At the point of their magnificent beauty, when the foliage was so thick you couldn't see beyond them, the next-door neighbor started having issues with the trees. At one point he decided to cut out a "picture window" because he couldn't see the sunset from his deck. Never mind that those trees were there when he built the house. Needless to say, eventually we had to sue them in civil court. But that's another story for another time, because neither side really won.
A few more years passed and soon, one by one, the trees started dying. Eventually, they all died. Not having the resources to deal with them, it was another two years till we decided it was time that they had to come down. So on a hot summer day back in August, my husband, along with his son and his nephew, cut down the remaining 15 trees. The others had already come down with high winds over the years.
In this photo you can see the neighbor's pool and other houses. When we moved here, that was all field and was used for farming.
This is the neighbor's house. And those are the poor dead trees. 
This is looking from the front of our property to the back. The neighbor's house is on the right side.
And this is looking at the neighbor's pool after the trees came down. It's so strange to look over there now and not see those trees. The wood and stumps are all gone. We made no profit from the wood as we gave it all away. My step-son and nephew were paid well for their labor.
Upon inspecting them close up, it looked like a boring insect of some type got under the bark and that is what probably killed them over the years. There were paths and grooves all over the trunks.
We don't plan on replacing them, so the neighbor now has access to all the sunsets he'll ever want.
4 comments:
I guess this means your neighbors won't be skinny dipping anymore now huh???
I have always said plant small trees and they will grow plant big trees and they will eventually grow. Poplars are a part of the aspen family and they are short lived trees. Plant a few more just to hide the swimming pool - you'll be glad you did. Might go with another species though.
Ralph
Tiredawg ~ If they did before I wouldn't know it. They have used the pool twice when they had parties, and the teenaged daughter had her b'friend in it one afternoon. Beats the hell out of me why they even have a pool.
Ralph ~ I don't think we will be planting anymore trees over there. Our lot between their house and our house is 200 ft wide, and they are rarely out there anyway.
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