a lot of stump-killer poisons are systemic and will have translocated right through the plant, including the roots so, in honesty, i would not hold my breath for any regrowth. However, plants are surprisingly tenacious so, unless your husband is raring to go, it would not do any harm to wait till next spring. Often, it does take more than one application of herbicide to do the job. What a shame for you though, Jaqueline,and, as you pointed out, others would have benefitted too. There is no dealing with some folk with their powertool machismo. All sympathy.
The cut ends of a plant are usually drilled to enable the herbicide to enter the vascular system easier and often mixed with oil or parafin as a carrier - could you smell anything like that?

We don't know what particular herbicide was used, or how it was used - even that one was used at all is an assumption. Therefore, exact outcome cannot be predicted.

Welcome to the Neighbors Who Do Not Respect Property Lines, Even When They Are Marked By A Fence and Property Line Markers Club.

You have my sympathy.

i would love to know what it was, too. Most weed killers don't seem to work very well at the recommend strengths. It must have been some duzy of a poison to kill something that big on the first application.

Roses are pretty susceptible to Roundup and other herbicides, so if it was directly applied to fresh cuts and green foliage, it's very possible that you have a total kill all the way to the roots. If you do get any growth, it may be weak and twisted. If that happens, be patient - after a year or two, the growth should normalize.

The law in California is not completely clear - yes, you are allowed to cut limbs or other growth that goes over the fence, but you aren't allowed to do it in a way that damages the plant. Certainly, the herbicide was just hateful. Did you talk to anybody at the shelter?

I was tempted to use herbicide on the perennial morning glory that was on my neighbor's side of the fence behind my garage, but didn't want to start up a battle. I have an MAC back there, too, along with eglantine and some huge dahlias, so there is a lot of encroachment from my side, too. To my surprise, there's not a bit of morning glory this year, so they must have gotten tired of it, too. However, they've now planted trees along the fence and my plants back there will be in too much shade in another few years. It's always something.

Makes me long for the country.
Anita

Thanks all of you for your comments and sympathy. Dennis, I agree - when I have used brush-be-gone before (on volunteer privet trees, for example), it hardly ever works - the stupid trees just sprout from the stump the next year anyway. I didn't know Round Up would do this if painted on. I am familiar with the weird growth caused by Round Up. There was none of that - no growth of any kind, just immediate death. The kill was definitely at the same time as the cutting back. I think it must have been some sort of poison because I never heard of a large rose dying to the ground from shock because it was hard pruned (only 1/4 taken off, however) in the middle of its Spring flush.

I am afraid that it is dead - will wait until next Spring to make sure, however.

I didn't contact the shelter because, after years of our neighborhood having all sorts of serious problems with the behavior of its "clients" , we finally got the management to pay attention, and things have been fine for over 5 years. I knew I was too angry and would say something unfortunate. However, I may do it now. We have a giant (over 50 feet tall) scarlet oak tree which has some branches also in their "air space" (although way way up in the air), so maybe I will make that my excuse - as in "please call me whenever anyone has an issue with it". I can always blame the problem on some mysterious anonymous volunteer.

Thanks again for your support - it does help.

Jackie

I wish there was some way you could prove what had been done. :( That's SO MEAN.

Probably thought it was blackberry or other "brush". Talking to you first because it was on your side of the fence apparently was not an option, as both property owners behind us have demonstrated. I have had a hanging part of a Synstylae (wild musk) rose cut off up in the air, on our side, a 'Veilchenblau' cut back to the top of the fence (on our side), a rare, 35 dollar tree completely removed a couple yards onto our side, black bamboo cut off at fence height on our side, and a 40 year old rhododendron skinned up by cutting off branches at the main trunks as much as 18" past the fence (and property line marker) - this last after I pointed out the property line and objected to the cutting off of the bamboo.

Two different households, same sense of entitlement. After I pointed out the roses to the woman of the house (in a non-confrontational manner) and the husband got home he stormed over and appeared at our door. He has some kind of horticulture background, we made faux friendly but the fact remains he came well onto our place and did what he felt like without any discussion beforehand.

Bummer. Roses that large don't die. They are killed. Last year we cut down "Grandmother's Hat," dug out the crown, poured a pad and installed an air conditioned on it, trenched for the power supply and generally turned the area into a wasteland. Gram's Hat is regrowing from roots as we speak.

Jackie, I'm so sorry this happened to you - people are strange...

A neighbor has the house next door as a rental and doesn't like ANYTHING growing past our fenceline, but he just trims back, hasn't deliberately killed anything. Problem is, we have known them for 40 years, they're good neighbors, so can't complain. Right now their son (whom I have known since he was five) is living there and he could care less what grows over the fence. He has become interested in landscaping which is driving his dad absolutely nuts! I'm thoroughly enjoying this because he really has an imagination along with a green thumb!

I have started planting further from the fence just to keep the peace with the dad, but sure can't understand why some people would rather stare at a chain link fence rather than greenery and roses growing through. Oh well...

I am very very sorry this happened. Like Anita, my husband and I dream about living in the country (or behind a big big fence) sometimes. We have a corner lot now - people walking and driving by all the time. Someone recently dug out a nice big trailing rosemary bush I was growing on my retaining wall - I hope their lamb tastes all the better for it. Some high school kids always pick the roses that are within their reach (I pretend I have deer, except I don't know what kind of repellent would work on teenagers:-)). My neighbor grows morning glory and white potato vine all over our shared backyard fence - it looks pretty but morning glory spreads and roots everywhere and everything becomes a strangled tangle if I don't keep pruning and cutting them. Well, there is not much I can do about that either.... I am more and more grateful for the things I do have - some land to garden on (however little), and neighbors who throw no late-night parties, don't do drugs and don't trash their lots.

Masha

I'm so sorry about this Jackie, it makes me furious just to hear about it. When someone wilfully destroys something that has taken years for you to grow and is not even on their property it's unforgivable. And who could possibly mind a beautiful flowering plant growing over on their side anyway? It's just more than I'll ever understand and yet it happens all the time.

Ingrid

>I don't know what kind of repellent would work on teenagersAsk them to help you with chores.

ahahah

Ogrose is absolutely correct. Some people get very upset if a neighbor plants anything that grows past the fence line. My deceased father was one of those people and so is my mother. She HATES her next door neighbor with a wild burning passion because he has two large mature trees with limbs that extend past the property line. Now those trees are planted smack dab in the middle of the man's front and back yards but it doesn't matter. The limbs are a deal breaker for mom. If it were legal I honestly think she would harm him, she hates him that bad.

My partner of 15 years is of a similar mind. We had neighbors who planted trumpet and honeysuckle vines right up against the shared fence in the back yard. Sure enough each year the invasive vines would grow up, through and over the fence. They also had big shrubs planted in the front and side yards no more than a foot from the property line. So every year my partner and I were stuck with having to cut them back. You should have heard the blue streak coming out of his mouth.

Personally I would love to see a large MAC in full bloom covering an ugly shed, but even I have to admit that those shrubs and vines worked my nerves. This year the neighbors moved to Ohio. A month before they left I contracted to have the fence replaced. Just to avoid any conflicts I paid an extra $700 to have a surveying company come out and stake the property line and that is EXACTLY where I had them put the fence. You should have heard the complaints coming from that couple. They fought me every step of the way. Finally a week before the work began I went out there and dug up all the invasive plants while the neighbors were out of state attending a wedding. When they returned the husband and I almost came to a fistfight. He made threats. I gave him the evil eye but didn't say a thing. What was there to say? I knew they were in a vulnerable situation and took advantage of it. My thinking was the worst that could happen is they would sue me for the cost of the plants. I can afford to replace plants. What I can't afford is having to listen to my partner ca-vetch about the neighbors landscaping. Besides, you can darn well be sure I would drag out the proceedings to maximize the inconvenience to the soon to be leaving neighbor. Flying is expensive. The next week they left and I haven't heard from them since. The new neighbor's have been much more polite about their landscaping.

Don't ever put plants against a fence if the growth will invade the air space of your next door neighbor. It really upsets a lot of people.

BTW, the new fence is ceder, extends to the maximum height, and has no gaps to allow things through. Good fences make good neighbors. Life has been much more peaceful ever since.

Ciao from the wicked witch living next door.

aha, shades of the famous hedge wars currently convulsing surburban England. The horrendous Leylandii has been a boon to recluses and paranoids all over the UK and now, some decades later, the tidy 2m high evergreen hedges are massive overwhelming 30m green monoliths (which resent hard pruning too). We have had murders, many costly lawsuits, harassment campaigns and personal vendettas until the Hgh Hedge Bill was brought in. Now, at least, people living in the grim shade of these rampaging beasts do have some recourse to law (I would have been tempted by a chainsaw). Before this bill, you were allowed to cut overhanging branches as long as you handed back the prunings to the offending neighbour but basically had to just suck it up if you were losing light and soil fertility and moisture as there were no rulings to dictate appropriate heights. I used to rage about the massive chestnut tree at the back of my garden, leaving me with less than 2 hours of sunlight....until it got phytopthera and was cut down - now, I have a view of a row of flats opposite...and they have a wonderful view straight into my kitchen. And, I had become rather a good shade gardener....still, climbing roses go a long way as a barrier to viewing and do actually flourish in the sunlight.

One of the things my now dead MAC accomplished, in addition to covering the ugly back side of our garage (which is really ugly - it was built in 1932) was to discourage the kids at the family shelter from climbing or coming through the fence. Sounds weird, but that has happened several times in the past - the last time the little darlings actually removed some of the fence boards to get through! Of course, they are just being kids (they were after a lost ball), but the top of our old garage is flat, and would be a neat place to play, and is just 2 feet from the fence, and we really don't want anyone falling off it...

So, I will eventually replace the MAC with something - maybe a rose that does not put out such vigorous canes - maybe we can sort of espalier it against the side of the garage - anyone have any ideas? It has to be a rose that will put up with dark shade initially, before it gets big enough to get up to the light. Or, if I can find a climber at a nursery that is already over 6 feet tall, that would work. That would be expensive, but in this case I would not mind.

jackie

A vigorous specimen should shoot up into the light in short order. Install some kind of framing to tie it into, and tie in the new canes each summer, before they become rigid.

Keep in mind that if it sits on the roof long enough for organic debris to start forming a moist layer you may eventually start to get some decay of any affected wood.

Another option would be to beef up (or even replace) the fence in some way, to make it more of a security or privacy feature.

"Another option would be to beef up (or even replace) the fence in some way, to make it more of a security or privacy feature."

Or better yet, electrify it. Apparently I am much like Molineux's partner. I get very irritated when peoples kids or trash encroach on my alloted space. Now this doesn't mean if someone planted something beautiful like MAC where it abutted my property...I would most likely use it as found/shared landscaping. However, when my lovely neighbors' trash ends up in my front yard, their kids break the pickets off my fence, and more than one errant football has ended up taking off new hydrangea growth, I am ready for a good old fashioned fire bombing.I completely respect people's right to their property, but it sometimes feels I am the only one (at least on my street) But I still would ask before cutting back someone's plant, and I would definately not poison it.

-Ken

I wouldn't wait until they were out of town and then dig their shrubs up either.

Paint the back of your garage fluorescent aircraft orange with diagonal hot pink strips 1 foot wide running from the ground to the eves. Make sure there is no shrubbery to hide the view from the offending neighbor. Paint the trim on the back side of the roof the brightest cherry red you can find. Seriously.