neighbor's foundation planting- need advice

16 years ago

My neighbor, who knows nothing about gardening and has an interesting way of going about things, bought a new house he is working on. At some point, he had pretty much all the exisiting foundation plantings ripped out (some time in the past few weeks- in the heat of summer with rain finally on the way). He also brought in a bulldozer and had I guess maybe a line of shrubs along a concrete retaining wall bulldozed. We have now gotten 2 1/2 inches of rain in the last few days...

His back yard is I believe totally beyond hope without having a professional come in and regrade it (it all slopes down to a big puddle in the middle, basically it is a sea of red mud). He wants me to help tell him what to plant in the front and side yard. He is also BEYOND frugal...

So, I have a two part question:

1) He has a SEA of red mud along the foundation on the side of his house. The house is red brick with a red brick path leading through the grass to the door. I doubt there is a budget to plant there right now and the soil will need to be ammended. Unfortunately, I think this area may be running off into his driveway. Would dumping a bunch of mulch on the all the red mud help??

2) What are some suggestions for the actual planting in front of his house. He says it is full sun (I'm driving by a few times this weekend to check out for myself). I think it will need to be relatively inexpensive and easy care. We are in zone 7b; hot and humid Upstate South Carolina. I have already thought of hollies, which is what I have in front of my house (got them free from a friend!). Right now we are thinking he will plant an arborvitae on the corner of his house.

Thanks!

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Comments (6)

laag
16 years ago
It sounds like your friend has set up some situations which may have some big negative consequences. Now he is looking for you for help. If you help him, you will be contributing to that situation and with one hand tied behind your back ("beyond frugal") you will be putting yourself at risk.

You can't fix stuff like this without knowledge and financial resources. That is a lot of risk to take on without having a gain in it. Run away.
mjsee
16 years ago
Listen to laag--this is not something you want to do. I speak from experience.

My next door neighbor has been trying to get me to help her "do something" with her yard since I moved in 10 years ago. She doesn't have grading issues...she has an untamed jungle. About every three years they try to "do something." They get their "something" half-finished, run out of steam, and the jungle re-emerges. They were out of the country for nine months once. No one knew they were gone, even though they didn't hire anyone to maintain their property.

What they REALLY need is to hire someone to whip it into shape and then pay someone to maintain it...but they, too, are way beyond frugal. All I've ever done is make plant suggestions for existing beds...and tell my neighbors that they need to hire someone to design their yard. She FINALLY got a designer in...and then scared said designer away by insisting that she didn't want to remove any trees or shrubs or ivy or...

If you are a pro--tell your neighbor you don't want to work for him because you don't want to take the risk of ruining a good relationship. If you are an amateur tell your neighbor you lack the expertise to advise him of what he needs.

But run away.
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one CAUTION ... foundation plantings should mean.. plantings to hide the foundation ... THAT DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE PLANTED ON OR NEAR THE FOUNDATION .... plant them as far away from your house foundation as possible ... i grew up in a pasture that was turned into suburbia in the late 50' ... by the 90's all the cute little bushes planted within 3 feet of the 'foundation' ... were taller than the houses ... those who had foresight.. removed them sooner ... other still remain .. and they make the whole neighborhood look like carp ... make big beds.. and place stock appropriately .. i know they will be tiny.. and sparse for a few years.. but in 10 years.. you wont be tearing them all out ... good luck ken as an example.... there is a tiny bed on the foundation ... then the sidewalk.. and the bigger plants exterior to the sidewalk ... another view ... i may regret that i left the rhodie there.. but it was the only ornamental on the 5 acres when i moved in .. and i was sure it would die... lol ... and i doubt the azelia will ever outgrow the spot in zone 5 ... the bed is 5 to 6 feet wide and another .... think outside the box..
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I live in Plano with black alkaline clay soil, so azaleas are not practical (although the shape, color, and size would be perfect!). My house is a two-story with peachy/tan brick. The entrance has a bricked 6x6 porch with the typical ten-year-old home two-story arch. The arch is brick as well, and the columns of it are about 2 feet wide. The address is on one of these columns about 4 feet up, so I can't have anything taller than that, plus, the Japanese maple is only one Ind. hawthorn shrub to the left of it, so I would like to keep it 3-4 feet to make the maple more prominent. The porch sticks out from the house 6 feet, and on either side of it in front of the windows is a 'Clara' Indian hawthorn. The house is sort of asymmetrical, in that the east side has one more room than the west, so the layout, starting on the very east along the foundation, is as follows: Burford holly (4x4), 3 dwarf yaupons, Japanese maple (7' tall), Indian hawthorn, front porch, Indian hawthorn, Burford holly. Of course, in front of the back plantings, I will add more lower shrubs and perennials, etc., but I just can't decide on what to put in front of the porch pillars. Maybe two more Burfords, of even two more ind. hawthorns to continue that line right around to the front of the pillars. Long winded, I know--- sorry! Any thoughts?
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Sorry, maybe I'm missing it, but why are you determined to make more work for yourself, for no good reason? I have been an avid gardener for years. As I see it, these may be your best bets: 1. Shelve the attitude about your neighbor and go pay a visit. Their yard may not make the cover of House and Garden, but that doesn't mean they don't care about it just as much as you care about your space. People express their creativity in different ways and are dealing with who knows what these days; I'm sure you do stuff that others would mock, too. Ask about the plants. Maybe they would be willing to move them. It's better than just killing something that isn't yours because you don't like it. And honestly, if you sprayed Round-Up and killed something of mine (especially if it had sentimental value), our nice neighborly relations would definitely be strained, to say the least. There's no reason to cultivate strife, so just go over and be nice. There's a chance they didn't even know their plants were encroaching. 2. As someone else suggested (another gardener, probably) plant the visitors so you can cut down on weeding that area. You know, what you consider a weed (agapanthus) is a plant that I've seen cultivated (and coveted) in various spaces around Monet's garden at Giverny and a plant that people like me pay about $9 each for in catalogs. One person's weed is another person's treasure. It's all in how we view things. Irises are pretty, as are the "weeds" (which are probably mushy because they can't dry out, with being close to the dirt and bending under the fence). So why not create a garden out of them along the fenceline? You can get a few companion plants you like on the cheap, too. I bet it would be beautiful once you've finished. Here is a link that might be useful: Agapanthus from a nursery catalog
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After looking at the photos, it really doesn't look like a big deal to me. These probably are access points to get under the house or vents and, yes, it would be best if there were doors or some other barrier to prevent wildlife from living there. This is a very common maintenance issue with houses, but it's not something I'd ever think was worth potentially alienating a neighbor over (not even with wildlife or cats living under there). I suspect that it's not a code violation that the city is going to make him fix--at least it wouldn't be in any of the places I've lived. It could be where you live, but I wouldn't ever report a neighbor for something like this. At most, I would offer to help a neighbor fix this; my husband is pretty handy and could build doors for something like that in no time. I have a bad feeling that, after you sent your neighbor the email, you're going to end up with a neighbor who doesn't like you. I don't know if you thought about this before you sent the email, but he could do a whole lot to make things more unpleasant for you than having those holes and some other maintenance issues. For example, he could install flood lights that he leaves on all night and which happen to be pointed in your general direction, start parking his cars in front of your house, etc. There are plenty of perfectly legal ways a neighbor can make things unpleasant. :( The thing is that people don't like to be told what to do with their property. There's a long tradition of people feeling like that here in the US. In some places, people are more tolerant of this than in other places. The fact that your homeowners' association voted down that attempt to have rules about property maintenance by such a large margin tells me that you probably live somewhere where people REALLY don't appreciate other people telling them what to do with their property. People everywhere tend to get pretty upset when people threaten to call the city (or call the city) to try and force them to do stuff. I've never called the city on anyone, yet. It would have to be really bad for me to do that...much, much, worse than those holes and, even then, I'd try to work with them first. I do agree with another poster who said it isn't very compassionate, plus, I wouldn't want to live next to a neighbor who didn't like me.
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inkognito
16 years ago
Is this one of those join the dots questions, or 'read between the lines, nudge nudge' kind of things. I'll have a guess: you bought a fixer upper to sell on, somehow in the renovating the area around the house was destroyed and you are looking for a cheap way to give it some curb appeal. Or: this is really your house and your husband did the bulldozing thing and you want to know how to fix it cheaply. If there is indeed a neighbour/friend why did he ask you for advice when you haven't even seen the place yet?
karinl
16 years ago
So let's assume the format of the situation is legit... doesn't matter. I find the "beyond frugal" part interesting too, because such people are always only frugal with their own resources, never with the time, energy, goodwill, or money of others. We get them here all the time. If the guy has rented a 'dozer or hired a driver with one, and "had" the shrubs ripped out, he's not frugal. He sees an opportunity to get something for free by picking your brain, and it seems as though you're passing on the favour by asking for help here. Well, sorry, but I'm not donating my time, and I don't think you should either. But if you do want to donate your time, the the research is yours to do!

Or... tell your neighbour to post a question here. Then he can explain just what he thought he was doing and what his intentions are.

KarinL
irene_dsc
16 years ago
Well, here's one bit of free advice I don't mind passing along - if said yard is a sea of red mud with a need for regrading - tell your neighbor to hire a professional to prepare a grading plan before hiring anyone to *do* the regrading. Oh, and get said grading plan approved by the appropriate authorities before doing said regrading.
Frankie_in_zone_7
16 years ago
All well said.

It would be one thing if you didn't know 'nuthin and were here trying to learn for yourself. But to do that as a go-between, with incomplete data, incomplete wish/want, no control of funds--you will get squashed like a bug, and anyone trying to help you here is likely to get frustrated beyond belief.

Join the Master Gardeners in your area if you want to get experience landscaping something that's not yours.

neighbor's foundation planting- need advice

Comments (6)

laag

mjsee

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