I did too!

So, now you can plan your fence flower bed and just act like the fence is on the line!!!!

I would wait to see whether the house is being sold, in which case they may do a survey.

Kim, maybe she's actually been lurking on this thread...

Corey -- "I think what she really needs is concrete with thin white lines painted on it. Maybe pictures of plants - pictures that are very UNIFORM in size and shape!"

Now I can't get "pave paradise and put up a parking lot" to stop running through my mind...

Sounds hopeful.

Dutchlady1 said:Hahahahahaha! We all made it happen with all our vibes!!!

TY Hetty!!! I do believe in "vibes"!! LOL

Frillylily said:do they own the place or rent? There is a good chance the 'new' people will not know one thing about the 1ft and I would let them think its mine. Chances are if they don't find out on their own and contest it-it's yours!

EXACTLY my 1st thought!!! I could hurry up and get my beds put in and pretend like they were there all along!!! But sadly they own... she had a survey before she put the fence up.

" I was biting my tongue while thinking about weed seeds mixed with clay and rolled into little weed-seed-balls .... a slingshot ...
... but that would have been WRONG!"

Rick!!!! I'm surprised at you!!! I would NEVER do something like that!!!

Hopefully whoever moves in will not be such a poophead. And to think when she first moved in, I offered to go "halves" with her and just make a nice bed between the yards and she could put what she wanted in and I'd put what I wanted in...kinda like a neighbor garden.... Glad it never went though!!! But now I have to wait no telling how long to find out what to do.... Think I'm going to do a lot of container gardening this year.....

Again....thanks everyone for listening (actually reading) to my troubles and all your suggestions and support. I'll keep ya posted to how things turn out

Now get out there and start digging!

LOL

Glad to hear the bad neighbor is moving out....
Those types generally create chaos in all areas of their lives, she probably had issues going on with everyone she came in contact with...

Personally...
I disbelieve that the neighbor is responsible for the butterfly bush...
And...
Those buddleia are documented invasives up in your area of the country.... probably for the best to plant something else...

I've found that in the deep south, they are prone to root knot nematodes...
so... I plant vitex instead.... Very drought hardy, and a host plant to the rustic sphinx... as well as attracting butterflies and hummingbirds!


Here's hoping the next neighbor will be reasonable...

I like the idea of tilling up that troublesome foot of turf... after digging it out and discarding...
And then sow annuals....
Cleome are good pollinator-friendly plants that will not need a drop of extra water...


Anything we can do to reduce the turf grown in our yards, and increase the pollinators.... is a good idea, and every neighborhood hoa should require it done!

Jumping in late here, but that your lousy neighbor is moving.

Now, if you have something really nice planted along the offending foot of property between their fence and your line by the time the new owners move in, unless the new neighbor is as nuts as the old one, I am sure they'll be too busy with their new house to worry at all about what is planted against that fence. In fact, I'd be more than thankful that you were taking care of that space.

You can work away at putting in your raised beds in your own time. Maybe the new neighbor would be amenable to the idea of just moving the fence to the property line? The posts are probably cemented in, but that's a lot less hassle than putting in a whole new fence!

I see a lovely row of either paving stones or gravel with zero vegetation growing in that one foot space. No plant growth means that no one will have any reason to enter your property.

Stone, at least 2 Vitex are invasive where you are.
http://www.invasiveplantatlas....
http://www.invasiveplantatlas....

Sterile Buddleia cultivars do not drop seeds. I've never had a B-bush sprout in 15 yrs of growing them in OH and about 8 yrs in AL. My Mom bought one that was horrible though, with much more droopy, more blue flowers. That thing was so ill behaved, I ended up digging up a patch of them - she only planted 1. That was here in AL.

purpleinopp said:Stone, at least 2 Vitex are invasive where you are.

Did you look at that map?
Tiny areas... far from me...

In my garden, the birds and rodents eat every seed...
I try to grow the seeds...
Scattering pounds of collected seeds results in nothing... except well-fed wild critters... another advantage over Buddleia...

When I am successful in getting vitex seeds to grow... I get different colours... makes it worth doing...

Both buddleia and vitex grow easily from cuttings, but the vitex's drought hardiness and increased wildlife interaction... makes it far superiour... at my house...

Edit:
Have you read Benjamin Vogt's take on butterfly bushes?

http://deepmiddle.blogspot.com...

My butterfly bush is a "Black Knight"... I've had it for about 6 years and so far not a single leaf out of place and when it was "healthy", it sure did attract the butterflies, bees and even saw a few hummingbird moths. Never saw a hummingbird at it but that's not to say they didn't use it. Gonna try to dig it up, check it out and see if I can save it. If not, I think I want to put the new "mini" bushes it a couple of places. Would be easier to take care of since they don't get as wild and wooly!!!

stone... I've not hear of "vitex" before...I looked it up and it does look like a very attractive plant!! Will definitely give it a consideration.

Greene....my original plan was to put garden fabric down and cover with gravel etc. Then she got "snippy" about the stuff plowing through and I figured "It's her foot..let her figure it out" ... kinda peddy but that's how it was....

My yard is soooooo wet and muddy right now from melting snow and rain it's going to be hard to do any work. Time will tell....

If you want to save the bush, I would try digging it up and washing all the soil off the roots. Then replant it in fresh soil. When was the last time she sprayed? Surely not over the winter? I think most of the residual sprays are only effective for 6 months? After that they dissipate and are not as effective so it may not bother anything you plant there from here out.

I live in Zone 5a. I had 2 Butterfly Bushes in my back yard. They were the exact same. One was in the south corner and one was in the north corner along the wood fence. The one in the north corner never did anything. I even replaced it the following year and it still did nothing. On the other hand, the one in the south corner did great. Below is a picture of it. It looked like this that summer and after a very cold winter, it was done. Nothing the next year except dead branches. I would love to try another but am afraid of losing one again. I have left the dead one there so the birds have a place to land.

I gave up on Bfly bushes. They don't come back good for me and are too slow emerging in the spring.