UGh....my neighbor

mckayleesmom wrote: The lady that lives behind me is really nice...The kids like talking to her and petting her dogs. Everytime she sees me she asks me if I can contact my landlord to see if I can ask them to cut down my trees along the back fence. Today she was asking me again because she wants to grow a garden in a certain part of her yard and the shade from my trees won't let her. I personally like the trees because they look nice and kind of bring privacy to the backyard. I wouldn't be totally heartbroken if they were gone though. I dont' tell her that...I just say I will ask. The thing is..she wants my realty company to pay for it.....Im pretty sure what the answer to that would be...a big fat no. She has other parts of her yard she could use, but she wants to use this part because the grass already doesn't grow there.....
I will take pictures and be back to show you what I mean......She says that those trees are not meant to get that big...that you are suppose to trim them down to fence level..........Im not a huge plant or tree expert.....But to me they look like they are meant to be the way they are.

maestra replied: I'm no expert, but I used to run the HOA for a small townhouse complex. If the trees are on your property, but they actually grow over onto her property, then the owner of your house is responsible for trimming them back. However, if they are not encroaching onto her property, merely shading it in a way she doesn't like, then the owner does not have to trim them down. Hope that makes sense.

mckayleesmom replied:
That I totally understand Maestra......She did say that she had to trim them down out of her yard once....but that was before we lived here. Right now they are fine. I wouldn't be totally opposed to trimming them at fence length...Im even pretty sure that my realty company wouldn't care......but Im postive they aren't going to agree to pay for it...when its not neccessary. Does that make sense?

maestra replied: Complete sense....all I would do was pass on the request, or you could give her the phone number of the realty company and let her deal with them directly. That way you don't have to feel bad if they won't do it.

mckayleesmom replied: The trees she wants cut down are the ones along the fence...They don't look like hedges to me.

maestra replied: I think they are probably not supposed to be as tall as they are, but they look like they are supposed to be tall. I could see where are gardener would maybe flatten out the top, but they would still be tall.

mckayleesmom replied:
Exactly...but she wants them flattened to the fence line....To me that would make them look really messy and unkept looking.

My3LilMonkeys replied: I'm no gardener, but I agree - cutting a foot or so off the top and shaping might look nice, but cutting them to fence level would get rid of most of the pretty flowers!

sparkys2boys replied: I think I would let her deal with it herslef to that way you can't get caught in the middle of it.. GL

gr33n3y3z replied: If they are not hanging in her yard nor taking over her yard ( just in shade only Tuff ) Leave them be
I think they are very pretty weither they are to tall or not
Its up to you tho its your yard well land lords

Teesa®© replied: I'm not a gardener, but I'm wondering that if grass won't grow there, how would anything else?

Very pretty tree, though, I'm jealous. We don't have any

cameragirl21 replied: I AM a gardener and I can tell you that the reason no grass is growing there is that there is no sunlight...grass needs sunlight and I see some bare patches in your yard for that very same reason.
I can't tell from those pics if those flowering trees are the only things keeping sunlight from her yard but here is the problem--let's say the realty company and/or your landlord agrees to cut down the trees...they will grow back. fast. And this problem will be ongoing. If she plants the garden there, as soon as your trees start to grow and provide more shade her garden will die. fast. And this will be an ongoing problem for you, your landlord and the realty company.
I see plenty of sunny spots in her yard where the grass looks healthy, indicating healthy soil underneath which would be great spots for a garden.
Sounds to me like she doesn't want to be inconvenienced (by removing the grass in her yard) so she'd rather inconvenience you and the realty company.
I'd not want this ongoing problem and would instead offer to help her remove her grass in a sunny patch.