Privacy issue???
Gardening Reference » Gardening in 2004
by afgreyparrot on April 08, 2004 05:38 PM
![[clappy]](im/graemlins/clappy.gif)
Way to go for being different! If you've read any of my posts here, you already know I am "different", and my yard is a reflection of me...everywhere you walk in my yard, you're going to have to go around or through a different raised bed garden. Thank God my next door neighbor loves looking at it. She can't grow a thing, and told me if I ever ran out of room, to just keep coming right into her yard with the flowers! (I've taken her up on this already! One of my nicest roses is in her yard!)
I know it's nice to be on good terms with your neighbors that share your property line, but I doubt that privacy hedges will help. They probably wouldn't like that, either. But, at least you wouldn't have to see them giving you the "eye". I got an email ad the other day from one of my garden catalogs, and there was a really pretty fast growing privacy hedge on it. If I didn't delete it I'll post it here for you. I forgot who it was from.
If they ever actually SAY anything to you about your yard, the next logical step would be to make a beautiful "Bird Garden", complete with several different kinds of feeders, right next to the property line. Especially if they park in the driveway.....under the electric lines!!!!!
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Buckle up! It makes it harder for the aliens to suck you out of your car!
by boxmonkey on April 08, 2004 05:54 PM
I know a privacy fence isn't as gardener friendly as hedges, but it may not be as expensive as you think it is, if you install it yourself. It's hard work, but it could be worth it.
My preference is for a privacy fence, but I don't really care for big bushes. I'd rather have various vines climbing up the fence.
Have you tried talking to your neighbors? Maybe you can reason with them, or at least show them that you're a nice person and maybe they'll stop giving you the daggers.
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Custom Weathervanes - hand made
My preference is for a privacy fence, but I don't really care for big bushes. I'd rather have various vines climbing up the fence.
Have you tried talking to your neighbors? Maybe you can reason with them, or at least show them that you're a nice person and maybe they'll stop giving you the daggers.
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Custom Weathervanes - hand made
by Jiffymouse on April 08, 2004 06:24 PM
what i would do...
put up some poles at eye level along the property line, string with fishing wire or something similar, and plant vines that will grow along the lines (horizontal trellises if you will) and dangle down. that will give you the fastness you want, the length you need, and not encroach into your planting area like a wide hedge would. BECAUSE if a plant grows wide, it grows wide ALL THE WAY AROUND. the key is to minimize your contact with the neighbors without inconveniencing your self. not to mention, the vines will compliment your style of gardening.
put up some poles at eye level along the property line, string with fishing wire or something similar, and plant vines that will grow along the lines (horizontal trellises if you will) and dangle down. that will give you the fastness you want, the length you need, and not encroach into your planting area like a wide hedge would. BECAUSE if a plant grows wide, it grows wide ALL THE WAY AROUND. the key is to minimize your contact with the neighbors without inconveniencing your self. not to mention, the vines will compliment your style of gardening.
by Chrissy on April 08, 2004 09:13 PM
Hi again,
Thanks everyone, these are all great ideas. I do love the idea of vines as a privacy block, but I wonder being in zone5 if there is anything out there that would stick around with color year round for me. I know I could take my passion for morning glories & clematis & get some great vines going on the property lines...but alas being a zone5'er they all die out by the end of fall & leave nothing but ratty dead stems behind. I would love something that stays green with foliage year round even if it only blooms in the warm months.
I have actually spoken with both of my neighbors & I was very polite & introduced myself nicely & told them that I loved to garden & would be putting lots of flowers out to attract butterflies & birds. Neither seemed too impressed with that idea, they didn't say they hated the idea...but I could tell by their tone of voice & rolling eyes. That & the one neighbor told me he prefers a quiet looking neighborhood...Birds chirping & singing bothers him I am guessing???
I would love to just enclose my yard in privacy fencing, but my husband says even if we did it ourselves that is two years down the road budget wise. Our home purchase has got us living paycheck to paycheck at this point. All of our savings went into the down-payment & we are managing fine, but there is no "extra" cash on hand for the fence I wish for:( So, I am left with hedges I think as the only alternative. I don't really want privet type bushes, ya know huge green walls. That would really take away from my yard space since we are bumper to bumper with the nieghbors on either side of us. My mother has suggested rose of sharon bushes. I have never grown these, so I will have to do a bit of research on them before I commit to that. If anyone knows of any zone5 hardy, green year round vines please let me know, because I do love the idea of making a vine covered trellis wall.
Thanks so much for everyone's help, this place is great! I am so glad I joined:) Chrissy![[flower]](im/graemlins/flower.gif)
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z5b
Thanks everyone, these are all great ideas. I do love the idea of vines as a privacy block, but I wonder being in zone5 if there is anything out there that would stick around with color year round for me. I know I could take my passion for morning glories & clematis & get some great vines going on the property lines...but alas being a zone5'er they all die out by the end of fall & leave nothing but ratty dead stems behind. I would love something that stays green with foliage year round even if it only blooms in the warm months.
I have actually spoken with both of my neighbors & I was very polite & introduced myself nicely & told them that I loved to garden & would be putting lots of flowers out to attract butterflies & birds. Neither seemed too impressed with that idea, they didn't say they hated the idea...but I could tell by their tone of voice & rolling eyes. That & the one neighbor told me he prefers a quiet looking neighborhood...Birds chirping & singing bothers him I am guessing???
I would love to just enclose my yard in privacy fencing, but my husband says even if we did it ourselves that is two years down the road budget wise. Our home purchase has got us living paycheck to paycheck at this point. All of our savings went into the down-payment & we are managing fine, but there is no "extra" cash on hand for the fence I wish for:( So, I am left with hedges I think as the only alternative. I don't really want privet type bushes, ya know huge green walls. That would really take away from my yard space since we are bumper to bumper with the nieghbors on either side of us. My mother has suggested rose of sharon bushes. I have never grown these, so I will have to do a bit of research on them before I commit to that. If anyone knows of any zone5 hardy, green year round vines please let me know, because I do love the idea of making a vine covered trellis wall.
Thanks so much for everyone's help, this place is great! I am so glad I joined:) Chrissy
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z5b
by plants 'n pots on April 08, 2004 11:08 PM
Hi Chrissy ~
Rose of Sharon bushes (trees) lose their leaves in the fall so they won't provide you with a buffer during the winter months.
I put up a wall of arbovitae trees a few years ago after my one neighbor enlarged his driveway and it looked like we were on a parking lot. The thing I did not know at the time is that the arbovitaes are favorite food for the many deer we have around here, so we now have 21 topiaries instead of nice tall and full bushes.![[Eek!]](im/eek.gif)
Trellises of evergreen vines sound really nice.
Wish I could help with suggestions, but I'm following this post closely - I have other neighbors I'd like to block out!![[Roll Eyes]](im/rolleyes.gif)
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Lynne's knitting journal 
"I'm spayed, declawed, and housebound - how's YOUR day going???"
Rose of Sharon bushes (trees) lose their leaves in the fall so they won't provide you with a buffer during the winter months.
I put up a wall of arbovitae trees a few years ago after my one neighbor enlarged his driveway and it looked like we were on a parking lot. The thing I did not know at the time is that the arbovitaes are favorite food for the many deer we have around here, so we now have 21 topiaries instead of nice tall and full bushes.
Trellises of evergreen vines sound really nice.
Wish I could help with suggestions, but I'm following this post closely - I have other neighbors I'd like to block out!
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Lynne's knitting journal "I'm spayed, declawed, and housebound - how's YOUR day going???"
by Chrissy on April 19, 2004 08:46 PM
Wow did I ever luck out...my neighbor to the left of my house put up a privacy fence to block himself from my yard...so I have a full wall on that side now about 7 foot tall, and the neighbor to the right of me has actually gotten pretty friendly with me. I took a pot full of pansies over & left them on their stoop & I guess it made them feel a little nicer towards me:) ...so I guess privacy won't be an issue any longer:) yay!!
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z5b
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z5b
by Barb H. on April 27, 2004 10:52 PM
Chrissy,
I'm glad you didn't go to the expense to do any of that. It's your new home, your new yard, and as long as you don't have one of those homes where you have to check with a committee before you do anything....you can do whatever you like.
If they don't like it....too bad for them! Don't for one moment worry about them being annoyed....who do they think they are anyway to roll their eyes at you??![[Mad]](im/mad.gif)
LOL...i'd have to put in a few very tacky yard ornaments.....lol...why not have a gnome peeking over their new fence into their yard hehehehe...or tacky big pink flamingo to the top of the fence on your side??? hehehehehe I'm not suggesting you leave it there...for more than a weekend!!
What a rotten welcome those neighbors have given you. IMO, you should just deal with the nice neighbor...some people are worth knowing, and others are not. If they treated you this badly over a few flowers, I don't imagine you would have enough in common for you all to start going to holiday parties at each other's houses!!
Frankly, i think a privacy fence is rather rude...especially if it is just put up because someone doesn't want to look at your flowers...sort of makes them look like the grinch, doesn't it???? I'm not saying a privacy fence doesn't have a place...but if all was hunky dory until you planted a garden...well i think they are jerks, and i wouldn't want anything to do with them!!!!!
barb h.
Barb H.
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I'm glad you didn't go to the expense to do any of that. It's your new home, your new yard, and as long as you don't have one of those homes where you have to check with a committee before you do anything....you can do whatever you like.
If they don't like it....too bad for them! Don't for one moment worry about them being annoyed....who do they think they are anyway to roll their eyes at you??
LOL...i'd have to put in a few very tacky yard ornaments.....lol...why not have a gnome peeking over their new fence into their yard hehehehe...or tacky big pink flamingo to the top of the fence on your side??? hehehehehe I'm not suggesting you leave it there...for more than a weekend!!What a rotten welcome those neighbors have given you. IMO, you should just deal with the nice neighbor...some people are worth knowing, and others are not. If they treated you this badly over a few flowers, I don't imagine you would have enough in common for you all to start going to holiday parties at each other's houses!!
Frankly, i think a privacy fence is rather rude...especially if it is just put up because someone doesn't want to look at your flowers...sort of makes them look like the grinch, doesn't it???? I'm not saying a privacy fence doesn't have a place...but if all was hunky dory until you planted a garden...well i think they are jerks, and i wouldn't want anything to do with them!!!!!
barb h.
Barb H.
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by Chrissy on April 27, 2004 11:08 PM
Thanks Barb for the encouraging words:) I have to agree with you, the guy who put up the fence is a real jerk & I am actually thrilled he blocked his yard from mine, because now I don't have to look at him & his huge dog runs. It looks like a chicken wire kennel over there...and he was worried about my flowers & birds, go figure?? He is still a pain though...even though I don't have to see him any longer. Last weekend my 7 year old daughter was riding her bicycle around the block & she came home crying. When I asked her what happened she said the fence neighbor (that's what we call him now) had told her the side walk in front of his house was a sideWALK, not a sideRIDE...so she had better get off his sidewalk & ride in the street. I was so pis*ed off. I don't allow my first grader to ride in the street & she knows that. So she got off her bike & walked it down his side of the street & then continued to ride home crying. My father's best friend here in town is a cop, so I told our family friend mr. officer about my daughter's run in with the neighbor & he says he will be talking to him this week. That sidewalk is not his private property & it is for public use...so needless to say the neighbor isn't going to be happy with me again...too bad.
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z5b
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z5b
by Jiffymouse on April 27, 2004 11:33 PM
good for you. if you daughter was just riding, then he has no place to say anything to her. and, who is he to say anything to your daughter at all anyway? he should have said sometihg to you first. let me guess, this is the one who's cats like to fish?
by Chrissy on April 28, 2004 12:48 AM
This is the same guy...yep, the one who hates my flowers, thinks I am making the neighborhood too noisey because so many birds are singing in my yard, his cats eat my goldfish & poop all over in my flower beds & now he is taking out his resentment for me on my little girl. All she was doing was riding her little bike around the block. I have found out in the last week that not too many folks around here like the man or his wife. They are rather snobbish types. I guess he gave the man behind my home a heck of a bad time when he hand built a river rock knee wall down the backyard of his property. The poor guy had to take the matter to the town council & everything...but he won & he built his wall:)
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z5b
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z5b
by Barb H. on April 28, 2004 01:31 AM
Chrissy,
What a creepy, creepy little man! I'd be escorting my kid over to the PUBLIC sidewalk right by his house and ride up and down the perimeter...and just DARE him to approach me! I'd let him know....by flinging the cat poops over to his side of the fence how much you *appreciate* him letting his cat visit....oh, and if Mr. Fluffy was killing my fish and i could snap a photo of him doing it...i'd send it and a bill over to him, with a few kitty turds thrown in for good measure. (don't get me wrong...i love cats and I don't mind them visiting my property...it's just that when this guy has been so horrid, you should take no prisoners!)
Why do people have to be so darn mean? LOL...it makes me want to be ONERY!! Ya know..you're just settling in, enjoying the thrill of buying your dream house ...don't let him ruin it.
Barb H
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What a creepy, creepy little man! I'd be escorting my kid over to the PUBLIC sidewalk right by his house and ride up and down the perimeter...and just DARE him to approach me! I'd let him know....by flinging the cat poops over to his side of the fence how much you *appreciate* him letting his cat visit....oh, and if Mr. Fluffy was killing my fish and i could snap a photo of him doing it...i'd send it and a bill over to him, with a few kitty turds thrown in for good measure. (don't get me wrong...i love cats and I don't mind them visiting my property...it's just that when this guy has been so horrid, you should take no prisoners!)
Why do people have to be so darn mean? LOL...it makes me want to be ONERY!! Ya know..you're just settling in, enjoying the thrill of buying your dream house ...don't let him ruin it.
Barb H
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by Chrissy on April 28, 2004 02:26 AM
LOL, that is just so funny...I love your take on all this Barb . Don't get me wrong, I love cats too & have two of them living in my home. But I do love the thought of flinging poopy over his fence ![[grin]](im/graemlins/grinnnn.gif)
. Poopy? What poopy? I didn't see anything ![[lala]](im/graemlins/lala.gif)
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z5b
. Don't get me wrong, I love cats too & have two of them living in my home. But I do love the thought of flinging poopy over his fence . Poopy? What poopy? I didn't see anything * * * *
z5b
by Barb H. on April 28, 2004 02:44 AM
Chrissy....
Yeah...make a kitty cat poopy catapult!!! It could be a neat-o special feature pointed directly toward the creepy neighbor guy. It would be especially effective when they are sitting down with guests in there non-garden (are you sure the grass is grass and not astroturf? just checking) sipping cocktails. Soooo very chic!
My sister once had this fanatical neighbor who had a lawn the size of a postage stamp. Did that stop him from having every gardening tool known to man? Nope! He would daily use his leaf blower to blow all leaves and debris into his neighbors yards!! Then he would sweep the street directly in front of his house....not the sidewalk...literally his half of the road, from the tiny borders of his property.....and he would sometimes get out a scrub brush and steaming hot water with bleach and wash everything down. Once, when I was babysitting my sister's kids he knocked on the door and insisted i move my car...in this public street because he needed to sweep the street in front of his house.![[nutz]](im/graemlins/nutz.gif)
![[shocked]](im/graemlins/shock.gif)
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Yeah...make a kitty cat poopy catapult!!! It could be a neat-o special feature pointed directly toward the creepy neighbor guy. It would be especially effective when they are sitting down with guests in there non-garden (are you sure the grass is grass and not astroturf? just checking) sipping cocktails. Soooo very chic!My sister once had this fanatical neighbor who had a lawn the size of a postage stamp. Did that stop him from having every gardening tool known to man? Nope! He would daily use his leaf blower to blow all leaves and debris into his neighbors yards!! Then he would sweep the street directly in front of his house....not the sidewalk...literally his half of the road, from the tiny borders of his property.....and he would sometimes get out a scrub brush and steaming hot water with bleach and wash everything down. Once, when I was babysitting my sister's kids he knocked on the door and insisted i move my car...in this public street because he needed to sweep the street in front of his house.
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by Chrissy on April 28, 2004 03:35 AM
Maybe your sister's old neighbor guy & my snobby fence guy are related? LOL This guy blows the leaves off his property & onto everyone else's too. He did the same thing with his snow blower. I watched the poor girl on the other side of his house hand shovel her drive clean this past winter & then he got out the HUGE snow blower...looked like a hockey rink zamboni...and completely blow her drive shut. ![[thinker]](im/graemlins/idea.gif)
I might be able to get the whole block to help me build the kitty poop catapault LOL
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z5b
This guy blows the leaves off his property & onto everyone else's too. He did the same thing with his snow blower. I watched the poor girl on the other side of his house hand shovel her drive clean this past winter & then he got out the HUGE snow blower...looked like a hockey rink zamboni...and completely blow her drive shut. I might be able to get the whole block to help me build the kitty poop catapault LOL * * * *
z5b
by moondance on April 28, 2004 03:37 PM
Some people have no imagination when it somes to thier yards and others like us have to much-if there is such a thing. You are lucky that he put up a fence. What kind is it? I saw someplace where they painted a mural on their side because they couldn't afford to do anything. However this jerk would probly object huh. I too would gather up his cat donations and throw them over to his yard. His cats-his mess. No kid should ride in the streets if you are fortunate to have sidewalks there. What does he think that they are there for? What about bittersweet? It is a vine and it has intrest all year around.
by obywan59 on April 28, 2004 04:42 PM
I can't imagine someone with nasty dog runs complaining about someone who's actually trying to improve the looks of their place.
Actually, maybe I can. My mom and dad just got a new house across the road from someone like that. They haven't had any problems themselves with the people, but all the neighbors hate them as they seem to go out of their way to cause hard feelings.
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Terry
May the force be with you
Actually, maybe I can. My mom and dad just got a new house across the road from someone like that. They haven't had any problems themselves with the people, but all the neighbors hate them as they seem to go out of their way to cause hard feelings.
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Terry
May the force be with you
by Chrissy on April 28, 2004 06:51 PM
He put up a great fence...it is about 7 foot tall & tight fit boards, complete privacy. Here's a pic of it:
I think he would have a cow if I painted anything on it. He threw a fit because I sprayed it with my hose while I was watering plants a couple of days ago. He told me I was going to rot his wood. I only lightly sprayed it, it wasn't like I was standing there soaking it down lol This guy just needs to have something to complain about at all times.
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z5b
I think he would have a cow if I painted anything on it. He threw a fit because I sprayed it with my hose while I was watering plants a couple of days ago. He told me I was going to rot his wood. I only lightly sprayed it, it wasn't like I was standing there soaking it down lol
This guy just needs to have something to complain about at all times.* * * *
z5b
by obywan59 on April 28, 2004 07:01 PM
What a jerk!
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Terry
May the force be with you
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Terry
May the force be with you
by Tanikova on May 08, 2004 05:21 PM
I know this is an older thread but how about starting a garden in front of the fence using it as a backdrop to multiple level garden?? different size flowers or plants, different blooming times. etc???
Eventually I am thinking of getting a privacy fence and will tell my neighbors they can do anything they want to the side facing them but this is because my daughter has down syndrome with the common practice of wandering... I high fence will allow her to go outside and play safely without being able to climb out.....
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Ann
Eventually I am thinking of getting a privacy fence and will tell my neighbors they can do anything they want to the side facing them but this is because my daughter has down syndrome with the common practice of wandering... I high fence will allow her to go outside and play safely without being able to climb out.....
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Ann
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z5b