Inconvenient truths for the stupid person in charge of the HOA.

[AnaKhouri]

It's a weeping cherry, we have one in our front yard.

Oh, Seraph beat me to it.

[LillFilly]

Yes! That's it. Though I probably have too many trees already; I've just planted a patch of Paw Paw. It's the largest fruit native to north america I believe. Kinda like a papaya. Should be interesting, because the flowers smell like rotting meat!

[Becks]

This reminds me of the epic thread on etiquettehell.com that I can NEVER seem to find anymore.

[Andrew B.]

My house also has a weeping cherry tree. It's beautiful in the spring.

[XCashier]

This reminds me of the epic thread on etiquettehell.com that I can NEVER seem to find anymore.

Yes, I remember that thread; another reason I never want an HOA. That weirdo was on a total power trip and insisting on forcing someone who wasn't even an HOA member (and was just outside the HOA neighborhood) to comply with her rigid conformist ideals. Ugh!

I understand about enforcing rules about not keeping junked cars and other garbage in the yard, letting your house rot, bringing down property values and making the whole neighborhood look trashy. I completely understand that, and would totally comply with that.

It's the other extreme that worries me. Every house absolutely identical, down to the precise placement of the flowers and the exact shade of (ugh) beige to paint the walls. BORING!!!

I live in a rather eclectic city, and I like seeing how some people decorate their homes and yards. I've seen striking murals and stained glass windows on private homes, fences made with stone mosaics, beautiful rambling gardens like RK has with local plants, etc. It would be a shame to obliterate individual expression like that.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Indeed it would. I'm a creative person an self expression is beautiful to me. I actually did an anthropology project in college on folk art. My subject was yard decoration, particularly (but not limited to) mailboxes.

Some people have too much (to my eye) crap in their yard, but hey, that's their right. To each their own. It's obviously not too much crap to THEIR eye, and their eye is what's important regarding their property. So I guess it's best those folks avoid strict neighborhoods.

Like I said, clearly my neighbor does not appreciate cottage gardens (although that was not the point of contention in our discussion, at least to my face.). And I'm not even straddling the edge of any rule we have. We're not strict, and this issue is not an HOA problem. I just think that as a representative of the neighborhood (since she came over here under that guise), she needs to check her behavior. If it's official, act official. Don't come over here as an ignorant busybody on a personal vendetta while pretending you're speaking in the interest of peace on the street. Because that's horseshit and it's an inappropriate representation of her position.

Now that I know what I know about some of the other shit she's done, if she shows up here again (or if I see her on the street or whatever) I'm going to confront her and I'm going to ream her until she cries or flees. I'm pissed.

I'm not someone who sits around planning on abusing somebody, but this is so over the top. Plus, she's dragged my friend into it. That's not acceptable and I'm not gonna let it stand. I'm not going to go over to her house, because going over to someone's house just to get in their face is not cool. (after all, that's what she tried to do to me and I reamed her one about that. So I can hardly turn around and do it back.) But if I see her out, and I likely will, the gloves come off.

On a happier note, I went out and picked up a bunch of red and orange gerbera daisys (I guess I spelled that right), white and fuchia pinks, some cherry colored petunias, and some shasta daisies. Once those pink azaleas are done, those colors will look awesome.

I got a hole in one of my beds I need to find something to put in. I don't know what yet. Want it no higher than waist high and has to play nice with some orange daylilies and maximillian sunflowers. I don't know. I gotta think about this some.

[Seraph]

Some people have too much (to my eye) crap in their yard, but hey, that's their right. To each their own. It's obviously not too much crap to THEIR eye, and their eye is what's important regarding their property. So I guess it's best those folks avoid strict neighborhoods.

Kink, you would've died if you'd seen our yard when we bought the house. They had a miniature rock garden in the front yard, complete with broken sundial, and rotting wood stepstones.

Rose bushes were kinda planted mish mosh everywhere, randomly.

They left a set of six shrubs right at the corner that had grown so high, that people couldn't see past them when turning. That was fun, the town themselves came down on us about it, told us that they'd tried to talk to the old owners, who ignored them. But since we were now there, we had two days to remove them, or face a $600 fine.

Oh, and random shrubs. Seriously. They planted four different types of bushes up against the house, so they all grew differently, and weird looking.

They also buried the wall they knocked down in the middle of the yard, so there was just kind of a huge lump there, that they tried to plant "decorative grass" on to disguise. Of course, didn't work.

Its taken me two years, but I'm about halfway done at taming it. -.-

[XCashier]

Seraph, with a bit of planning and forethought, the previous owners could've had a nice yard. Nothing wrong with a rock garden, sundial, etc. But it sounds like they didn't plan it right or maintain it properly and it all went to rot. A pity, that.

There's a difference between "art" and "rubbish" and some folks just don't grasp that.

[Geek King]

Yes, I remember that thread; another reason I never want an HOA. That weirdo was on a total power trip and insisting on forcing someone who wasn't even an HOA member (and was just outside the HOA neighborhood) to comply with her rigid conformist ideals. Ugh!

The thread was removed after it somehow came out that the poster was making the whole thing up. I don't know the whole story behind how the admins figured it out, but there was a short post about it in the archives. Still, it was a fun read.

[Kanalah]

Just cause I want to be cool like RK, here's my attempt at gardening.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...1&l=8ea4561700

This is my back patio and my tiny little garden. It's a homeschool project for my kids, but I'm hoping it becomes a regular thing.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Strawberries! Nothing like home grown ones. Or home grown tomatoes and peppers (looks like?).

[Kanalah]

Yep. In the back I have rasberries, strawberries, cherry tomatoes and red bell peppers.

On the porch I have parsley and tyme in pots.

My neighbors already think I'm weird.

[MoonCat]

How did I miss this thread? Kink, your yard is absolutely beautiful! And your HOA busybody sounds like my next-door neighbor...always getting into everybody else's business. A pox on them!

[Sapphire Silk]

Yep. In the back I have rasberries, strawberries, cherry tomatoes and red bell peppers.

On the porch I have parsley and tyme in pots.

My neighbors already think I'm weird.

Emmmm. Raspberries.

How do you grow raspberries? Do you need shade? Sunlight? What kind of soil? How much work did you have to put into them?

In case you couldn't tell, I love raspberries . . . .

[Food Lady]

RK, your idea of a beautiful, rambling garden is the same as mine. I'm wondering if I can do that in pots on a balcony in my climate (zone 6 or 7?) I know Oprah helped her neighbors in Chicago do that, and their climate is similar to mine. I get eastern sun. Anyway, as to the dog situation, anyone in their right mind would've called Animal Control!!