The Gardeners Anonymous Blog

My Neighbor the Tree Hater vs. Me, the Tree Hugger

My neighbor left a note on my car and asked me to call him regarding a tree on my property. It turns out he wants me to cut it down. When I asked him why, his response was similar to the reason he asked me to cut down a tree about three years ago: it is messy, and the leaves will eventually fill up his gutters and litter his yard.

Suddenly memories of my days as president of my college Greenpeace chapter came careening back. Yes, I am that old.

The young Doug Fir that I have to cut down.

Fighting the urge to run downtown and chain myself to the young Douglas Fir in question, I sadly agreed to cut it down. Not because it will litter his yard with those ever-so-annoying fir needles, but because the tree is very close to the property line, and will eventually grow into his yard.

This is what the baby tree would have looked like some day.

Here I am laying on the ground staring up at the big Oak tree that I didn't cut down. so glad I didn't

The last tree he wanted me to cut down is an extremely healthy oak which is probably well into its second century of life. The tree does rain leaves down into his yard relentlessly, but it hangs over the area of his yard that features nothing more than a dilapidated shed and a pile of junk. What I’m saying is: the oak leaves actually make this part of his yard look better.

And I’m not cutting it down.

Here is a list of reasons why some people should worry more about trees, and less about their gutters:

Do Not Eat the Oleander

During this wet weather, the dogs and I have had to find something to do besides gardening. So, we have been cooking a lot, and eating, and cleaning, and eating, and organizing, then eating, and, oh yes, putting together jigsaw puzzles. My husband recently purchased 20, yes, twenty puzzles for me at a garage sale. I picked out the two with garden themes and donated the rest. I finished one, and was starting another when I realized: I used to be into extreme sports; now I do garden-themed jigsaw puzzles . . . .

I opened the box and dumped the pieces onto my “special” jigsaw puzzle board. As I was sorting pieces and studying the picture on the box, I noticed that some of the flowers in the jigsaw puzzle were Oleander. Icky! I don’t like Oleander. I will never plant it in my garden, and I don’t want it in my garden-themed jigsaw puzzle, either.

Oleander (Nerium) freaks me out because it is so toxic. Every part of the plant is toxic. It is one of the most poisonous of commonly grown garden plants.