AIBU Or is this just tragic? What can I do?

[TigerTooth]

I have a lovely (Ok - very child friendly) but still lovely mature garden.
We're away a lot, for months at a time sometimes, and backing on to our garden is a council estate. At the end of our garden, on the other side of the fence, so not ours, were lovely mature trees.They gave us and neighbour privacy and were beautiful.
New neighbour over the fence has cut the trees down, the whole lot, we now have a lovely view of his home - NOT.
I know I'm not BU as they were gorgeous mature trees but I'm posting really to vent and also to ask any green fingered MN's wwyd? I need something that grows super quickly and not too wide, that will look after itself whilst we're not here. He has also bought with him a menagerie of cats who shit in my garden daily.Any ideas on effective cat deterrents? We've tried a few to no avail. It stinks in the hot weather until we've been round and collected all the cat poo. I miss my green country garden.Before and after pics, it doesn't even look like the same garden but if you look at the trampoline then you can see the extent of his butchery. Any ideas on how to speedily cover the damage?

Is that your trampoline? I see you have positioned it right up by your neighbour's fence away from your own house so he gets the nuisance from your kids playing on it- that's not very neighbourly! I bet he's glad you are away a lot.

I'd put some silver birches in. When multiple trees are planted close together they don't grow to such a grand scale as single specimens. They are dappled in sunlight and very pretty all year round. They also rustle in the wind and cut the sound of noisy screaming kids down. They also don't have big roots so they wouldn't damage house foundations.

I think the problem here is that you were totally relying on your neighbours for privacy and the only reason yours looked lovely was because you had your neighbours greenery to look at. Your garden was only private because of their trees and now they are gone your garden looks pretty sparse. You need to protect your privacy by putting your own trees, plants and shrubbery. As per my previous post put in lots of silver birches.

Dommage has two m's

Presumably the neighbour who lived there before wasn't bothered by the lack of light so whilst the new occupants are completely within their rights to do what they fit, it does look pretty awful.

Of course it's the same garden, just with a considerable time lapse between the photos. The shed definitely isn't in the first.

And of course you put the trampoline as far away from the house as possible!

Anyway: my vote is for eucalyptus and miracle gro. We put in a six foot tree five years ago and doused the thing in miracle gro. In three years it was taller than the house.

We 3 had large flowering cherry trees in our garden. We moved in and they looked lovely. However over the years they got taller and wider and eventually blocked out most of the sun not only in the garden but the back of the house.

The roots started coming up through the lawn and they were also quite near the house so our patio also started to become affected. The weight of the tops of the trees meant every bit of strong wind or even large birds flapping around, branches would break off - not ideal when you have children playing in the garden.

Our biggest concern was the roots and potential damage that could be done to the house so we had all 3 trees removed. We didn't even consider consulting our neighbours (who are batshit crazy anyway) as it wasn't their lawn and patio getting damaged and they didn't have a garden with little natural light!

We now have a lovely sunny garden. I would not be happy if my neighbours then planted large trees blocking out my light again. Fine if it's their garden it affects but if the trees were going into the same position they would still have the sunny garden and we would be back to having shade.

And of course you put the trampoline as far away from the house as possible!

Why? Especially when it puts it closer to someone else's house.

Lylandi can look lovely but you HAVE to keep them under control.

That’s not the same garden! Would be some sorcery to be able to manipulate the camera angle that much that the row of houses behind completely disappear in the first pic and instead you just see sky
The first pic the garden is much bigger too. Not the same garden and I’ve never seen the ocean!

Would be some sorcery to be able to manipulate the camera angle that much that the row of houses behind completely disappear in the first pic and instead you just see sky

Yes, that sorcery known as take one photo from the ground and one from a first floor window.

And yes, clearly the second garden is much smaller. Or, possibly, some of it is out of shot...

maybr he had them cut down to make way for a new conservatory....or even an orangerie??

i wonder if he is on a men's forum complainiing about your child jumping up and down on that squeeky trampoline lol

I agree with you. The trees looked nice and gave you some privacy. Not such a nice view now. I’d go to the garden centre and ask for advice.

FFS, this is a garden you rarely see, OP.

Whereas your "council estate" neighbours have had to put up with the trees for years, blocking their light.

You're lucky they left them up so long.

There are trees there. And now the others have been removed they will probably spread and get bushy. And the ?two on the right have been pollarded and will sprout lots of twigs and small branches and fill a good area in the summer.
You can buy nearly grown trees. Though they are expensive and need a huge hole dug. I would get a birch or two or three and put them this side of the little old cement central path with a low shrub or two, then they will screen a larger area (as they are closer to you) and not shade the neighbour much and hide your sheds, trampoline etc, or at least bring the eye forward so you don't see them too much.
I've never heard of spraying urine all over the garden to deter cats as mentioned previously, I'd try that. Maybe put something on the top of the fence. Eg loosely attached tangled plastic netting (haven't tried it but cats would get tangled in it - so should stay off).