The homeowner says she was “hurt” by her neighbour’s comment
The woman says: “This is it at its best last spring”(Image: LumpyStarr/Reddit)
A woman has taken to Reddit to vent her frustration after a neighbour made a snide comment about her front garden. The green-fingered lady, who goes by the username LumpyStarr, titled her post: “Neighbours hate my yard.”
She explained how she’d been working tirelessly to transform her front garden into a wildflower haven, all while balancing a demanding full-time job. She wrote: “I’ve been trying to make a native yard. I have several sage and monkey flowers, yarrow, coyote bush, etc.”
Flowers native to the UK include popular types such as bluebells, primroses, cowslips, and foxgloves. There are also others like ox-eye daisies, ragged robin, and yarrow. These flowers are perfectly suited to the UK’s weather and are crucial for local pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, providing them with food and habitats.
The woman added: “I also spread baby blue eyes and Clarkia seeds. Miner’s lettuce comes up strong in late winter.” She confessed that she’d been grappling with various weeds and grass, and had been managing the project single-handedly.
Giving some insight into her personal life, she revealed: “[I’ve been] living alone as a single woman for most of it (fiancé moved in last year) and working full time at a job that burns me out every day. It’s been a lot of work.”
“And it dies back to this in summer/fall. Definitely trying to expand on shrubs but the first year is really tough on them. We have multiple months of 100-110 degree dry heat so I have about a 75% success rate overall”(Image: LumpyStarr/Reddit)
She added: “Each year I think it gets closer to my vision, but it’s my first time home owning (bought in 2021), my first time gardening at all, and several family tragedies have interrupted progress at times. I’ve been learning as I go, and my neighbours have seen me trying.”
She disclosed that she has done all the gardening herself, from uprooting the turf to laying mulch, planting shrubs, and watering them with a hose throughout the summer, as she lacks an irrigation system. “I watched some die, I replanted at a better time of year, I spread seeds”, she went on. “Many neighbours are encouraging to my face when they see me out there.”
However, a conversation with one of her neighbours left her feeling dispirited. “But one neighbour who is kind of like the ‘neighbourhood watchdog’ just told me that people text him all the time asking if I have died or if I’m a renter and letting weeds take over,” she revealed.
“I don’t know why this bothers me so much. I live in an old neighbourhood, and the crowd is of an older generation that prefers lawns, but like all this effort and people assume on a renter trashing the place or that I’ve died… really?” She went on: “It just hurts.
The Reddit user said: “Then the clarkia comes late spring.”(Image: LumpyStarr/Reddit)
“No real reason for posting this other than to vent and hear if anyone has had this struggle. I’m going to keep trying to stay on top of grasses and weeds, but damn. Everyone compliments me like crazy when the wildflowers bloom, but that’s only for like 2-3 months out of the year. It’s just disheartening.”
In the comments section, she shared a couple of photographs of the flourishing wildflowers she had planted in her front garden. The pictures received abundant praise and encouragement.
Fellow Reddit users in the comments rallied around the woman, offering some useful advice and suggestions. One person said: “You’re doing a very cool thing – don’t let haters give you doubt.”
A second provided a practical suggestion, writing: “Put a sign in the front yard – “pardon the weeds – native garden in progress! It’s worked for my son and DIL.” Someone else applauded: “Your plantings are awesome.”
A third praised: “Your yard is gorgeous!” Another recommended: “I’d post a sign explaining that it is a native garden planted to support pollinators and increase biodiversity.” Another commenter said: “No matter what you do… Someone won’t like it.”
The woman subsequently updated her original post to thank everyone for the positive response, writing: “Thank you so much for all the support. I really appreciate the encouragement as it’s felt like quite a battle. All of your suggestions are great. Edging, irrigation, late season blooms, signs, etc.”
She provided additional details about her neighbour, claiming that he is a landlord who owns 17 houses in the neighbourhood. “He’s always been nice and respectful so I never thought he cared about what I did. He always left me alone,” she said.
Reflecting on the situation, she shared: “But you all make some great points about him maybe not being honest. And tbh it’s possible he is only concerned about his property values and the optics of a non-pristine lawn. Anyway, thanks again! I’ll keep the hope alive.”
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