ugh! i'm annoyed

there's been a rash of trees being cut down in my area lately
starting with the several hundred year old massively huge oak tree that was butchered because it was planted right in the middle of a lot.. and no one could build a house around it
now, our neighbor has insisted that we have *ANOTHER* one of our 30-40 year old, 30-40 foot oak trees hacked down, but atleast, it's gonna be used for firewood instead of just thrown away...
this time, it's because the roots run under her (the neighbor's) house and leech water, making her house settle
i really think the tree was there before her house was..
my opinion on that is that we should just have her house cut down to make the tree more happy
...then again, i really dont like people all that much....
anyway...
i think we used to have 9 oaks in our yard
now i think we're gonna be down to 6 (4 "regular" oaks, and 2 live oaks)
...speaking of the live oaks
we've got a big beautiful live oak in the front yard...
she's insisting that we have to have the lower branches hacked off because it rubs against the top of her husband's camper when he drives down the street
does that make any sense?
why the heck should *WE* have to accomodate *THEIR* oversized camper that's too tall to fit under *our* tree (and lots of other trees)?
again, i'm fairly certain that the tree has been here far longer than the people have, and surely longer than their camper has been around....

lol

anyway..sorry...
just abit of ranting :)

Kim

I would have to agree with the neighbor about the low branches if you live on a truck route. If you don't, tell her to let the air out of her tires when they drive by. lol (co-owner of a big rig)

we live in a nice little subdivision
....not a truck route.......
lol

I have several HUGE oaks in the yard and when the road people cut branches I had a fit. Years ago husband grandpa had the telephone/power lines ran across the road and then back to this side of the road to go around the OAKS! :)

They are cutting down ash trees here in michigan to try to stop the ash borer! People yard are been altered but I guess its for the best!

I've watched trees being cut down around here for yrs-for farm land of just because-the neighbors cut down all the big trees when they moved in-silly silly! So some are a little messy-it takes along time to grow a tree that big!

Im a member of the arbor society and I plant several trees every yr!
keep planting everyone!

It's so sad to lose trees you love. In Miami they have been cutting all citrus trees down because of canker. It doesn't make any difference if your trees are infected or not, they cut them down anyway. The worst part is they don't even notify you, just invade your yard without asking permission. It is really scary to suddenly have men with chain saws appear and begin slashing down trees. There were cases where pets were lost because of open gates, and even some that were killed "accidently". Protecting the citrus industry in Florida is important, but there MUST be a better way of handling it.

Gee Patishell, that's sounds like gustafo........who's the little "Hitler"?

"eyes"

Wouldn't it be the neighbor's responsibility to prune the roots on her property? Shouldn't the local public works people prune any limbs that cause a traffic problem?

well. ... the tree is already down
so it's kind of late for root pruning
we split the cost 50/50 for having the trees taken out
so it's not really the cost factor
i just hate having to take trees out.. they're so old, and it takes so long for them to get that big
oaks take atleast 10-20 years to "mature"
and the limbs really didnt cause a traffic problem..
it's only a problem for really big trucks and campers..
we dont have many really big trucks in our little subdivision
and the neighbors have the only camper that needs to travel on this street
but the tree doesnt really look as hacked up and naked as i thought it would after they took those branches down

on the plus side, i got a really big huge slice of the trunk of the old oak tree that i'm going to make a table out of...
and my mom (sundry) has a couple of logs to slice up and make stepping stones with
and several people are getting lots of firewood
so atleast the tree didnt have to die and just be thrown away
it's going to a good use, sort of
heh

EYES, The "Hitler" in this case is the State of Florida! There are ongoing court battles about invasion of property based on
ARTICLE IV of the Amendment to the Constitution:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
This didn't seem to matter to the men who cut the lock off my gate to gain access. I was at work and only my 90 year old mother was home and was too terrified to even call me. The grove owners are all powerful in this state, but in spite of all the hacking and slashing, the canker has spread from Dade County north and only has two more counties to go before it reaches Indian River County, the heart of the citrus industry. Sorry to be so long winded, but I lost two Key Lime trees, a Calamundon and a Bitter Orange. ALL CERTIFIED HEALTHY TREES!!!!

cant you sue them?
i mean.. that is clearly in violation of your constitutional rights

I think so too. The courts issue restraining orders, but they run out while the cases are heard. It's just such a mess. After moving up here to Saint Lucie County (next to Indian River County) it was so wonderful to see all the citrus on the trees in everyone's yards. The big one across the street from me looked like an Orange Christmas tree!!

Hi Patricia and all. I don't have any citrus in my yard and no real wish to. Although I totally disagree with their Hitlerish methods, (breaking into back yards, letting pets out etc.) I can totally see their thinking on trying to control canker. The Ags can't constantly be checking every back yard in Florida for the disease. We trim our trees, rake leaves and discard them into our yard waste bin. They are then taken to where? chopped up to mulch grounds, here, there and everywhere. Put in "mount trashmores" which are located somewhat in rural areas. The groves are also in rural areas. And so, it spreads.

Citrus is one of Florida's main industries. If we don't find a way to control the diseases that are killing the trees, we won't have a citrus industry. It is my understanding also that homeowners are being reimbursed for every tree that is taken out due to "orders."

These are just my thoughts on this.

:^)
Molly

I walk our dog every morning all the way to back of our property which goes up a mountain. The last two thirds of our property is probably around 15 or so acres and completely covered in trees and as I walk the property line, I see nothing but trees. Well, a couple weeks ago, the people on the property line (even though there are no houses within miles) decided to sell all their trees and have them cut. The first time I saw it, I came back and cried and cried and bawled. I was practically hysterical. Dh didn't know what to do with me. I was shaking, crying, howling. HOW could anyone do that? We have changed our walking paths so I don't have to look at it. It still upsets me really bad. Every year we buy about 100 saplings or so and plant them. Even though we have 100's and 100's of trees on our property, it breaks my heart if one dies or falls. The pine beetle borer was here a couple years ago bc of the drought and it killed quite a few pine trees. There aren't a lot of hardwoods here and the pine trees here are kind of scruffy compared to the evergreens up north but they are still trees and still have their beauty. I love trees!

Vic, I know how you feel. I often think that if I won the lottery I'd buy up the woodland around here and register all the ancient oaks.

I love trees too, and like miss_kitty, I'm irate about the ancient oak being taken down just so the guy can sell the property for more money. He bought it with the tree on it, didn't he?? And he couldn't get any reputable tree people to take it down - ended up with some jack-leg, uninsured, unlicensed crew who left him in a lurch with the job half done, which serves him right. But the tree is dead .... this tree was hundreds of years old I'm sure.

And I'm not happy about losing the 30-something year old oak to the neighbors problems. (We lost another two 2 years ago to the other neighbor's problems). Seems to me that people shouldn't build their houses right up under trees if they don't want to deal with the problems ... but that's just me.

Anyway, the lot we live on is not very big at all, and whoever planted all these oaks 30-something years ago either did not expect them all to live, or wasn't thinking straight. They are WAY too close together, choking each other, it's a problem. Of course, the one we lost today was one of the nice ones ...
the upside is I have a little bit more sun to garden in. And the crepe myrtles will bloom again. =)

Anyway, another will have to come down, prolly later this summer, or next fall. This one is squeezed in between two others so tight, it has no branches on the north and south. It's like a two dimensional tree, poor thing. And it's neighbor trees are suffering. So this one has to go. Then we will be down to only 6 oaks on this regular sized lot. And six is really more than enough.

Cheri'

Just an off the wall thought, but does zoning allow "oversized campers" on your street? My old neighborhood would not allow anything longer than 30 feet. They just had to be called. Sounds like your neighbor doesn't have enough to keep her occupied and out of your hair, and I'm sure dealing with code enforcement, zoning and the city would provide her with a considerable amount of entertainment.

the camper "lives" in a shed they built just for it and their boat, so it's only on the street when they get in it to drive out to go camping.. a few times a year
but for those few times a year, they dont want our oak tree scraping up the top of the camper, so they had us trim it
heh

When I moved here in 2002 my DH had 18 pine trees in this small yard. Pine bore beetles attacked them, cost us $3000.00 to have them removed!I love trees, but pines I can do without! Now I have less mess in the yard,Less worry about storms,& more room to plant !

Hi MOLLY, You are absolutely right about the necessity of protecting the citrus industry. It's the methods I find so disturbing. Here in St. Lucie County they seem to have a better handle on it. Of course the grove owners carefully police their own trees and the "home" trees are monitored by the AGs. Every month a little truck stops across the street and the man (or woman) gets out and inspects their trees. I only imagine that they have a route just like the meter readers and cover a given territory. If canker is found, I feel sure that "probable cause" would be found to issue a warrent and then the tree would be removed. It just seems important that everyone's rights be protected. Yes, I was given a voucher for $100.00 for the loss of my trees. It could only be redeemed at Home Depot for the purchase of trees only, of course no citrus trees can be replanted. I would much rather have them put the money into research leading to the prevention or cure of the canker because the "cut and slash" method isn't working.....they are finding it ever closer to the big groves.

i agree with you about the pine trees, gagalinfl,
we dont have any pines in our yard
we've just got various different kinds of oaks, a eucalyptus that gets cut down every few years... and a few crepe myrtles (hopefully they'll bloom this year, since they'll actually get sun with the tree gone)

i've never really liked pines, they're referred to as "trash trees" around here
they grow fast, and people like to plant them on big chunks of property..
i dont really know anyone who would want that many pines around their house, tho.. with all the hurricanes we have and since pines are so easy to just snap in half (for a hurricane, atleast)

When we bought this little house, several years ago, I was thrilled to finally have a place to garden, without a hovering landlord griping about "plants all over the place" (which was what I dealt with when living in an apartment). The yard here was bare, so I happily proceeded to landscape with foundation shrubs and a few small trees.

The neighbor at our back fence-line hates trees (and their leaves) and is a grass-cutting fanatic -- he cuts his lawn even in the rain. The only thing growing in his yard, besides the grass, is one rose bush that his wife insisted upon having.

The other day, while I was out in the yard, he (again) mentioned the little six-foot (bare-branched) sycamore tree in our yard, and how many leaves it would drop in the Fall. I planted it (in the middle of my yard) because this is my favorite type of tree and we need the shade, as the summer sun back there is enough to burn out your retinas :)) I don't know if this poor little stick is going to even grow yet.

Previously, my DH had told him that we would ALL be dead before that little tree caused any of us a problem, but this guy would evidently prefer it if we had not planted anything in our yard, and even went so far as to say that "people have sued over stuff like that." Oh my! Do I have to worry about THAT? (He doesn't mind the fruit trees at the back fence line because he swipes the fruit).

We live on a tree-lined street and my yard is always full of leaves from my neighbors' mature trees. It doesn't bother me at all. I use the leaves for mulch and it is so nice to have beautiful, mature trees in this 60-year-old, old-fashioned neighborhood.

I understand that he does not like greenery and doesn't want to deal with leaves from someone else's trees. But gee! Sometimes, I wonder why people bother to move to the suburbs if they want to be surrounded by concrete and/or bare ground. So now I'm torn between wanting to have a nicely-landscaped back yard and guilt over trying to be a "good" neighbor.

SWEETPEA, what in the world do they put in the water there in LA that make you and Miss_Kitty such good neighbors?! I can't imagine the nerve of someone asking me to cut back a tree just so it wouldn't touch the top of their RV. And as for your neighbor and his grass....I think he needs professional help! No matter what you do to be a good neighbor it won't satisfy him. Anybody that hates a tree is a lost cause for a neighbor. I suggest you change your name to Louisianapoisenoak and plant what you want to. GRRRRRRRR

Sweetpea, It's a good thing that your neighbor doesn't have this "Ga REDNECK gal in Fl" for a neighbor!! I would probably get the biggest, fast growing trees I could find & plant them if it was MY yard! I always try to be a good neighbor...But, let's face it! You can please some of the people some of the time, but not all the people ALL the time! LOL

Sweetpea, you have a control freak living behind you. Give him an inch and he'll take your yard. We have one behind us, too. It bugs my husband but I let it go in one ear and out the other and we haven't heard from them in a long time.

IMO, if you don't play the t.v. and stereo outside or blaring with the windows open, you are a good neighbor.

Sweetpea - that's the kind of neighbor that I would plant a Ligustrum hedge for! And if he really nagged me, I'd choose Loquat (Japanese plums, as my mother calls them). Then he could raise cane over the rotting fruit, seedlings AND leaves. He's the type I call 'Lawn Nazi.'

And Kitty & Sundry, I'm glad the tree trimmers didn't do a hatchet job on yours, but I agree 100% that the trees were (probably) there first and should take precedence. Especially over a machine that gets three gallons to the mile.

I usually sign off with a happy face, but this deserves
8^[

"Lawn Nazi." Now that's funny! Every time I see him, I'm going to think, "Lawn Nazi," and that will give me a chuckle instead of getting angry.

Reading some of the posts, I can hardly believe that workmen will come inside your yard and begin cutting trees without notification of the landowner! They could get shot here for that! We'd think they were vandals.

I know that if one's tree overhangs a neighbor's yard, it is their legal right to request that the overhanging branches be trimmed (or can have it done and pay for it themselves) -- but removal of the entire tree? I don't think so!

Sundry, miss_kitty, I think we need high, "good-neighbor" fences -- or do as dogbane suggested -- an impenetrable Ligustrum hedge!

You all have made me feel better about this situation and have restored my innate sense of humor. I saw the Lawn Nazi this morning and we just waved and smiled :))

Dogbane, I have a loquat in the front yard. It is FULL of fruit. Do you think that if I put a sign on the lawn reading, "Free Japanese Plums -- Help Yourself!" and some bags, that anyone would help me get rid of these things? LOL.

I can just picture the Lawn Nazi in his S.S. uniform goose-stepping behind his lawnmower.

The utility easement goes through our backyard, so the utility company has be allowed access to it. Once or twice a year they come around and trim any tree branches that are in the power lines. A week or so before this is done, we get something in the mail saying that the tree trimmers are coming. If you are home, they will ask if it is o.k. for them to go back there before they start. (I don't know what they would do if you said that it was not o.k.) They've always been careful in our yard and never butchered anything.

When I was a kid, I remember when the Parish was installing new sewer lines. They were tunneling BIG trenches and tearing up everyone's lawn.... until they got to ours, and encountered my mother (aptly nicknamed, "Big Red").

I can still see Big Red standing in front of the beautiful little sycamore tree that she had been nurturing for several years, hands-on-hips and a scowl on her face. She told those workmen that if they touched that tree that she would go inside and get a shotgun and blow them all to kingdom come.

Of course, she wouldn't have. But they must have believed that six-foot-tall redhead because, looking up-and-down the block, one saw those big trenches ENDING at our lawn and going carefully AROUND the tree. LOL.

GREAT story LSPea! So now you have a perfect role model to show you how to handle your "lawn Nazi". YOU GO GIRL!(LOL)

LOL, LSP! She sounds like my Mom, only my Mom is only 5 ft tall. But she is a full blooded Italian, and can be downright scary. She faces down the power company people every year (they can trim, but they dare not butcher ...) and she's run the dog catcher out of the yard on several occasions.

Dogbane, I've had the impenetrable ligustrum hedge ... now I'm trying to get rid of it! Apparently it can't be done, but I'll keep trying. ;-)

Truthfully, the neighbors in question aren't that bad (not like the ones that lived on the other side! thank God they left). They've been fighting with the tree for a few years, and the tree was winning. It is their house, after all, that was being destroyed. And they aren't the ones who built it .... sigh.

She was out there the whole time the tree people were here, making sure they didn't do any more damage than necessary. And they did a real good job trimming the tree in front, that was causing the problem for the huge camper ....

Neighbors are a pain, I'd much prefer to live on a few acres out in the contrary where I wouldn't have to worry about neighbors. But, that's not the situation ... we all live crowded up in this cute little neighborhood. Whenever possible, we've got to give and take.

Cheri'