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If a neat person buys a house between 2 junk yards, why should he complain afterwards?
If another person buys a house in an HOA and then complains about regulations .......why ?
Know what you are getting into beforehand.
Bada Bing
Quote:
Originally Posted by TuborgP
Bada Bing
It usually isn't the delinquent HOA homeowner who's complaining.
If a neat person buys a house between 2 junk yards, why should he complain afterwards?
If another person buys a house in an HOA and then complains about regulations .......why ?
Know what you are getting into beforehand.
Bada Bing
It usually isn't the delinquent HOA homeowner who's complaining.
Send both the elderly lady and the single mother violation letters, and anyone else in violation. Show no favoritism to anyone, and treat them all equally. In those letters, send lists of handymen, mowers, etc. or suggest places they can look or call to find someone. It's not your job as codes enforcement to worry about how they do it. That said, you're compassionate and do care, which is good, but it's unfortunately not your job.
Ah, a healthy does of common sense combined with a sense of fairness and integrity. You have responded to the subject matter of this thread, which has careened wildly off topic. How we ever got onto recipes is a great mystery to me.
You know - there were no pictures of the whole yard in this article - and I couldn't find them elsewhere. I would think that if the yard looked great - there would be a lot of pictures.
From what little I saw - this landscaping is even more labor intensive than a typical lawn. Because you have to keep on top of weeds and "volunteer" plants/shrubs/trees that grow up in between plants. OTOH - although lawn maintenance can be expensive - hand pulling is cheap. It's basically a DIY project - because you can't pay anyone enough to do it . Doubt you could get your neighbor to do it for free either.
So this is not a great solution for anyone - especially an older person - who is short on financial resources but doesn't have the ability to do a lot of back-breaking work. Robyn
P.S. "grass-free" doesn't mean water free. Depends what you're trying to grow. I keep a somewhat large butterfly/hummingbird/herb garden - mostly in barrels. We are only allowed to water using an irrigation system twice a week (on certain days) in the summer (and it's once a week in the winter). The lawn - and established trees and shrubs - do fine with that watering. But I often have to hand-water other "non-lawn" things.
I agree, it all comes down to the planting scheme chosen. As a gardener for more decades than I care to admit (LOL) I'm finally coming to the painful realization that my beloved mixed borders-plus-lawn are no longer compatible with my state of health OR with my financial circumstances. But I wouldn't go the route that the person in the link did, because as Robyn says it can be just as labor intensive.
A more practical answer, in parts of the country where it's feasible, might be to have just shrubs, small trees, and then mulch covering everything in between. Perhaps small areas of low-maintenance perennials such as hostas. No lawn. There would be the expense of having to top up the mulch on a yearly or semi-annual basis, but any weed seeds that may germinate on top of the mulch can be zapped with a spray of weedkiller of choice.
Of course in an HOA where lawns are mandated, this alternative wouldn't fly I suppose.
From what little I saw - this landscaping is even more labor intensive than a typical lawn. Because you have to keep on top of weeds and "volunteer" plants/shrubs/trees that grow up in between plants. OTOH - although lawn maintenance can be expensive - hand pulling is cheap. It's basically a DIY project - because you can't pay anyone enough to do it . Doubt you could get your neighbor to do it for free either.
I have two neighbors in FL that have xeriscaping: no grass and lots of lovely native plants. Both are older women and are in their yards all the time for the love of it and the upkeep. One is currently undergoing chemo and can't keep up even with the help of her handyman. She has several investment properties, one being a condo and she is planning on moving back into it after the current lease is up and she has remodeling done. In the meantime she is struggling with upkeep in her yard. Her handyman is doing the basics for her but can't possibly give it all the time and attention that she as a retired person could. The amount of trimming and upkeep needed is tremendous to keep her yard looking good and the way she wants it.
These are lovely yards but if something happens to the person taking care of it, they can't simply call in a lawn service to cut the grass and do a little trimming to keep it presentable. In FL, it doesn't take plants long to get out of hand, especially in the rainy season, but really anywhere in the growing season.
On the other end of the spectrum are the nice people I talk to when I walk our dog by their place on our daily route. They bought 170 bags of mulch for $.99 a bag at Lowes during the annual mulch sale this year, to freshen up the old mulch. They have lovely trees, shrubs and... mulch. It works for them and their yard is well kept.
...From what little I saw - this landscaping is even more labor intensive than a typical lawn. Because you have to keep on top of weeds and "volunteer" plants/shrubs/trees that grow up in between plants. ....
Xeriscaping can be a pain to take care of, but it doesn't have to be if it's done right in the first place. "Right" meaning to plant with mainly well-behaved native plants that pretty much take care of themselves.
Yeah that's been my experience also. Us compliant folks support the rules and pay our dues on time. Perhaps they are using delinquent differently than we are. I see it as compliance and paying dues in a timely way. I will agree that the compliant folks are usually the ones complaining about the non compliant.
You know - there were no pictures of the whole yard in this article - and I couldn't find them elsewhere. I would think that if the yard looked great - there would be a lot of pictures.
From what little I saw - this landscaping is even more labor intensive than a typical lawn. Because you have to keep on top of weeds and "volunteer" plants/shrubs/trees that grow up in between plants. OTOH - although lawn maintenance can be expensive - hand pulling is cheap. It's basically a DIY project - because you can't pay anyone enough to do it . Doubt you could get your neighbor to do it for free either.
So this is not a great solution for anyone - especially an older person - who is short on financial resources but doesn't have the ability to do a lot of back-breaking work. Robyn
P.S. "grass-free" doesn't mean water free. Depends what you're trying to grow. I keep a somewhat large butterfly/hummingbird/herb garden - mostly in barrels. We are only allowed to water using an irrigation system twice a week (on certain days) in the summer (and it's once a week in the winter). The lawn - and established trees and shrubs - do fine with that watering. But I often have to hand-water other "non-lawn" things.
Some HOA covenants do not allow changing anything over a fixed percentage of the original lawn to anything else. Again as noted climate can play a role in how the rules are written.
These are lovely yards but if something happens to the person taking care of it, they can't simply call in a lawn service to cut the grass and do a little trimming to keep it presentable.
Amern to that. In my last house I had a gorgeous half-acre of lawn and mixed borders which I put in and planted up and took care of 100% myself. The only thing I didn't do was the weekly lawn cutting which I had a lawn service for. They were under strict orders to NEVER touch anything in the beds, LOL
Then I got blindsided by cancer in early 2010 which resulted in surgery and a year of weekly chemo. There was no way I could do a thing in the yard for almost a year and half, so the only thing that got done was the lawn service cutting. Then just as I was getting back on my feet I got hit with another medical surprise that wiped me out for almost 6 months. So in all, I couldn't touch anything for two full years.
In that space of time, the honeysuckle (neighbor's property), ivy (ditto), Virginia creeper (ditto), wild garlic, crabgrass, dandelions and a bazillion other weeds grabbed their opportunity and ran with it. By the time I was able to do anything about it, it was out of control and I didn't have the money to get it professionally redone. I used to look at pics of what my property used to be like and almost weep at the decline. Heartbreaking.
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. Doubt you could get your neighbor to do it for free either.
