I’d put Christmas lights on it and let it live as long as it dare.
This is what I was going to say. First would be a sign that said "Another great job by XXX Landscapers". Then the decorations would go on for every holiday. Even the ones I don't celebrate.
I would definitely say something to the neighbors. I agree with the approach of saying, "I'm sure this was a misunderstanding by the landscapers."
FWIW, we have a large hedge on our property line and we take joint responsibility trimming it with our neighbors (we have it trimmed one year, they do it the next). I think the roots are actually on the property line but still - we both have an interest in making it look good! I would hope your neighbors would feel the same...
I would definitely say something to the neighbors. I agree with the approach of saying, "I'm sure this was a misunderstanding by the landscapers."
FWIW, we have a large hedge on our property line and we take joint responsibility trimming it with our neighbors (we have it trimmed one year, they do it the next). I think the roots are actually on the property line but still - we both have an interest in making it look good! I would hope your neighbors would feel the same...
Maybe they’ll be like, “yeah, no, that’s exactly what we asked for” lol. I’ve never seen a bush so perfectly cut in half. I feel like it had to be deliberate!
Ok douche, go ahead and call it mud. My husband DID have halitosis. We addressed it after I talked to you girls on here and guess what? Years later, no problem. Mofongo, you're a cunt. Eat shit. ~anonnamus
Honestly, at this point I feel like being Petty LaBelle and just letting it be until next spring when we do our normal cleanup.
shauni27 1) you said two women lived there, but that you asked the father to move the car once when they moved in before landscaping started. Whose father? one of their fathers who presumably does not live there? - according to the HOA roster, the father and one of the females are on the home title.
2) Have you spoken to the neighbors at all directly (even to say niceties, etc) in the last 3.5 months since they moved in? No; I have had every intention if they were ever outside when we were, but they haven't been. I know it's easy to go knock on their door but even typing this makes my anxiety skyrocket. If we were both outside at the same time it would be easier for me to grow a pair.
3) Is there a way you can go ask the neighbors who they used for landscaping so you can kind of blame the issue on the landscapers and see how they react? Something along the lines of "your landscapers asked us if they could trim our bush, but it was clearly ruined and is making both of our properties look bad; we want to contact them to remove the rest of the bush at this point" and see how they respond? I could. I should. I might.
4) from the picture it DOES look like a gate with a dog warning sign, but you are saying it is just a regular fence connecting both of your houses? No gate there? (not really relevant at this point, just curious lol) I promise it's not a gate. The gate is on the other side of the house. I've gone thru it before to hang out in the back yard with 2 of the other 3 neighbors who had lived there. There's a lot more room on the other side.
Post by rosiebear on Sept 20, 2022 16:49:43 GMT -5
Thanks for the responses! Yes the bush now looks terrible but if they don’t want to take care of it, there really isn’t any solution but to tear it out.
I guess they forced your hand, which sucks, but it was going to happen anyway, unless there is somewhere to move the bush entirely within your yard. If you were going to move the bush, your H should have said so when they asked about trimming out the dead stuff, but I guess it’s easy to say that in hindsight.
If you guys just expected the neighbors to do upkeep on it, I think that’s unreasonable but again there should have been a discussion before this comically bad butchery. Still, I think the bottom line is that the bush was a goner regardless.
Post by sofamonkey on Sept 20, 2022 16:51:26 GMT -5
Get a large leg lamp outdoor ornament and some lights. Leave up until one of you dies.
For the neighbor, I don’t know. I am laughing that anyone looked at that and thought “good enough!” Id like speak frankly but kindly. Something like: “I’m not sure what conversation you had with the landscaper, but I’m thinking they didn’t mail your vision on this one.” And then see where they go. You could trim that some, but it will always be ugly from here on out. Evergreens grow that way. Green until you trim too far, then it uglies you to death for bad life choices.
Sorry, from the looks of it, they chopped out the dead part. I’ve had one of those shrubs and really all you have to do is cut off that dead part and then reshape the rest. They fill back in fast. It might not be as tall as it was, but I can understand if there was a huge dead portion blocking access to their gate.
Sorry, from the looks of it, they chopped out the dead part. I’ve had one of those shrubs and really all you have to do is cut off that dead part and then reshape the rest. They fill back in fast. It might not be as tall as it was, but I can understand if there was a huge dead portion blocking access to their gate.
There is no gate there. And this specific kind of evergreen bush, to my understanding, does not grow back if all the greenery has been cut off.
rosiebear we didn't expect them to do any upkeep to it. We always did. None of our prior neighbors ever mentioned the shrub or bothered with that area at all. I never even really thought about the part that it crossed property lines since for 12+ years it wasn't an issue. I do understand it did cross property lines but I guess I didn't expect it to go down this way. So that's on me.
Wow they are really bold and what a terrible way for them to introduce themselves to you. I'd be super mad and confused too. Some people are really territorial about their property lines, though, but who knows. Hopefully it was a big misunderstanding but I can't imagine how any professional landscaper could think trimming dead parts meant doing that. Sorry they messed up your shrub. It sucks having unneighborly neighbors.
Yeesh, that's pretty bad. To answer your original question, I would definitely be annoyed.
Neither you or the neighbors are making the situation better by not communicating, though. Do you have a phone number for them? If you're too anxious to knock on their door, can you at least start a text line of communication so that you guys can maybe head off these types of issues in the future?
But I'd maybe also make that photo my profile picture on every available outlet and wait for people to ask me why. So I could at least get some good mileage out of the insanity. "OH, you're curious about this half cut, half assed strange looking bush in front of a dollar store beware of dog sign?!! Have I got a tale for you!"
Post by orangello on Sept 20, 2022 19:26:21 GMT -5
That is magnificent. A+ job, landscapers! It’s like someone decided to do their own at home Brazilian and realized what a bad idea that is after one wax strip.
I mean, honestly - joke’s on the new neighbors because now they have to look at that. Lol!
Post by purplepenguin7 on Sept 20, 2022 19:57:42 GMT -5
Yikes that looks awful. I’m guessing they are putting up a fence which is why they chopped it like that but still a heads up would have been nice. Are you standing in their lot to take this photo?
Question: if they came to you first and said they needs to trim it off their property line, what would you have done? Meaning would have have tried to relocate it? Try to have it reasonably trimmed?
If the new owners requested the tree to be trimmed to the property line, I don’t think the landscapers did anything bad. Those evergreens are a pain in the ass and unless you’re only trimming off a few inches, they’re going to look like that. That’s why they’re a pain to keep the right size.
Seeing how close your houses are, if I was the new neighbor, I would be irritated that an overgrown (IMO, though it is nicely shaped) bush took up 3’+ of the <10’ space between the houses. Visually it makes their lot look and feel even smaller. I would be irritated, but definitely wouldn’t go about it like they did! That’s not right, either.
I think getting to know your neighbors will go a long way here. The longer you go without talking (even just pleasantries, introducing yourself), the longer you have to make up stories in your head about who they are, what they’re like, and what their intentions were. You could meet them and find out all of these stories are true, or you could find out that they’re much different.
ETA: To answer your initial question, yes, I would be very annoyed on your part, too! There’s no excuse for their landscaping trucks blocking your mailbox. I would have called every single week to have them moved. That’s on the landscapers more than your neighbors, though.
I’m confused about why the landscapers only worked weekends/ the work took 3 months. Do they own the company or something?
I have no idea, however we put sod in our back yard this year as did our next door neighbors on the other side (we both used the same company) and they also did all their work on the weekends. I have no idea why. Though for us they started on a Friday and finished on a Sunday. We also put in a sprinkler system in the back yard. All that took one weekend.
This house in question used to have a really nice shed in the backyard that they tore out, plus they put in a raised bed planter across the back, a sprinkler system and added a few small trees and rock. However the back AND front yard lay barren for close to a month with just dirt. I am assuming it's because it's a bad idea to lay sod in late July with all the water needs and 90+ temps here, but they still left the truck there that whole time. Either way, a solid 1 week of work could have gotten the job done. They guys we used were super efficient and got shit done right and fast.
Honestly at this point, now that the largest bush is out I’d just pull the rest out and start from scratch. It seemed to be at the point of starting to get overgrown anyway, so as irritating as the whole debacle has been, I’d see this as an opportunity to start fresh with new landscaping. Some smaller ornamental sized plantings and maybe a pop of colour will look great there!
I'd prune it back and see what happens with it this spring/summer.
I wonder if removing the large bush will give the little bush space/light that'll improve it's growth. Worst case and it stays lousy into the summer you can remove it.
I'd prune it back and see what happens with it this spring/summer.
I wonder if removing the large bush will give the little bush space/light that'll improve it's growth. Worst case and it stays lousy into the summer you can remove it.
I'm not particularly attached to it; if we have to tear it out too I won't be sad/mad. Except at the neighbors.
I'd prune it back and see what happens with it this spring/summer.
I wonder if removing the large bush will give the little bush space/light that'll improve it's growth. Worst case and it stays lousy into the summer you can remove it.
I'm not particularly attached to it; if we have to tear it out too I won't be sad/mad. Except at the neighbors.
I really cannot believe someone would cut your shrub like that and think you wouldn’t be irate about it. I hope you can treat yourselves to a really pretty flowering bush or something.