter if the plant or tree is on the invasive list if its planting predates its listing. And the owner is entitled to the damages in cash; they don't have to actually replace the plant/tree.

The law is not always fair, but that's the deal.

If it was me I'd talk to the daughter. You never know what she might have planned. She could be planning to move into the house if her mom passes, and would be devastated if it was killed.

Not worried. I know the people and all the details of the case before, during & after the fact --- we've all since had a laugh over it. I'm not that stupid but thanks for the warning.

Is aachelelf in danger of exposed crime too?

Probably, but I like to live on the edge. Sometimes you just have to do what you need to do.

Kevin

We ought to start a thread called 'The Border Wars'. I've heard some very funny stories. We have an absolutely, certifiably crazy dude behind us, alcohol plays a big role. He's territorial, got signs posted all around his property and various dorky markers showing where it starts along with a spray painted dotted line by his driveway on the 3ft of grass bordering the poor guy whose driveway is next to his. He throws all kinds of little items--- batteries, lids, plastic things and just weird things into all our yards at night. He is also an admitted window peeper, he told me this before we put up the TALL fence. The target for the bamboo was him over the issue of dogs barking. Trouble with bamboo is, it doesn't target just one person. My neighbor was relieved the bamboo expired so I admitted my crime. We all laughed. By the way, in his yard there are traps for any animal who dares to cross. Kids call him "mean man" because this guy really doesn't care if its a kid, the rules apply. After 20 years, there are many stories including an incident when he pointed a gun at a kid.

Reading this sure makes me thankful I have good neighbors.

Window peeper eek! Most rapists start out this way :-/

"They don't have a name for what he is."
(quote from 'Silence of the Lambs')

Best thing was to put up a very TALL fence and not ruffle him, bump, look or in any way disturb him. He has laid into the OG&E trimming trees, Cox Cable, the Water Dept, you name it he's yelled and threatened. Like I said, he is very territorial.

This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 4:07

I would ask the daughter how she feels about your getting rid of it. She may understand. I understand where you are coming from. Thankfully, my neighbor is my parents....so they are letting us cut down the trees the wisteria is growing onto. I love wisteria in wild areas, but I freaked out when I saw it invading my yard. A good mulching lawnmower will help with seedlings coming up. Good luck!

When my Grandma died, the new owners of her house absolutely raped her yard. Killed the wisteria growing over the front porch which had charmed family all our lives. Killed the beautiful flowing lawns where generations of cousins played and laid down rocks. Killed all her flowers. I had sad dreams for years over the destruction of the beloved old house and yard. The house of love and welcome and homemade bread. I never saw my Grandma's hands without something in them to give to someone else.

sara I'm sorry you are dealing with this but don't have any suggestions. texas I like your fence. I have to say reading all this makes me appreciate my neighbors.

Notice I didn't say anything about taking action against a jerk of a neighbor, what I was talking about was putting having taking the action in writing where it can act as evidence.

As anyone who reads the Mid-Atlantic Gardening Forum knows I have been dealing with the A**h*le neighbor for years now. Every time they do something really over the line like cutting down their tree from my property and trampling all of my ferns in the process, they always claim they have the right to do it. But I always know the county laws better than they do (I used to be a reporter and I know how to use the Internet). So I usually let the County fix their butts with a warning letter and more recently a ticket for various violations. Have I ever taken direct action against their property? Dangedest coincidents I've ever seen.