I would go with native wetland plants for the ditch. Being as I don't know your location, I can't be more specific. A word of caution from professional experience: by fereral law you can not fill in or dump trash in or place culverts in waterways or wetlands without proper permits through the Army Corps of Engineers. A wetland has a water table within 10" of the surface during at least two weeks of the growing season, if I remember the definition correctly. Some people get busted through aerial photography these days too even if nobody complains. I had to redesign a wetland for such a case in the past. Ziggy

I am sorry but I don't see what the big problem you all are talking about here. First the house hardly looks run down and the dog kennel looks clean and so do the dogs.I hope they are not in there 24/7 as they are high energy dogs and they need a job, not jail. Looks to me that you have plenty of space from your house to the fence line. It isn't as if your house is 6 feet from the fence. Truthfully you sound picky and the type of neighbor who needs to be more tolerant of others living around you or buy a bigger piece of property.Everybody doesn't live or want to live like their neighbors and when you buy a piece of property that is close enough to the neighbors keep this in mind.WIth all the space you have to work with you could make it so you wouldn't know if there were dogs or neighbors there or not.Why is it up to them to change to make you happy? DIdn't you move next to them?WHy are they bad neighbors? I may upset some of you but did anyone ever consider that they don't think the dog kennel is a eyesore? I myself didn't think anything about the neighbors looked so bad that I felt the need to wage war on them. If you really hate what you see then why don't you put a berm in and fill it full of the "proper plants" Add a huge water feature to help drown out any sounds that they may make living near you. Just remember to leave a place where you can still see how they are or are not maintaining their place. Sounds to me that your wife likes to have a full veiw of the neighbors place. No berm no fence hummmm. Everyone here seemed to jump at the chance to rip these neighbors apart. One talks about the smell coming from the kennels? What? I never read anything about a stench or constant barking from these animals. I may need glasses more than I thought because the neighbors house didn't come close to being run down looking to me. All I can say is feel blessed none of you are my neighbors. If my neighbor has the nerve to complain about what I do or don't do in my yard, I can promise the "problem only gets worse" Last I remembered this was a free country and it isn't a crime to live differently than others. For those who are senitive to others ways of living really should avoid moving anywhere too close to others. I bet I could find something obnoxious about your yard,gardens,car,fertilizing/spraying,wife or your attitude but I would never think about talking dirt to others about it. I would be too busy tending to my yard, house and life to find the time. Maybe you didn't mean to sound the way you did in your post and all you really wanted was some advice to make your yard more private instead of blocking out the low life neighbors place that you find so hard to look at. All I know is I found not only your post but almost everyone elses post out of line and obnoxious. Ironbelly- you suggest to fight them legally? For what? A judge would look at that picture and write you off as the noisy controlling neighbor who needs to get a life. Man you said move NOW!!! Such drama Sorry but this the way I felt the first time I read this post and when I reread it I just had to respond. Okay everyone chose your weapons, I am ducking as I type.Atleast I am honest

I think they are full of hot air with their demands or about what they can expect in court, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a pain to deal with it. In most places I've lived, if you have vegetation going over into another person's yard (like tree limbs or roots), they can do what they want with it on their side of the property line, but that doesn't mean they can force you to do something on your side. Even if a tree on my property falls onto a neighbor's property, it's not my responsibility unless the person has sent me a certified letter showing there was a hazard. I'm not an attorney, but I would think that they will have a hard time in court, especially if they can't show any damages. Do they actually have any bamboo coming up in their yard from your grove? Or do you know if the rhizomes have crossed over? And what is all this Internet evidence they have? Just because it's on the Internet doesn't mean that it's true or that it applies to your situation. They just sound like they have a hole in their lives that they try to fill with mean-ness. It's unfortunate, but it's probably time for you to consult a lawyer to get a reality check. I don't pick unnecessary battles, but I draw the line at someone trying to force me to do something on my own property, and I sure wouldn't let some neighbor force me to remove plants that are important to me. But that's me. As they say: In the U.S. anyone can sue anybody else over anything, regardless of whether the case has any merit. I'm starting to believe that Britain has a better idea...you can sue anyone, but, if you lose, you pay their attorney's fees, too. That would choke off frivolous suits, like the one you're being threatened with. Keep us posted: I'm very interested in what develops. And good luck to you!

Nandinas are extremely invasive and nearly impossible to dig up if you ever needed to. They can also easily get out of hand. Not sure what you can plant, but we're going to plant an American Beautyberry as an understory tree in our yard. We might even venture into planting a Japanese Maple. Stephanie