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jazz_honey

Neighbors and trees

jazz.honey
10 years ago

Hello,

I have a question about ash trees and perhaps some neighbor advice?

I moved in our neighborhood 3 years ago, and my direct neighbour is a "busy body" and always has something to say about everybody.

The first year moved in (my first home) she told me all my violets in my woodland garden were weeds, and to pull them out. She is older, seemed sweet, and has a beautiful flower garden herself, so I pulled out all my violets!!! IDIOT! Thank goodness they come back! I was not at all a gardner; until that summer I learned everything I had in my yard!

Meanwhile, she's been insisting every summer that my (grey/white) ash trees(2) are invasive, they'll block my "view" and take over my yard if I don't remove them asap. -- I can't find anything about these trees being invasive. Unless someone knows something I don't?
(I have the most tiniest sliver of harbor view from the 2nd story. To me my trees are more beneficial to the wildlife than my view is to me)

Last summer she also convinced me that if I dug up her 20ft. Larch from her yard I could have it, if not she'd hire someone to chop it down. It was gorgeous, and I wanted to keep it alive, so I dug it up!!! (yes, I'm a YOUNG home owner, and a tree-hugger at heart, lol) In the RAIN! ....and yes, it did die. I was so sad.

Since I've live here she has chopped a handful of trees down from her property, and is now telling me she's going to chop down her beautiful 15ft. blue spruce (which provides me tonnes of privacy) because it's going to block her view from the second story (to look into my house? lol). I understand it's hers to do with as she pleases... I guess I can always replant another tree on my property. She'll love that! ;)

Thanks for listening!

This post was edited by jazz.honey on Wed, Apr 24, 13 at 0:55

Comments (5)

  • cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
    10 years ago

    1) Stop worrying about what your neighbor is doing in her own yard and stop listening to her advice on what you should do in yours.
    2) Plant your own screening/privacy plants.

    I would stop talking to her altogether but then I am anti-social that way :)
    I have a talky neighbor so I keep a bunch of phrases at the ready like "Um-hum," "That's nice, "I understand," and so on.
    I am not above keeping a pair of earbuds in my pocket when I am gardening in the front yard so I can slip them on when I see her coming and pretend not to hear her.

    These people love to talk and bore easily- if you are not an active participant they will leave and find someone who is more willing to tolerate their babbling.

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    10 years ago

    Jazz...I sympathize with you! Most of have had some kind of neighbor issues ovef the years. I've had delightful ones as well as one that my husband and I had to peer through the curtains to see if she was outside before we would sit on the patio.

    I'll bet that you don't listen to her again, lol. It's too bad that she's removing one tree after the other...she might have her reasons. Is there any reason why you can't plant a tree to replace that Spruce if she does take it down?

    Good luck!

  • calliope
    10 years ago

    And then one understands why walls and hedges are so popular in Europe. A lady next to me in the home before I moved here, was overly familiar as well. It was a rural aread outside a small village, and she used to just drop in anytime and park herself at my kitchen table for a morning cuppa and talk.............and talk............and talk. I was a night worker and I wanted to sleep. By the time she left, I was wired on caffiene and insomniac. One morning, I came home and went immediately to bed only to be awakened by the smell of coffee drifting from my kitchen. She had actually let herself in the back door and made coffee!!!!!!

  • minflick
    10 years ago

    Holy moly. Did you finally say something to her, and let her know you HAD to be sleeping during this time of day, not talking to her ad nauseum?

  • terrene
    10 years ago

    Ugh, neighbors. My next house MUST be more reclusive from neighbors, they are driving me crazy.

    The neighbors on one side, I don't even talk to any more. They are an older retired couple, and I tried to be nice for years, but the husband is a jerk and he pushed me too far. He has called the police on me at least twice because he didn't like the way my guests parked and sent a letter of complaint to the town about a zoning permit I was seeking (got the permit anyway). With a neighbor like this, who needs enemies?

    The neighbors on the other side are very nice, but the husband does no end of clueless things with his property. I would love to ignore them but he does things like install a motion detector light on the back of his garage, with the bulbs facing MY yard and deck, and it goes on and off ALL night long during a windy night. Annoying! I mentioned something to him and he hadn't even noticed it coming on. :-/

    My lot was heavily overgrown when I moved in, but unfortunately many of the trees were horrible Norway maples (almost all removed now), and many of the woody plants were/are invasive, so I've been removing them for years. This has opened up the lot and unfortunately removed some of the privacy. I am steadily building up tree/shrub borders on both sides, but it's a slow process. Too slow for me.