Our hedge is a shared boundary with our neighbour. We both own our houses. Ivy had severely invaded the hedge mostly from my neighbours side. (Also elderflower and brambles). I did remove some woody ivy and elderflower from the hedge which did cause a couple of gaps. Overall though the hedge is now healthier and less invaded. That was a year ago. I worked so hard to remove as much ivy as possible while making sure not to damage the hedge itself at all. Our neighbour will not do anything to try to combat the ivy (or any invasive plant) from their side. It has been regrowing this summer. My neighbour gets really aggressive, rude and threatening every time I go near the hedge and gets very upset even when I'm removing dandelions and stickle- back from our side. I try to just take visible ivy from our side and leave them their part of the ivy. Does my neighbour have no responsibility to attempt to deal with the ivy (and brambles etc) from their side? They have said at one stage that they don't have a problem with ivy. They seem to think that I'm wanting to destroy the hedge even though we have been looking after it for 15 and a half years. They only moved in 18 months ago. 😐
Our hedge is a shared boundary with our neighbour. We both own our houses. Ivy had severely invaded the hedge mostly from my neighbours side. (Also elderflower and brambles). I did remove some woody ivy and elderflower from the hedge which did cause a couple of gaps. Overall though the hedge is now healthier and less invaded. That was a year ago. I worked so hard to remove as much ivy as possible while making sure not to damage the hedge itself at all. Our neighbour will not do anything to try to combat the ivy (or any invasive plant) from their side. It has been regrowing this summer. My neighbour gets really aggressive, rude and threatening every time I go near the hedge and gets very upset even when I'm removing dandelions and stickle- back from our side. I try to just take visible ivy from our side and leave them their part of the ivy. Does my neighbour have no responsibility to attempt to deal with the ivy (and brambles etc) from their side? They have said at one stage that they don't have a problem with ivy. They seem to think that I'm wanting to destroy the hedge even though we have been looking after it for 15 and a half years. They only moved in 18 months ago. 😐
To put it very bluntly, your neighbour has no legal responsibility to even have a hedge, fence or anything else. Let alone an obligation to maintain it to your wishes. (excluding local bylaws and the fact a council can take action over height of a hedge in some cases)
Can you not explain to them why you think the work needs doing?
Unfortunately a lot of people like ivy in hedges. I know traditionally it is a complete no no (I've planted a lot of hedges in my time), but it is just so common that people have a different view about it.
I renovated a run of blackthorn a few years ago and a neighbour who only overlooked it (it was not actually on our boundary with them) pleaded with me not to cut down the tallest tree like blackthorn because the ivy that is totally strangling it 'looked pretty'. I left it, but they moved out recently and it is definitely being reduced in the winter before it dies and I will strip away the ivy.
All I can say really is try to explain to them why you feel the work ought to be done for the health of the hedge. But to be honest increasingly I find neighbours of all ages far less knowledgeable about these things than I expect.
There is the other side of the coin too. I get more than a little twitchy about neighbours having ideas of how our garden should be, so just accept they might currently feel like you are interfering with something unnecessarily. Of course though the bottom line, is if a weed, be it ivy or anything else is rooted on your property, you have the right to remove it if you wish.
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I did remove some woody ivy and elderflower from the hedge which did cause a couple of gaps. Overall though the hedge is now healthier and less invaded.
That was a year ago. I worked so hard to remove as much ivy as possible while making sure not to damage the hedge itself at all.
Our neighbour will not do anything to try to combat the ivy (or any invasive plant) from their side. It has been regrowing this summer.
My neighbour gets really aggressive, rude and threatening every time I go near the hedge and gets very upset even when I'm removing dandelions and stickle- back from our side.
I try to just take visible ivy from our side and leave them their part of the ivy.
Does my neighbour have no responsibility to attempt to deal with the ivy (and brambles etc) from their side?
They have said at one stage that they don't have a problem with ivy.
They seem to think that I'm wanting to destroy the hedge even though we have been looking after it for 15 and a half years.
They only moved in 18 months ago. 😐
Can you not explain to them why you think the work needs doing?
Unfortunately a lot of people like ivy in hedges. I know traditionally it is a complete no no (I've planted a lot of hedges in my time), but it is just so common that people have a different view about it.
I renovated a run of blackthorn a few years ago and a neighbour who only overlooked it (it was not actually on our boundary with them) pleaded with me not to cut down the tallest tree like blackthorn because the ivy that is totally strangling it 'looked pretty'. I left it, but they moved out recently and it is definitely being reduced in the winter before it dies and I will strip away the ivy.
All I can say really is try to explain to them why you feel the work ought to be done for the health of the hedge. But to be honest increasingly I find neighbours of all ages far less knowledgeable about these things than I expect.
There is the other side of the coin too. I get more than a little twitchy about neighbours having ideas of how our garden should be, so just accept they might currently feel like you are interfering with something unnecessarily. Of course though the bottom line, is if a weed, be it ivy or anything else is rooted on your property, you have the right to remove it if you wish.