Hi All,

I’m getting pretty desperate here…I’m in Indiana so those of you outside the US, I’m sure won’t know, but maybe someone else on this list could help.

The neighbor west me has a smallish backyard on which 50 years ago the original owner placed a basketball court and surrounded it with evergreens, which he placed on the easement (7 ft each side of the property line). About 20 years ago the next owner limbed up the trees and put up a privacy fence on the property line, except to the south where it is 7ft inside the line. The current owner never goes to the other side of his south fence to mow or maintain so the south neighbor mows part of it – within 3 or 4 feet of the fence.  This area 4ft by 60 ft has become nothing but:

Solanum dulcamara - Nightshade

Cirsium arvense - Canadian Thistle

Lonicera maacki - Wild Honysuckle

Plantago major - Plantain

He refuses to maintain it so I go out there each year and spray it down with Roundup. This doesn’t solve the problem but reduces how much I end up fighting it in my yard.

Now to the worsening of the problem.  Last fall the electric company came through and cut down all the evergreens and sun is now full on his yard. There is no grass, just Hedera Helix - English Ivy that over time traveled from my north(his west) neighbor and covering anything it could under cover of those trees.  And of course, the Canadian Thistle has filled in throughout the entire yard. They mow it but it will eventually flower anyway. So this 60x60 yard amounts to a cement slab surrounded by 6 or 7 big tree stumps, ivy, and an abundance of thistle. And it’s going to get worse.

I’ve called our neighborhood code enforcement and they did make him cut the thistle from the side of his house near the front, but they can’t push any more than that.  Canadian Thistle is a noxious weed. Can’t people be forced somehow to stop harboring this nuisance?  Can it be reported to the DNR or some other agency?  Any ideas?

Kitty