When we bought our house, one of our favorite parts was the privacy our yard provided. A beautiful tree-filled berm backing up to an empty lot. In the evenings, we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. We could hear nature, see nature, and enjoy the wildlife.
Ignore the brown spots, this was our first attempt at killing the devil trees – all it did was kill the grass! We’ve since seeded and it looks great again!
All that has changed.
In mid-August we got a letter letting us know someone had bought the empty lot and a building was going in. By early September, we found out that in addition to the building, the berm (hill) had to be cleared and rebuilt to meet the new code.
By late September, the construction nightmare had begun. Big trucks came and cleared out the berm. All of the privacy, all of the trees – everything – gone in a matter of hours.
Instead of privacy and beauty, we have a wasteland of debris. We have the noise of the equipment, we have lights from neighboring businesses. It’s not the perfect yard we signed up for! Furthermore, they decided not to clear everything that was on their land – leaving us with a sprinkling of ‘devil trees’ (these trees climb underground and pop up off of the roots. They are ruining the yard and the only way to get rid of them is to pull the roots – which is a lot of work and makes a lot of holes in the yard)!
So, late one night, our neighbor showed up in our backyard with a chainsaw and we got to work removing the remaining trees. Now we’re left with a lot of stumps and a lot of roots to pull. Oh, and a lot of mess! But, we’re making progress and within a few years we will have our yard back.
On the plus side, the company is putting in new cover on the berm. There will be maple trees, aspen trees, white pine trees, dogwood bushes and lilacs (my favorite)! But, that’s a long ways off. For now, we keep the windows closed to muffle the noise and spend more time in the front yard. At least I can see the sunrise over the desolate construction site.
Oh ……….. I am sorry …….. I would plant some red tip bushes there they are quick growing and can hide anything you could have that secluded privacy once again .Other quick growers are crepe myrtle trees they are beautiful when in bloom. I hope you can see the bright light at the end of this agonizing tunnel cause this could be a great thing for you guys 🙂 best wishes… Crystalnva