Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Yardening June 2014 #3 into July, 3 by CatMint20906

CatMint20906 wrote:
Sally, I think there is at least a good 12 inches of stones along my fenceline with that neighbor. I have mixed feelings about it--it's been very effective at stopping her variegated vinca and ivies from creeping over, but I also cannot plant there at all. :-( Then, once the stone stops there are *tons* of roots from the neighbor's red bud and also her big tree that came down in a storm last summer.

So, my gardening options are limited in that whole side of the yard, and it's one of the few places in my yard that gets morning/dappled sun. I put the bird feeder and bird bath over there, and got some help digging holes for the peach tree, beautyberry, and 2 hibiscus (I'm not strong enough to dig through the roots there, but my handyman was able to do it for the peach tree and beautyberry, and Happy and her DH were able to do it for the hibiscus).

Right now, her beautiful rose bush and abelia x grandiflora hang over that fence and make it pretty along that fence line, but she must be around 80 now, and it's hard to say how much longer she'll be there. :-( A new neighbor might not care about these beautiful plants and they might come down. Unfortunately, it's too stony on my side of the fence to establish the same plants on my side of the fence. :-(

Speaking of changing neighbors--the new back neighbor who cut down the beautiful old tree in his back yard replaced it with the ugliest shed imaginable, and is now using the space behind the shed to dump their unwanted bulk items. Ugh. Out of sight out of mind for *them* maybe but honestly this is how ill feelings between neighbors build... :-(

1) a close-up of their ugly shed and trash heap overlooking my back garden area
2) the same scene from further away--this is what I see when I walk into my backyard
3) the same area last summer before this new neighbor moved in--slightly different angle as I didn't have a shot of the exact same angle from last year, but you can see it looks nicer without the shed ;-(

I have a second, smaller holly tree back there that I'll probably move this fall in an attempt to hide the ugly sight.

Edited to add: the small tree you can see in the photo from last summer is still there in the neighbor's yard--you just can't see it any more because of the ugly shed. I don't have a photo that includes the big tree they cut down. :-(

This message was edited Jul 6, 2014 7:35 AM