Friday, August 28, 2009

I guess my neighbor doesn't appreciate flowers

When I started the blog, I made a conscious effort to not say too much about the neighbors.  You know the drill: don't disrupt the apple-cart, that kind of thing. Well, that time has passed and now it's time to vent. I am truly lucky to have a good neighbor to the north of us.  The neighbor to the east is a slum-lord and I look at their mess on a daily basis, now my southern neighbor has done it again.  I had to run some errands today and when I got back I came home to see this:

What the F is wrong with people???  Do people LIKE things to look barren and ugly and I'm the odd man out wanting some greenery???  The neighbor had chopped down all of the hostas, blue bells and cone flowers that were in MY side yard. Yes, I agree, about a two and a half foot strip of it is hers but the majority of it, about six and a half feet, is MINE. My main entry and side walk open onto it, I plant flowers there and tend it and therefore, it's mine.  Well, if I wanted a lawn in MY side yard, don't you think I would have started mowing and sowing seeds years ago???  Don't you have a side yard on the other side of the hosue you can F-up?  Isn't that enough for you?
This happened last year and is one of the reasons I started putting more stuff in the side yard.  I wanted to make it a nicer space and I also wanted to deter any unwanted chopping. Can they take an F-ing hint???  I should go over and have a chat with the neighbor instead of blogging about it but that can wait for when I simmer down.  If I went over now, I'm apt to go on about everything from their bad vinyl windows and front door to the dog they were abusing last year... ...and that wouldn't be pretty. 
Oh, and dude, if you were in such a plant-trimming mood, you could have given the stuff in the pot a trim too.  Oh, and look, you missed two cone flower. Is that my consolation prize??? Well thanks but no thanks. I guess I'll have to get some big metal spikes or maybe start digging a moat in preparation for next year.

10 comments:

Anna at traditional bathroom vanities said...

I hate when people do that! Go on your property and assume that because they don't like flowers you shouldnt have them either! I would suggest putting a small decorative fence(edging) just so they don't just go straight from their lawn and to our flowers. Good luck!

Julie said...

OMG, did you freak out? I would've. Holy cow, you have to talk to your neighbor. This isn't quite the neighborly thing to do.

Fargo said...

WTF? Glad I don't have your lousy neighbors. I hope you do go over and have a chat after you've cooled down a bit.

Anonymous said...

It looks to me like your neighbors just don't know any better !! They probably thought they were doing you a favor by cleaning up the yard !! Poor things !!

Crazy Nana

Chris said...

Yeah, I am sure they didn't do it to annoy me. I am sure they thought it was a favor. It is surprising though - given how I keep the yard fairly wild-looking, you would think they would see that we like it that way. this morning I noticed, they didn't even rake up the dead plants - just strewn everwhere.

Hawk3ye said...

Yikes! Been enjoying your blog for a few months in prep for our move to Oak Park. We've now been there about 4 weeks. So far we have great neighbors and generally a lot of fencing to avoid such turfs wars. ;)

Anonymous said...

That is just wrong. As in WRONG. Did you confront her? I would *not* let this go without a 'friendly' chat.

jay said...

OP must have sent out an APB to annoying neighbors. My neighbor to the south did exactly the same thing.. on the same day!

Actually, when I saw your photo I had to do a double-take as I thought you were posting my side yard. (The rain barrel gave it away though.. yours is green, ours is black. :-)

MrBrownthumb @ Chicago Garden said...

That's crazy! I don't know how you managed to not go over there and beat him over the head.

You're a better person than I am. I fly off the handle when the neighbor kids pull my flowers. :0)

Chris said...

Jay, your south neighbor beats ours by a mile. You know, maybe there was an OP "Side Yard Cleaning Day" memo that went out and we just didn't get it. I love the houses on the block south of us. This couldn't happen as each north neighbor has a fence across the front of the side yard and has "claimed" it as theirs, regardless of property ownership.