The way I look at neighbors the farther you are from them the better and the less you associate with them the less you have to be peaved when they inevitably get under your skin ... Some folks like neighborly bed and breakfast enviorment I tell them go to walmat or best buy and talk to stangers and invite them for coffee if you don't like them you NEVER have to see them again!!!. I think you could get yourself in a Hatfield and MCcoy situation if you are caught... and it may be more trouble than it's worth ...two things to consider is ONE do you love your house and plan on living there for a long time?? or will move shortly anyway... and Two are the skummy Ma and Pa Kettles lifers in that house or do you expect them to put granny on the back of the pickup truck in her rocking chair and mosey down the road shortly. If it were me I would move ...but if you can girdle them when they are gone out of town and hack it pretty good you may be able to blame it on critters if they confront ya ..you are bordering the state forest so thats a plausable alibai if you have a tree in your yard you hate and are planning to get rid of do the same to it and look peaved yourself It's so crazy it just may work ;>) since these folks sound like duffuses anyway.. David

One other way that may work but I haven't tried it would be when they are gone drill a bunch of small holes around the base of the tree. Buy some Tordone ( 2-4d) at your local farm supply store ...they may have to order it...put on rubber gloves and a chemical mask take a eyedropper or very small tube and inject it into the holes get as much as you can in each hole ...it is green/ blue ...but clear when dry ...it will probably do the trick if you get enough in you could do the same thing when girdled.but it takes about 4 hours or more to dry clear and it may be a "green" flag if the come back too soon... tordone goes to the roots and can damage stuff that touches those roots but I have rarely had that happen. David

I would move. There is another alternative--live with it. I myself have a couple of Norway Maples, and as long as I prune them to allow light in they are fine trees. They are mainly grown for shade. I have one fairly large one out back and I don't grow my Japanese Maples under the canopy of it though the shadow it casts does affect a number of them, but not entirely a bad thing--it screens them from hot afternoon sun. Those cultivars that need this get planted where it shades in the afternoon. JM's are pretty shade tolerant because in their native habitat they grow in forests where there is dappled light.

I'd ask your neighbor to either prune or offer to prune to allow your garden to have a chance.

Some people are just lazy. I would let them know that you would be happy to take care of the problem for them. If you offer to do all the work in clearing out the seedlings, then they might agree.

What that the annual crop of seedlings was my only trouble, I'd never complain again! The problem is the creeping shadow of misery as these trash trees expand their canopy of death. The soil underneath is dry and lifeless, and creeps annually into my garden. I've decided to take the extreme good neighbor approach by giving Mrs. Dolt the info on norways along with a cheap pot of mums as a goodwill gesture (I had previously shown the info to Mr. Dolt, who took a cursory glance at it and handed it right back to me--you can guess how much I like this guy since that). As was said in 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding,' the man is the head, but the woman is the neck, and she can turn the head any direction she wants! He seems a pretty whipped sort, and if wifey tells him to get his sad butt out there and do it, those trees will not be long for this world! I should offer to help, to further the action, but I dream of sitting on the porch and watching him toil away. He and I did some trimming of overhanging branches a few years ago, and I'll never forget how much I enjoyed each and every time he smacked himself in the head with cut limbs. It was not easy containing my laughter!

I thank you all for your advice and will report the results when--and if--they occur.

I've always heard copper nails will do the job.

Nail them most of the way in, snip off the heads with bolt cutters, then give a couple more knocks so they are not visible. Then wait.

I would guess 1 per inch of bole diameter, minimum 2.

Norway maples are now on many State noxious weed lists.