Neighbour Is Annoyed Small Flower Buds Are Dropping on Her Front Garden

Look, I'm not really looking for a solution (more here to rant) but I'm open to suggestions, thoughts and ideas.

Basically as LUDICROUS AS IT SOUNDS - this absolute dear of an old neighbour banged on my window from her side, with her MOP to get my attention— as I was enjoying my day off in the kitchen listening to music. She's been bothering my Mum the past few years about it too but since I've gotten older, she's decided it's time to annoy me about it too. So I asked her, "what's the problem?", as I thought, it surely must've been that my music was too loud, or she could hear my off-key singing.

NOPE. That wasn't it, so I looked at her to give her concern some respect, and I could feel her bloodshot crazy eyes stare through my soul as she went off about how every 3 months the branches on our front tree become a HUGE problem because, leaves fall into her front yard… or better yet, SMALL BUD FLOWERS.

I literally went outside later today after shutting all the blinds to the windows on her side, so we can neither see each other and so I can prevent her disturbing my peace in my own house, on my day off. The branches do not even REACH to her side, its literally just budding flowers for new leaves. It's honestly absolutely ludicrous.

Now how to remedy the solution? The quickest way is to obviously buy an electric saw, cut some branches down so we don't have to deal with this neighbour. But honestly, it shouldn't be something we need to do, or pay for, as the tree is causing absolutely no physical obstruction or safety issues. It's just them being an absolute nut.

What's your opinion OzBargainers and OzBargain solicitor reps?

Comments

  • +85

    Buy her a rake for Christmas…

    • +33

      cement
      to harden the f$%#^ up

    • +42

      She needs to be educated.

      I would buy her some bud wiser.

    • +1

      A showdown with garden tools between neighbours?

      • +16

        You mean a hoedown

        • is that like the movies 'man down!'

        • I think he'll go to gaol if he knocks her over.

          • @[Deactivated]: Apparently the etymology of that word dates back to Latin. But in the middle ages it used to be written and pronounced as "gayhole" then gayhol, gaohl, gaol, and then French-French "jail".

            ; )

    • Give her a hoe on top to send a message

    • +1

      @pegaxs,or a spade to bury them!She needs to get a life!

    • Then she will tell to use the rake yourself to rip them out

  • +20

    I could be wrong but if the branches are hanging over her property then she is entitled to cut it.

    However if it's on your property entirely and it's god's will that the buds end up on her property then next time she comes around play some skyhooks for her.

    • +6

      Yea she absolutely is, I honestly wouldn't mind her doing that at all. She just likes to have a reason to complain, it could be easily solved since she has someone come mow her lawn

      • +7

        I have a big shed (now converted to a gym) in my backyard and had the same issue as your neighbour.

        All this annoying shit, little buds etc would fly over in the wind and be all over my shed.

        However since I'm an adult so I replaced the capping on the roof with something much larger, sealed every point of ingress and now I have no shit all over my shed and I didn't have to be a dick to my neighbours!

        Yes it's ridiculous and you can just ignore her. Idk what else you could do outside of remove the trees either.

        • +1

          Me and my neighbour both hate his tree that drops flowers.

          The sticky shit on the flowers gets all over the windows on both of our cars and is impossible to clean. It also gets on his outdoor furniture.

          It would be illegal for us to cut down the tree however in our suburb.

      • +4

        Conflicting details - in your OP you wrote "The branches do not even REACH to her side".
        Do the branches hang over her property, or don't they?

      • You are correct. Shes just borerd and fixating on something/anything. If its not leaves it'll be the fence is leaning or where your car is parked or the mailbox……

        • This could be it.

          Getting older she could be in some kind of cognitive decline if she is getting worse about it.

          I've got a neighbor, whilst not super naggy as such does complain about stupid stuff a few times a year. The key is not to address her concerns immediately if they aren't real/urgent concerns otherwise you risk being at beck and call about all sorts of stupid shit.

      • -1

        Old hags like to complain cuz they got nothing better to do

  • +11

    have you never come across an old person with a front yard obsession before?

    The leaves and flowers probably blow into her yard and, if there are hard surfaces, turn into mush in all the rain. She has nothing else to do all day so is quite happy to use the time to complain to you about it. But if something from your yard blows into hers, well, thats life

    • we have several older people living in my area so I do see it, but not to a point where you can see its just oversensitivity

    • +35

      I had an old dude completely lose it at me the other day because I parked on the street outside his house. Completely unrestricted parking and it was a goget that's left on that street specifically because it has unrestricted parking, he just wanted that park for his kid who was coming to see him. But I was told over and over I couldn't park on "his property".

      Threatened to ram his mower into the car, to call a tow truck (I had to explain that tow trucks won't just tow random vehicles for no reason) and with a whole lot of f-you's thrown at me when I didn't do what I wanted him to do.

      It was hilarious. 10/10 will park there again.

      • +2

        Had this parking near a cafe once. It made me want to change my commute and start parking in front of his house 5 days a week.

      • +2

        If it was a rental car I’d just find another parking space unless you have video recoding covering the car because you’d be up for repairs if damaged by someone. Would be more hassle proving you didn’t cause the damage without evidence then parking somewhere else.

        PS, I agree street parking is for anyone with current rego. Some people can be dicks though.

        • +5

          Yeah, I moved the car in the end for exactly that reason, simply not worth the hassle if it turns out he is stupid enough to damage a car just for parking outside his house.

          On the plus side, he also rang GoGet and they have a recording of him threatening to damage the car, so there's that. But still not worth the headache.

          Really enjoyed working him up though. The end of the story was I said I'd call the cops after he threatened to damage the car, he told me go for it so I pulled out my phone and he stormed back inside. I actually called GoGet to tell them where I was leaving the car (there were no other parking spaces around so I had to put it outside their standard parking zone), took a few photos of the car then moved it. Hopefully he spent the afternoon waiting for the cops to come knock on his door.

      • Had an elderly neighbour like that. Well lady, people were parking outside of "our property" also. What do you expect people to do?

        That women's long gone. Home sold multiple times and is now gutted.

    • +1

      She could use the time she spends complaining to just rake the stuff up before it turns to mush.

  • +2

    Is this a tree on your nature strip? If so tell her it's council's problem.

    • its in my front, and next to her front yard sadly

      • You best solve this problem fast. Her sons and their mates from the Mongols chapter in Albania are on the way. Best you leave town.

  • +15

    The quickest way is to obviously buy an electric saw, cut some branches down so we don't have to deal with this neighbour.

    You may or may not have to, but if the problem is that easy to fix, just save yourself the [future] headache and trim it.

    • Easier said than done obviously… It's not an easy physical job and electric saws are expensive. Also we're not exactly physically strong people

      • +10

        Yea she absolutely is, I honestly wouldn't find her doing that at all.

        If you know its not an easy physical job, why would you expect your neighbour to cut your tree? Yes, she is entitled to cut it, but if you wanna be a good neighbour, shouldn't you maintain your tree on your side?

        • +2

          the thing is, the tree isn't causing harm to her, nor obstructing her or damaging her property. The tree is doing it's own thing, whatever nature is intending it to do. If it's not causing harm, why need it be cut?

          What i'm saying is, you're making something thats not an obligation into an obligation with your reasoning. Being neighbours doeesn't mean signing a contract bend backwards and over just to be amicable, at this point we're just tolerating each other. If she's going to be hypersensitive about it, she can cut it. She is legally entitled to. Clearly at this point I'm not motivated to be a good neighbour if the relationship between us and her has been sour for the longest time.

          • +5

            @stwongy:

            If she's going to be hypersensitive about it, she can cut it. She is legally entitled to.

            Yes, but…

            old neighbour

            …and…

            It's not an easy physical job

            Her approach in telling you it brothers her and asking you to remedy it is pretty crap (if it happened as you describe), but depending on her circumstances she may actually not be physically able to fix it herself.

            Also there is a chance that if she was physically able to do something now, what she can fix now from her property will just be a problem again next spring. But you may able to trim it from your property and trim it enough for 2-3 seasons of growth.

          • +5

            @stwongy: If she has a gardener come to more her lawn, can you tell her you give permission for that gardener to trim your tree for you. That way you aren't paying but she gets the result she is after.

      • -1

        Check out "Mini Cordless ChainSaw"

        • No. Chainsaws, mini or not, are just about the most dangerous tool a householder can buy from their local hardware shop. A reciprocating saw is a better tool - it'll still get the job done and is considerably safer. It's also far more versatile and can be used for other purposes later on.

          • @banana365: still dangerous isn't it?

            • +2

              @fredblogs: Potentially, but less so. A recip blade is dangerous if you touch the bottom half. A chainsaw is dangerous top and bottom. The outcome from touching either blade isn't good, but far worse with the chainsaw. Recips also don't have a kickback risk.

  • +8

    Buy industrial fan and place it facing the tree towards her house.

    • Best answer /thread

  • +6

    Say "Sorry! have a good day"
    …if she persists
    Say "Go away"
    …if she persists
    Yell "F#$% off"
    …if she persists
    Spray her with your hose whenever she is in eyesight

    • +1

      XD i wish i could act out my subconscious

      • You could always cover her lawn with something like Roundup while she's out. When all her grass dies a few buds are the last thing she'll be worried about.

        http://ipm.ucanr.edu/TOOLS/TURF/RENOVATE/comkill.html

      • Send bikies to do it for you

  • +25

    Offer to sweep the ground clean once a month. Stay on friendly terms. Draw the boundary there and don't agree to any other favors.
    Probably a lonely soul looking for attention.

    • +5

      thanks for your suggestion, you really have good insight into whats happening. Its really hard in my nature to stay amicable with someone who stirs up drama to get attention

    • +4

      And who knows, that might lead OP straight to her Bush.

    • Lonely people just looking for conversation don't hit windows with brooms over a fence. She's a nasty piece of work, possibly with mental problems.

  • +13

    My neighbour has a HUGE, leopard tree they planted on their property, its right next to the fence, so has branches hanging over into my yard and drops ****loads of seed pods and leaves. It also currently has a magpie nesting in it, right over my car.. the leaves get into my pool, my gutters, all over my driveway, garden etc - I just sweep the stuff up that I can myself because, well thats just life isnt it.

    I asked them to at least trim the branches back (obviously needs a specialist with a cherry picker or similar), I already did the ones that are safe to do on a ladder, but there are way more higher and too thick to address with a pole saw.

    He told me to go **** myself.

    Anyway - yeah..can't believe the lady is going off at you if the branches are not over her fence. There are way worse situations out there for sure…

    • +3

      Can you just get it trimmed at their expense? I thought that was the consensus for hanging branches past the fence (unless it's protected? I'm not 100% sure don't quote me on that)

      • +2

        I dont think its fair game to just get a service done and throw them the bill…

        And I dont think they are the type to take kindly to even me forwarding 3 quotes (if I could even GET three quotes in this day and age, tradies seem very hard to find unless its a sure job and they can charge top dollar I find… )

        QLD law says you can trim it as fair game if its over hanging. I believe in Victoria it's actually NOT fair game…

        • You have right of abatement in VIC.
          Check with your council if there is environmental overlay on there property. If not then you can get action.
          You have the right to freely enjoy your land without nuisance from others.
          If I was you i would be taking it further.

          • @taoz: 'right of abatement in VIC' - 'You have the right to cut back any branches, leaves, or roots that cross your property boundary line at your own cost. This is known as the 'right of abatement'' - https://www.disputes.vic.gov.au/information-and-advice/trees…

            last I looked nuisance - unless like grounds for termination of a tenancy - is not a crime but a tort meaning you can sue for damages (money) - but in general tends to be way more time-consuming than most will feel worthwhile - especially when the loser might go - meh - I ah gotta no money anyhow - sosumi!

    • +1

      How did you respond after he swore at you? We had a similar issue with a renter next door, landlord said he didn't care. His jacaranda tree branches were over to our side, we just hired a professional at our expense to cut off the branches, within council requirements. Worth it as it gave us so much more light in the bedrooms.

      • +6

        How did you respond

        Internalise my rage and just kept going with my yard work after he walked off.

        I mean..what are we going to do? Get into a punch up?

      • +5

        The best bit is, as the tree belongs to your neighbour you are legally entitled to put those lopped branches back onto his property.
        Probably cause a s**tstorm though….

    • no one says "He told me to go **** myself." right from the get go…

      there is some bad blood in there somewhere.

      • +5

        No one except unhinged psychos
        .

      • +4

        didnt neg ya - but yeah there is bad blood - his fault tho

        • yeah probably hurt someone's feelings..

    • southsiders?

    • +3

      We planted several passionfruit vines along a shared fence. One of them suddenly died, then we noticed it was adjacent to neighbour's washing line. Well played I thought.
      Perhaps you could learn a trick from my neighbour's playbook.

    • +1

      This is why I say never talk to neighbours. Now this guy has no, or severely crippled, plausible deniability. i.e. While the neighbour is out I would have dug down into the dirt, drilled a 1 inch hole with a spade bit, poured in some poison or something that makes the tree sick enough that it can't produce anything, then jam a cork in and cover it back over.

      • Trust me i did strongly consider holes + round up, but theres no way a qualified arborist wouldnt take 1 look at it and go , yeah its been poisoned.
        (and guess who would have a possible motive?) haha

        • Knowing and proving are two different things, lol. ;-) Just need to think it through. e.g. There might be something else you could just pour onto the ground, jam a hose or sprayer nozzle under the fence at night to make it sick, or if it's close enough to the fence… pour into the ground on your side. It will kill your grass, but once the tree is gone just dig that area it up and put fresh soil in and wait for the grass to reclaim the area. Maybe something as similar as white vinegar. You'd have to research what will do it. I've heard "fertilising" lawns at too high a dose can completely kill a lawn. Maybe it's the same for trees.

        • +1

          Salt? Dissolve in water, slide a nozzle under the fence late at night, flood the ground with salt water. Makes it sick, but doesn't kill it. Nothing produced, he won't even question it.

  • +9

    Keeping the peace is ideal, but not always viable.

    If she brings it up again, give her her rights - she can complain to the council or the police. Then explain your rights - if she doesn't leave you alone, you call the police.

    This leaves all rudeness off your end of the conversation, and the onus is on her to prove the problem to a third party - you are not accepting responsibility for her slights.

  • +7

    Do a lot of these flowers fall into her yard? Can you show us what it looks like so can be sure to agree with you how ridiculous she is being?

    • +1

      Yes, also a photo of the whole tree would help.

  • +4

    Now how to remedy the solution?

    Go knock on their door and have a friendly chat. Ask them to show the problem. If non-issue now, tell them to come see you when it's a problem and you will rake it for them or look to get it trimmed. They will be happy. And you will be happy.

  • say we live on planet earth, what planet are you from

    • +3

      Ear… wait… is this a trick question???

  • +2

    Dealing with frustrated neighbours is not the easiest.
    If it were me i'd cut down what few branches are close to draping over her side and call it a day, there's nothing else you can do.

  • +1

    No one needs the stress on both parties.

    Just cut it or break it off if you can and call it a day.

    If she complains about other stuff, you know now it's not you, it's her just being an old angry woman that is bored and gets off to arguments.

    I knowz cause my mum is like that, she will start fights for no reason…. It's embarrassing.

  • +4

    What's your opinion OzBargainers and OzBargain solicitor reps?

    I have happily told Karens and the like to F off in the past with a laugh when they're being unreasonable.

    However, I am also a big brown man so that is the extent of my retaliation when drawn in to conflict with middle-aged to elderly women.

    Do you know any large men, OP? They don't even have to say or do anything. They just need to stand near you when your neighbour starts up again.

    My wife has used me as a prop multiple times when dealing with the neighbours. I just stand there with a blank expression and sometimes frown until they're done.

    • +2

      This is great. I love the frown part.

  • +1

    they can trim it if it's on their property, and give it back to you

  • +8

    As someone whose neighbour has a tree with soft sticky pink flowers that, for a few weeks a year, dumps an absolute crap tonne of small pink flower petals all over my car and driveway…I can partially sympathise..could fill a pillowcase every few days during peak petal dropping times.

    Bugger all I can do about it, and I just end up hosing them off the car/driveway and swearing internally for a month :)

  • +1

    We have a similar neighbour.

    He doesn't like flowers from our tree falling into his yard. The branches are all cut back so they don't hang over the fence, but the flowers might blow over the fence sometimes. It only flowers once per year for a few weeks.

    It's not like he maintains his yard either. He doesn't mow the nature strip, and his front yard is full of 1m high weeds. I would offer to pick up any of the flowers that blow into his yard, but whenever I try to talk to him he just grunts at me and walks away. I think he just wants a reason to complain.

  • -1

    She needs roundup

    • To drink

  • Do you really need an electric saw to prune a bit? There are pole pruners available that are manual pruning however may not stop the problem if the tree is still close to thh boundary. .

    just tell her she can put them back over your fence if she rakes them up. After all, they are from your tree and that’s the law.

    You COULD offer to clean them up for her, but that would be trespassing wouldn’t it and I’m sure she wouldn’t want that.

  • +4

    Tell her that you'll have a chat with the tree about it's behaviour.

  • +1

    Our neighbours are the same. Retired, mid to late 60s, living in a massive house in the leafy burbs. We have a hedging viburnum that drops some leaves and flowers onto their side that drives them bonkers. Have offered to pay half for a gutter guard (even though the leaves are a bit big to actually fall into their gutters to any great extent) but they declined. Real issue is they can't be bothered to spend the few minutes a month it takes to leaf blow them away. Caught them the other day hacking back branches on our side of the fence leaving us with gaps in the hedge. Genius was sitting on the fence about 4m off the ground and nearly fell when I called him out. Sent a polite letter advising the regulations in NSW regarding trees and reiterating that leaf and flower litter isn't considered a nuisance from a legal point of view. Typical entitlement behaviour, love living among nature in a freestanding house but want the low maintenance of living in an apartment.

    • ""leaf and flower litter isn't considered a nuisance from a legal point of view. "

      Fast forward a few weeks for the next Neighbour post on OZB…

      "Retired neighbours dumped leaf and flower litter from my tree all over my yard, what can I do about it?".

  • -1

    Buy her a donation card to The Greens - just to piss off her self-absorbed, simplistic conservative voting world

    • -4

      Actually with banging windows with a mop and wanting the world to revolve around her, she sounds like a miserable single feminist who lives with a few cats… which means she'd be a Labor or Greens voter. ;-p

      • She's clearly complaining to the manager, pretty sure the r in Karen is something to do with right wing/republican.

  • +2

    How much is blowing over? Just a few buds or a significant amount? Have you seen how much?

    Because if its a significant amount falling on a concrete path it could be a slip hazard. If its a few buds i wouldnt worry about but one of my grandparents had a tree that could easily drop 5 to 10 cms worth of flowers onto the ground below i ended up removing the tree though that was more to do with it starting to impact the fence with the trunk

    Look over the fence.

    • Ofc i have done that! Theres nothing actually visible if youre just standing on the foot path from outside her fence, probably if i examine it with my head to ground

  • +2

    Say, in very clear English:

    "I'm terribly sorry, but I don't speak English."

    Whenever she says something else, narrow your eyes and lean in a bit as though you're listening intently, then shake your head sadly and say:

    "Again, I'm so sorry, but I can't understand what you're saying. As I've said several times now, I don't speak English."

  • +2

    What i have learnt with neighbours, is there is the kind who are friendly and accept that you are living with other people and as you would like them to respect you and your activities within reason, you should do the same with them as well.

    Then there are the kind who like to complain because they feel only they deserve to live on this planet and what they want and like is what everyone else should cater to. And the problem i have come across with these kinds of neighbours is, if you do the polite and neighbourly thing and try to adjust and fix their complaints, they just take it to mean they can get more and more demanding and complain more

  • +2

    As someone who’s gotten into upping their own game recently, I’d be a pissed off younger person.

    Buy some Ryobi stuff(relatively cheap) and just get the job done, or some hand saws(super cheap)

  • +2

    I think we need to some some photos of these buds on her side to make this interesting

  • +3

    Hahaha funny but easily dealt with, I've had my old neighbours who im friends with mention that our tree was causing small issues. I climbed the tree and cut the branches off for them that day. real easy to deal with, whoevers responsibility it is legally doesnt matter its an easy fix and being right isnt worth the strain on a relationship like that.

    Additional short story, I'm moving houses literally around the corner, on my way back from the new house I drop off the box from a new piece of furniture into my old one of the giant recycling skip bins at my old apartment complex. An old man who doesnt live there but "organises our garbage" meaning that he looks through our bins and takes stuff and rearranges it finds the big box, tracks down my new house based on the address on the box and harasses my new housemates for "illegally dumping"

    I repeat 'an old man who doesnt live in my apartment complex acosts my new hosemates at another adress for me using my own bins".

  • Weigh up the options:

    1. Deal with the grumpy neighbour, have things maybe escalate, yada yada and police get involved, whatever
    2. Buy a cheap cutter, just cut those that affect her, keep her happy, she stops bugging you, problem kinda solved?

    Time is money and time affects your happiness too.. Spending a couple hours and a hundred bucks to shut it down as a problem entirely may be worth it vs the ongoing issues, complaints, and or potential escalation. One of those 'suck it up and be the bigger person' moments IMO.

  • +4

    A word or warning, while it may seem nice and helpful or even the right thing to do, in most cases the moment you give in to a request and try fix the situation (a one time fix or a regular ongoing one) that will just open you up to a never ending string of requests that increase in how petty they are.
    The acknowledgement of the original issue will become a "you did it because I was right" situation, not because you were trying to make peace, then everything else asked of you will have the same "I'm right" mentality.

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