Re: Off-topic: Neighbor is a pain in the privets
- Subject: Re: Off-topic: Neighbor is a pain in the privets
- From: N* S*
- Date: Tue, 8 May 2001 20:21:43 -0700
I suggest you replace the ignorant neighbor.
Okay, now Janet, take a deep breath.
Instead of simply purchasing new privets which you know are
impossible to find at full height, how about offering to pay for a
consulting horticulturist to come inspect the privets and explain to
your neighbor that it will take less time for them to regrow than it
would for new ones to achieve the desired height and that it is
impossible to purchase full size plants.
Regarding the window problem, do you have curtains? Keep them closed
at night. You don't want Mr. Buddinsky looking in on you anyway....
Your other option might be to plant bamboo. I don't recall what your
zone is but there is a good book out by Timber Press on temperate
bamboos. If you take this route, just be sure that you install a
sturdy root barrier and purchase clumpers as opposed to runners so
you are not overrun by errant bamboos.
Nan
>Oh, dear. We just received a most unpleasant visit from a neighbor
>regarding the privet hedge. The shrubs are on their side of the property
>line, so late last fall I asked (and received) permission to trim them,
>as they had become overgrown and bare-legged. Today our lawn service
>finally got around to doing the pruning, cutting them down to about
>5-1/2 feet before our neighbor started yelling at them to stop. This
>evening he stormed up to our door and demanded to know what we were
>going to do about the "damage" to his shrubs.
>
>Unfortunately, he seems to have developed partial amnesia and swears
>that he never gave me permission to touch the shrubs: "Why would I? Now
>I have to look at YOUR HOUSE every day!" [because his house is uphill
>from ours]. I can see into your windows! What are you going to do about
>this?" Very much a line-in-the-sand attitude.
>
>He demanded that I "restore the privets to their former height." Well,
>they obviously can't be made to grow overnight, so he wants them
>replaced. I said that I didn't think it was possible to find privets
>that tall (who would want them that way?), but if he were to wait one
>season, they would grow back to the same height. No they won't, he said.
>He pointed out some dead stalks and said, "Look at these. They're dead.
>These will never grow again." I patiently explained that the lawn
>service didn't kill them this afternoon with the pruning; the stalks
>were already long dead (these particular shrubs have never been good
>specimens).
>
>"Okay, he said, "What about the shrubs I have there [Euonymous
>manhattan]." They *are* more attractive, plus they're green year-round.
>
>We are quite willing to plant 50 feet of Euonymous shrubs, even though
>it means he gets a significant upgrade over the existing
>shrubs--anything to avoid more contact. But, again, I doubt that anybody
>sells Euonymous that are tall enough to screen our offensive corner of
>the world from his view. Any suggestions for satisfactory replacement?
>
>Janet
>
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Nan Sterman
San Diego County California
Sunset zone 24, USDA hardiness zone 10b or 11
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