Hedge your bets

The neighbours over the back have a murraya hedge along the fence line. When we first moved in it was a rental and the hedge would get to a lovely “I can’t see the neighbours windows” height and then bam, it was hedged at fence height. This was a regular routine, I’d hate it when it was hedged and then it’d grown (and let’s face it, it’s a murraya so pretty quickly!) and I’d be like, oh its ok. On my side of the fence I popped up bit of a climbing frame on both sides and with the chook run and their jacaranda it was mostly ok. Then the house was sold, and the new neighbours did not get around to hedging it, I occasionally cut it back a bit but it grew and grew and I had a wonderful leafy background and my climber (a granadilla passionfruit) has become scrappy with time and life was private.

Then duh duh duuuuuhhhhhh. It’s been hedge again. HARD. You can see right through it through the palings of the fence. And the jacaranda has also been cut back (apparently they’re getting a shed). Now to be fair, he did tell me he was going to. And it’s his hedge, and tree, and they left NO MESS. And even carefully untangled my climbers. It is PERFECTLY fine. But. I hate it. I can see his house, the house in front of him, the house to the side of him. Eeek!! To my credit, I had pre-thought the “neighbours getting rid of their tree and hence my shade” scenario and I put in a native gardenia (Atractocarpus fitzlanii) which has reached above fence height (not quite “shade” height, but definitely block the neighbours height). So that side is fine. But the veggie patch side needs help! It is pretty much bare fence and a dragonfruit at the moment because I hacked back the cranberry hibiscus a few weeks ago.

Why oh why had I not thought this through at the beginning of the garden. It’s great to ‘borrow views’ from the neighbours, and the surrounding foliage but don’t rely on it. Especially if it’s providing a key function like shade, or fish bowl prevention.

Always lessons to be learned. At least gardening lessons are fun. And they involve buying new plants…

Before the hedge was hedged (though after the jacaranda got a side chop)

After the hedge was hedged.