On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 19:26:46 -0500, Dawn
wrote:

Sigh.

My husband and I spent today cleaning up the yard, clearing dead growth,
mowing, prepping the vegetable garden for spring. I noticed a lot of
branches in the yard on the side of the house with no windows, looks
like our next door neighbor pruned the lilac bush that grows on the
property line and dropped the branches over the fence into our yard.
(Probably sometime last fall or early winter)

I'm tempted to drop our grass clippings in his front lawn, but I really
want it for compost.

Anyway, I think he's perfectly within his right to whack off whatever
part of the plant he feels is invading his yard, but if he's going to do
that he can take care of the debris himself. Has anyone else had to deal
with this sort of problem? How do you approach the neighbor?

FWIW, neither of us is the original homeowner, this lilac was planted a
good 30 years ago and is about 20 feet high.



Dawn



I cut back a hedge (that was getting over 14' tall) on the property
line and went onto the neighbor's property to trim that side too. I
asked the neighbor first before starting on that side. I raked up all
the clippings. Your neighbor probably has the right to trim anything
that overhangs onto his property without your consent, although local
laws can differ. It was a little crude to leave a mess on someone
else's property. Personally, I would just clean up whatever debris is
on my property and avoid saying anything at all to a neighbor. Hard
to believe you let the debris lay there for months, I'd have it picked
up within a day or two (but then again I only have a half acre of
land). You are fortunate to have a large lilac hedge!