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.

Because maybe there busy and don’t have time to maintain a garden, and / or looking for a simplified space for their children to play?

Grass is the simplest and easiest to maintain. Mow once a month from April to October. A gardener would be 25quid tops a month for that.

Mature trees and shrubs are about as low maintenance as a garden can be.
They provide shade for children to play in on hot summer days.

Children can play in a blank garden.
Or they can play in a wild tumble of nature full of wildlife for them to marvel at.

These are the type of plants bordering my fences but it’s the height that’s been lost as her lovely tree was in the perfect spot. Mine are a mess but teaming with wildlife. I’ve got bats, birds with fledglings, mice and voles, rabbits, hedgehogs and a rather annoying mole

Maybe I should consider a big tree in the middle. I was worried everything underneath would just die?

I also have a huge privet hedge at the bottom of my garden which is great but it’s the garden at the bottom of hers that I can see as the fence inbetween us is maybe only 6ft.

I know I can’t force someone to keep their garden because I don’t want to see people but I don’t understand why they don’t want privacy? Especially when they have a dog that barks 24/7 Maybe they like people seeing into their kitchen windows

I hate people like this. I had a spare lavender bush and offered it to the neighbourhood. One person didn't want it because they didn't like the bees and had got rid of theirs. WTAF. (It's not an allergy thing, just a dull sterile garden thing).

Whenever I see facebook posts offering left over sand or soil I know those assholes have probably installed green plastic or slabs over their garden. They should be the ones who pay more for food, get flooded or suffer in heatwaves. I see green plastic going in house by house in my street, I wind myself up looking at it on Google earth.

I've scattered wild flower seeds around our area. A few of them have germinated so the bees will be happy. And don't get me started on my teasel obsession.

Maybe they are preparing the garden for a cabin or shed if they are removing it all . Or trees are getting too big with the roots . Or on my case , I had to cut trees as dog ruined the bottom by peeing and chewing on it . They were horrible. I hated doing it as a pair of wood pigeons used to hang out right inside the dense branches . I see them around this spring and imagine that they are thinking WTF has happened here .

Yes it’s absolutely awful have this next door with the new neighbours, my old neighbour would have been so upset

I hope they aren’t putting some sort of building as I’ll be able to see straight into it. Wouldn’t have known if the tree was there still 😄

We cut down a tree in our garden because it was too close to the house, too big and blocked the light to the all the rooms at the back of the house and it dripped sap all over our car. Also, I hate gardening, even if I liked it I don’t have time for it so a patio with no plants suits us better.

My garden is wild. Rosebay willowherb and long grass and tons more.
It's full of insects and birds and hedgehogs.

I suspect the neighbours aren't keen but it's cool and lovely.

They're probably making space for their garden bar/hot tub shelter!

I feel like new build owners are getting some unfair comments here. I have a decent size new build garden, lived here 5 years and we really struggle to keep anything alive. We have to treat the grass every year to bring it back to life but we're determined we don't want fake grass. Planted loads of bulbs last year and literally only got one flower from that effort, nothing will grow as the ground is terrible quality and boggy. I have plants in pots instead of the ground but because we get almost no shade they die because of the heat instead, I'd prefer to plant them in the ground but think they'll just die. None of our neighbours have been able to get any privacy from eachother as their plants and trees die too so we've ended up double boarding the fence instead for a bit of privacy. I did originally consider plants but it's expensive for it to not actually grow.

Both my husband and I have never lived anywhere with a garden before and our parents weren't gardeners, we've only ever had yards so we're learning as we go and have made many mistakes. We want wildlife to be in our garden (there is some wildlife actually) and we'd love to create some shade with some nice trees! Maybe blame the developers who give us terrible gardens to work with rather than the owners? :)

My new next door neighbours are doing their best to decimate the hedge that divides our gardens - their side of the boundary unfortunately. And yes despite me telling them there were nesting birds in it. Now they can see into my garden and I can see into their dusty, arid wasteland of piled-up bits of hedge and zero shade. Apparently they're going to put a fence in. I hope they don't cut down the rest of the hedge, but if they do I'll have to do my best to replace it my side with native hedgerow plants on my side on a limited budget.

It's honestly made me look forward to moving, though my garden is lovely and green, with both sun and shade and full of trees and flowers, birds, bees and insects. Hearing my neighbours bellowing at each other while they light huge bonfires with bits of hedge makes me murderous.

I’ve got a south facing new build front lawn so I feel your pain about the heat. I dug out a new bed, to about 30cm, and filled it with compost. I have bulbs in the spring and summer (tulips, daffodils and loads of alliums) and then some heuchera, lavender, thyme and rosemary for year round interest.

The crocus website has been a godsend for me as you can filter by orientation, sunlight, wind conditions and tonnes of other factors. I keep a list of their recommendations and then buy them when I seem on sale or reduced.

This! I feel we've lost part of our cultural identity with the grey fences, astroturf, plastic flowers and paving. Our temporate climate allows us to grow so much, and yet now we chose to grow nothing. Our colonial forefathers loved to take plants (among other things) on their travels to bring back to grow in their county manor gardens, so now we have so much diversity. Look at gardens like Chatsworth or the RHS gardens, so stunning. But somewhere along the way we've lost that part of our culture, people don't have the time, the interest, the patience to nurture a garden, they'd rather chop it down.

Those who want tidy and minimalist should go and live in flats.
Do not but a house with a garden if you do not like plants.

It's also learn as you go with gardening. I grow a lot from seed and they are fine in the conservatory, potted in fine, survive outside in a pot fine, then the soil in the bed just doesn't suit and they die. It takes years to learn what survives, what thrives, and what dies. Even the theory is sometimes undone by the soil. The important thing is to keep trying!

Interesting. Of course, your photo won't attach itself to these words.
As I grow older I find there are many things you can do to plants without completely demolishing them. After all, a beech hedge is really a row of massive beech trees just trying to escape the confining trimmers.

Because they’re probably going to replace the lot with grey stone and decking.

I HATE the current garden ‘trend’ of making it a barren grey wasteland. I have somebody coming next week to see about removing the hideous fake grass the last owner of our house installed and returning it to natural. I fully intend to fill the place with trellises, planters, pots and flowerbeds.

While vaping and drinking matcha

With you OP. We live in a close of 5 houses - years ago we had loads of trees and greenery at the front - we are the only long long term people whom are here. We have seem over the years people move in get rid of all the greenery and pave the area so they can park yet another massive car. The close is unrecognisable to what it was. It is now full of big ugly cars. Neighbours whom buy plastic plants and shed loads of garden tat/landfill-to-be. Next door have so many solar lights the owls have gone. Cuckoo never visits anymore since they moved in. When we first moved where we are it was full of nature and the people that have come and gone have slowly destroyed it.

Last year we were out walking and came across the strangest fly-tipping you've ever seen... 2 very large David Austin rose bushes, still in their (too small) planters. They were just chucked into undergrowth next to a field we were about to go into, at the side of the road.
We recued them, re-potted them, and they are now flowering. They have the most gorgeous flowers and scents. Who throws away mature rose bushes? Insane people, that's who!

Which crocus website ?

Our neighbour did this, then filled the garden with fake plastic plants from Temu/b&m. Whhhyyy?!?!

I'm hoping it'll be something I can work on over the years but unfortunately we just dont have enough time atm to spend gardening.

We are still planning some trees soon but guessing we'll need to dig down and improve the soil quality first. We've literally got an acer in a big pot that's ready to go in the ground but don't want to kill it off!

For some reason, I think it is a fashion still - to have a garden that consists solely of a shiny porcelain tiled / deck area with a grill and a patch of fake AstroTurf, and absolutely nothing else at all. See also white interiors with every room in the same grey carpet. Do folk realise that fake grass is going to be a more manky after it's been crapped on by the local foxes, cats, birds etc. Yuk. Real grass would allow that to fade much faster! Real grass and plants look better and add value....yes maintenance but gardening is so much fun.