Why do people want to rip every plant out of their gardens?!

[Turnedtochaos]

Just that.

My NDN have spent the past 2 days pulling up every mature tree, shrub and plant from the fence lines at the back and sides of their garden. Now instead of a view of lovely trees I can see all the houses behind and get a view of 3 families who now have no privacy. I can now see NDN wandering around in wheras before I could see nothing at all!

The plants weren’t shading their massive garden either and were covered in beautiful flowers. Just why?

Before anyone says…I have my own plants but due to the angle it won’t offer any privacy for those behind NDN.

People want a Love Island aesthetic in their garden

Next to no flora, paving that leads to a grey furniture seating area, where you can have intense conversations about vapid shite.

Its ignorance. A friend of mine suggested that i concrete the back garden. The ndn had all the established plants ripped out theres nothing there now.

It’s part of a wider narrative we are being sold that minimal = clean and modern. It’s why when you look in a car park, it’s mostly a sea of white, black and silver versus previous generations you’d have seen loads of colours (now colour is an added extra). Fence panels need to be sleek rather than intricate and ornate. Walls need to be neutral. We’re sold that these would detract from the value of your house in the future and then best response I’ve seen to that is if you do that, you’re renting from the future owners.

There was a thread on here earlier this year and the poster was wondering why they couldn’t get a buyer for their house. They had taken a charming mid-century and stripped it of any character, flower beds at the front gone, painted everything outside dark grey.

All of us can only control what is our garden. If you don;t like what is behind/around you do what you can in your own space and not rely on what is in gardens adjoining your space.

We had neighbours whose DCs throw stones at both sides' DCs. They were informed of the situation and laughed. They weren't best pleased when planting of trees and erection of fence panels occurred all around of them!

You would all hate my garden but I love it.. minimalistic easy to maintain i can spend time sitting and enjoying my garden rather then actually garden which i hate and am terrible at.

If they go on to put up a fence or bit of a wall, be sure that they'll put some of those sodding cylinder lights on them and leave them burning all night in case of burglars.

It's an absolute crying shame to do that at any time of year but now, right in peak bird nesting season it's wanton vandalism.

There's a new estate quite near me and the rows of astroturf, gravel, fake box ball hanging things, plastic ivy on chinese made trellis, concrete, plastic 'wicker' furniture, plastic decking, plastic fences make it look like lego.

Poor wildlife. Poor nature.

I’ve recently moved into a new build estate and can’t wait to add shrubs, trees and plants to make it feel more like a garden. Right now it’s some lawn and fences which don’t allow for privacy. Having a blank canvas to start with is overwhelming as I’m not the most green fingered but I’ll learn.

My neighbor did this, massive tree and she cut it down, I can now see right into her garden and she can see into my house because of the angle.

Oh, dear. We're in the process of buying a property, and DH very definitely plans to remove a lot of the existing shrubs and hedging. He's a very keen gardener, though, and wants to make the space his own, rather than live with someone else's taste. No fakery, no plastic, no minimalism. Maybe don't judge too quickly.

Me too. We are moving from a Victorian terrace with a lovely outlook of very mature trees and moving to a coastal newish build , very much overlooked so I can’t wait to plant loads!

I’m disabled and my gardener was shit amd
expensive.

I can’t cut grass or maintain a garden.

We've been house hunting recently and have definitely come across some gardens with not a single living thing in them. Such a shame and must be so hot in summer. Not to mention overlooked, despite being detached! Our current neighbours put in astroturf to make the garden low maintenance, only to find it needs to be vacuumed! They actually let their massive dog shit in the garden and leave the turds lying around. So much for the "clean" aesthetic 😖

It’s awful, I’m so sad for the natural world! I love seeing mature trees, I feel at home in the woods, it’s definitely my happy place. No wonder people are so depressed and anxious, they’re so far removed from nature! Then they’ll pay a fortune to stay at center parcs for a week lol

How awful, OP. I have a NDN on one side like that. I suspect he hates the trees which are all on my side of the fence.

But it's not all bad: I thought the same might happen to the house on the other side when it was sold and was ready to lose the overgrown hedge/trees/shrubs which are in between our houses. Luckily, the lovely new neighbour is as enthusiastic as I am at maintaining a garden full of interesting plants (not all of them there deliberately). We do maintain our gardens or we'd end up living in a forest, but we do rather a minimal job. Weeds get left if they're interesting.

😂

Once the summer is over and the nesting birds have gone then the tree in our garden will be chopped. The roots are now too close to our NDN's house foundations so in order not to damage her property then the tree has to go. It's sad as it's been there for about 30 years (planted by the previous tenants), but it really has gotten too big for the garden.

I agree that this is horrible behaviour. For the birds, for humans that rely on insects to pollinate our food and for flooding. I think that there should be a law about paving over gardens because when the rains come they have an impact.

I only have a very small balcony, but I have it covered with lettuces, basil and plants that attract pollinators. I wish I could do more.

I definitely don't 🤣🤣🤣

I agree with everyone. We have a small garden and we love to have our trees, climbers, roses, our vegetable patch, and experiment with different flowers that attract pollinators. We have an area with a patio full of planted pots too. It's amazing to see all the birds in the garden. I WFH and love to seat in front of the garden so I can see a bit of the natural world. Why would you destroy that, it's difficult to understand.

I didn’t vote reform.

A beautiful mature magnolia tree was just cut down near me by the new owners. I was surprised how viserally angry it made me.
People just don't seem to grasp that if the pollinators die, we all die 🤷‍♀️

I didn't rely on what's around me I've added to my own garden so it's full of plants, flowers, climbers, shrubs and trees.

Its also illegal to cut trees down in nesting season

That’s basically what she’s done! No fence can create as much privacy as the plants did. She already has 6 foot fences they can’t go higher.

Why does she want to look into someone else’s windows or have them be able to look at her? I can not see how that’s better than a lovely flowering tree full of birds.

I feel like growing a massive thug of a plant on my side out of spite.