A New Neighbor

I mentioned in an earlier post that our disruptive recently divorced neighbor across the street sold his house. His front yard was weedy, and his rotation of trucks and vans parked in front of our house was annoying. When we saw the house was for sale I hoped for someone quiet and I hoped they would at a minimum clean out some of the front yard weeds.

Never did I imagine our new neighbor would be a gardener -- a gardener! This is what dreams are made of.

She has pulled up the weeds, picked out all the cigarette butts in the front yard gravel, and took pruners to the shrubby crabapple at the front corner of the house. It's a beauty, even untended for years as it was here last spring. 

It blooms each year spectacularly, and now with her pruning, it is shapely with branches up off the ground and the low rock wall edging highlighted behind it. 

She told me: I don't think the shrubs here were tended very much. I did not roll my eyes. The former divorced guy had a totally dead peach tree standing at the front door for two years. When told he had to remove it, he cut it down and left the dead corpse laid out by the front door for another year.

No, I said. Not tended so much. So glad you are here to improve things.

She hasn't even moved in yet. The house interior is being gutted and rehabbed. But already the front looks so nice and she has plans for the lilac in back and the gate area and she wanted to know if it is ok with the homeowners association to plant some trees. Yes. Yes it is.

She knows there is irrigation in the yard, front and back, and has a guy to help re-establish it in working order. All I wanted was a new neighbor who had fewer trucks and would weed a bit and bring the trash cans in at least two days after pickup.

What we got is a gardener with an eye for design and the dedication to do the work. A lovely new neighbor with plans for the lilac and expertise with the crabapple and a guy who does irrigation. She has designs for new trees in her tiny, pretty yard and the energy to keep it all up.

🌳 Love.

Love.