When we moved into our current house, after spending most of our adult years in densely-populated urban environments, we had the impression of lots and lots of space. During our graduate school years, we'd lived in a rent-controlled apartment. The apartment, our neighbors and our neighborhood were great but we shared walls on both sides and the area was packed solid with condos and rental units. Parking was an everyday challenge. Later, when we bought a townhouse in a local beach city, we shared a driveway but no walls and we gained a tiny backyard all our own; however, we were surrounded by 2-story condos and townhouses on all sides which blocked most of the sun in the garden. Only the jungle-like garden I created in the backyard gave us a modicum of privacy. When we moved into our 1950s era house with its open view of the Los Angeles harbor almost 5 years ago, we felt we had real breathing room at last. The properties on either side of us sit below us so we don't feel crowded by them. But space is an illusion. Although our property is a little over half an acre, our neighbors are still close.
Taking down the giant Yucca elephantipes at the bottom of our slope eliminated the visual boundary between us and the neighbor on one side. The shrubs I planted down there have yet to repair the breach. The boundary between us and the neighbor on the other side, made up of fences and plants, was fairly solid - until this week when she cut down the
Strelitzia nicolai (Giant Bird of Paradise) and banana trees that lined her side of the fence.
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| Before and after view from the northwest corner of our property, which we recently cleared of sod |
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| This before and after shot from our vegetable garden looking west over the corner of our garage shows the most dramatic change - from here and the front garden we now have direct views of 3 of our neighbors' homes |
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| The change between the before and after shots in the dry garden doesn't look dramatic but, from another angle we can now see the neighbor's house, previously invisible except from the bottom of the slope |
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| The neighbor's house with its teal trim peeks above the fence |
On the good news side of things, the plants on our side of the fence will get more sun and better air circulation. In addition, the neighbor didn't take out her plants but just cut them back to the ground so they should be back, eventually.
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| The main trunks were cut flush with the ground but side shoots were left |
On the other hand, I now have a clear view of the homes up the street - the illusion of distance between us and our neighbors has been shattered. My biggest concern is that the front area on our northwest side, recently cleared of sod and destined to become a shade garden, just became a whole lot sunnier. Still, it's a good thing that the change occurred before I planted rather than afterwards.
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© 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
