Hi! I read your post and it sounds somewhat like our situation (though no accusations about affairs or anything--just unsupervised children!) Anyway, since we moved to our home with a 2 year old, and another on the way, I insisted that if we did nothing else to our landscaping, we needed to install a fence! Since our neighborhood was somewhat established, and none of our bordering neighbors had fences, we opted for a split rail fence with a green mesh exterior--which is nearly invisible against the grass and landscaping. This design allowed us to "pen" our child(ren) in, keep the neighbors kids and dogs out, and it was subtle enough so as not to look like a "spite" fence. Once the fence was up, we then planted a mixed row of Rose of Sharon, smallish arborvitaes, along with roses, and barberries (the thorns are also helpful in the fight against would-be entruders!!! LOL!) The other nice thing about this kind of fence is that is CAN be temporary and removed after other plantings fill in, and it is one of the least expensive fencing designs, and both the mesh and individual timbers can easily be replaced if needed. We were able to fence in a relatively large 1/2 acre back yard for about $4000--it may sound a bit expensive, but it was WORTH EVERY PENNY!!! Just something to consider! Good luck!

Thanks for all the comments, positive or negative. Of course you don't know me or my neighbor so that is expected. 1. First and foremost, I want to do the survey and make sure the neighbor's survey is accurate. So far I have not found anyone who is doing survey only for one side for under $1000. This is unbelievable but I guess that's how the rates are. 2. I have created a claim with my insurance company. Not sure what the outcome will be but right now they are "investigating". 3. Well I am not being "nasty" or whatever that implies. If I were, this could have been gone in different direction. I am working with my neighbor and figuring out what needs to be done. So far we are on the same page. We have decided which trees to plant and who to call for getting work done. Anyway, overall this is good lesson learned for me. If this situation was reversed and I was in that neighbor's shoes; I would have let go all this. I am not saying this for the sake of saying because now I am the one who is culprit but anyway... This is important lesson for me because if something like this happens in future from neighbors, I know what to do.

It is perfectly up to you whether you wish to mulch them individually while they're small, or to prepare now for the future. I have only seen these growing but have never been lucky enough to own property large enough or in in a climate where I could grow them myself. So I can't well predict their progress. But I know they will become sizeable. A good strategy would be to mulch them individually this year and observe what they do when they emerge next spring. It would be somewhat an indicator of what to expect. Of course, one has to take into account the concept of "sleep ... creep ... leap!" Many plants do that and are suddenly upon you. Cannot stress the importance of never letting them go dry during their young life. This does not mean keep wet, but to keep on top of soil moisture so they do not dry out. A little extra water usually helps plants grow quickly. Normal fertilizer too. Not extra and not a shortage of.

I have more or less the same problem, but on my side is groundcover. My neighbors have St. Augustine. I've been keeping them apart for a little over 4 years with a regular spray of glyphosate (Round-up generic.) It actually works pretty well but results in an approximate 8" bald strip. One doesn't notice this from much of a distance, but it is not pretty (except to me in that it means I'm achieving my goal) close up. It is really not enough of an eye sore to distress anyone, including the neighbors or any neighbors. Down the center of the bald strip is the top of buried landscape plastic edging. I needed something to permanently mark the strip for tidy spraying but when I went to install, I discovered this edging there already, but buried. I just pulled it up to where the top could be seen so I have a guide. Each side gets about 4" width of spray. I am grateful that the edging penetrates about 6" into the ground and is a root barrier also as my neighbor's yard is full of weeds that spread by creeping roots. I really need a divider to extend vertically above ground, but this is not possible. It works pretty well so long as I don't miss spraying. Last year I was gone for several weeks, and busy also. By the time I got around to dealing with some rampant St. Augustine runners, some had gone as much as 7' into my yard! I vowed never to let that happen again! At the other side of the yard, I have the same condition but different neighbor and a paver mowing strip (8" wide) instead of the top of 1" wide plastic edging. I spray (carefully with fan tip) the edges of my groundcover and neighbor's St. Aug. -- whatever portion hangs over the mowing strip -- and this looks much better with pavers than the other side of the yard with the bald strip. The pavers only penetrate into the ground 2 1/2" but this neighbor does not have the vile creeping root weeds. At an earlier time in the back yard, I had to keep two groundcover beds separated (2 different types of plants) and created a brick mowing strip combined with aluminum flashing. The flashing, set on edge, penetrated 10" into the ground plus another 2 1/2" for the brick, for a total of 12 1/2" subsurface soil separation. It was a relatively low cost/low tech solution that worked well. I had to reconfigure this area and subsequently did away with it. The bricks were set on top of mortar as a way to hold them together and in line, and their joints were filled with sand at the surface. A taught string line guided their installation. Here's a rough schematic ...