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!

Geeze Mere... We paved our driveway 2 years ago. The guy did a lousy job, it squished out and onto the neighbors property. The only way to remove it is to cut it out. We haven't done that yet, although we planned to. Have the paving guy come back and talk to him about doing that. Hemlocks are huge. What was she thinking? I think I would get the fence guy out pronto, think about getting the fence put in now. They will surely grow over the line, if you cut them on your side it totally ruins the look. Are you going to have a surveyer come out? Well, one good thing to come of this, she won't be borrowing the mower lol I'm so sick of neighbors. You try to be nice then get pooped on. Wonder if she'll let you see the kids any more. That's the hardest. I was relieved when my iron borrowing neighbor moved, some of the stunts she pulled were low. I don't get it. She borrowed & broken my iron & 2 cell phones, yet I'm the one that's the (insert word here)... Halloween they brought the kids over, hadn't seen them in months. I was then outside working in the garden, kneeling on their property... Out she comes with the 3 youngest to pick up the oldest from the bus... She puts my little sweetie girl on her right side, then proceeds to drive the carriage on the grass, walking as far from me as possible. She made sure my little sweetie girl didn't see me. I didn't get to say good bye to the kids. The mother was shipping them off to their G'ma's, they were loaded in the car, my husband almost didn't get to say goodbye. It's probably for the best, it hurt me to see the kids go, couldn't imagine how the little ones felt. Funny how people think. She swore to everyone that would listen that I gave her a broken iron, which is hilarious if you know me. I'm so anal about replacing things I think are going. Worked fine to iron my clothes for dad's viewing. I wonder if yours will start telling stories too. Mere the home-wrecker. If she was so worried about her husband doing something behind her back, why did she even start a friendship?

Interesting enough, all the anti-neighbor folks assume there must be some city ordinance to prevent offended neighbors from trimming limbs hanging over their property. There seldom is and the police have other matters with which to deal. The police don't handle that. At least not in towns in this area (my own, family's or where rental property is located). It's the Town Code Enforcer who handles it. That's what they get paid to do. My mother's town has strict tree codes (well, they're ultra strict about everything.) If a property owner's tree is overhanging a fence or property line, it can be trimmed back by neighbor providing it is: in danger of touching a building or wires, impeding growth of neighbor's own landscaping, or has potential to do some kind of structural damage on neighbor's premises (fence, buildings, etc.) However, neighbor cannot trim tree in such a way that it will bring on disease, poor growth habit or death. If in doubt, contact the code enforcer for an inspection. I'd suggest you look into that angle, chinchette. If you walk into your town hall, you should freely be given a copy of the code/ordinance that addresses your situation.

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.