The joys of good neighbours - who garden too...!

13 years ago

We have always been fortunate to have good neighbours. When we bought this house there was no fence at all between our property and the neighbour to the north - and hadn't been one since the houses were built in the early 1960's. The current owners bought the property from the husband's parents, who had been original owners of the house. They begged us not to put up a fence, particularly a solid one, but we had a rescued, tempermental dog at the time (still have one - but different dog now...) and dog-sit a lot so we needed a fence. We but up a 4' black chainlink one. The lady next door is into gardening too, so we have lots of chats over the fence and 'borrowed views' of each other's garden. Here are a couple from this afternoon - the sun is very strong today so not good conditions to take pictures unfortunately.

Her dogwood is looking very good:

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And I love this Japanese maple:

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We exchange plants - I gave her my dying rhodos ;-) and she gave me Japanese maple seedlings, among other exchanges.

Another neighbour across the street volunteers at the Royal Botanical Gardens so always has interesting plants. She has a couple of gorgeous tree peonies. Because they are so briefly in bloom, what she does is strip the bushes when they are in peak bloom and bring the flowers indoors. Yesterday she brought us literally a bucket of them! These ones always make me think of some fancy ice cream confection!

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The only bad neighbour is one up the street who's agressive beagle escapes a lot - he bit our dog once and has bitten a neighbour. There's a 'biting dog' order against him (he's supposed to be muzzled if he's out of his yard) but, of course, nobody can catch him at it! The dog's about 16 now so hopefully that problem will take care of itself soon!

On the whole though we live in a great neighbourhood - where gardening is the local competitive sport :-) I hope you all have good neighbours too...

Comments (4)

kathi_mdgd
13 years ago
I wish~~~~~~~~~~~~~ mine are good in that they are friendly,but when it comes to gardening,they havn't a clue,and some don't even water their grass/weeds.This used to be a great neighborhood when i moved here 43 years ago,all or the majority of us were military,and we took care of everything,house,yards etc.

Then over the years they got transferred,and new people moved in.We stayed,dh got sent to viet nam,overseas in general,and the kids and i just stayed put.He retired in 74 and we decided this is where we wanted to stay,stil is,but it's changed tremendously since then.Most of the neighbors are from south of the boarder,and there's nothing wrong with that,but they just aren't interested in their yards,per se.They love palm trees and have lots of them,other stuff they bring in they just plop it down with no rhym or reason and there it stays til it dies and then it still stays there,if you get my drift.

I never could understand why people don't take care of the most expensive thing they have(their homes)maybe it's just me,but it drives me crazy at times.Oh well to each their own i guess,i'd just like to see my old neighborhood back with nice lawns etc.
Kathi
organic_kitten
13 years ago
We live in a neighborhood of families where there is some gardening done, but the ones with young children are busing living, but a couple of older ladies plant a lot of flowering plants. There isn't always rhyme or reason, some of the "plopper" mentality, but that was my mom!

A new home that has been built has owners who plant, and they are making progress on their home.

I just think you are very lucky to have a neighbor who gardens.
kay
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plantmaven
13 years ago
I do have good neighbors.
Last week I put out about 12 bags of pruned things. I thought they would take it with the trash.
Late that afternoon, my door bell rang and it was the young man across the street. He explained that they no longer took bags of lawn clippings, etc. He said his sister-in-law (another neighbor) has a resturant and he was taking his bags there. He put mine in his mini van and took them also. I told him he was a good neighbor. He said it is good to help each other and then he hugged me.
These two families are from China. They never have a blade of grass out of place.

Today my next door neighbor mowed my grass and them tuned my mower as I could not get it started.
I asked if I could pay him and he said his wife would kick his but* if he took money from me. So we settled on a pack of diet coke.
sarcare
13 years ago
I have a good neighbor and an ok neighbor, and my other good neighbors just moved out. None of them are gardeners, but my good neighbor does keep his yard neat and the plants he has are well tended, but they are the same plants that were there when they bought the house 4 yrs ago (that is what he told me). The other side is a rental house, and I'm lucky if they mow the lawn. They are nice enough, but have the attitude that they don't want to put any time or money in a house they dont own. I understand, but I wish they'd scoop their dogs' poop more often! I did get permission to cut back their Virginia creeper that is creeping over the fence.