'They seemed insulted that I even objected'

A Redditor encountered a unique challenge with their neighbor and took to the community at r/gardening for advice.

“The house behind me I assume must be rich to even afford a loan to expand footprint (by10%) AND build a second story (height and sqft more than doubled),” the original poster wrote. “I already struggle with sun in my drought-resistant, hummingbird-friendly garden because of the fence and west-facing yard. Now the shade will not only wreck what little charm my house has, but most of my plants will die.”

One Redditor sought advice after learning that their neighbor's construction project would cast shade on their garden.

Photo Credit: Reddit

Sadly, the poster’s attempt to bring up the issue at a public city meeting didn’t yield results.

“City wants all the permitting money and added tax revenue of course,” the original poster said in a comment. “They seemed insulted that I even objected, let alone wanted to speak, about the proposed construction.”

Neighbors can be a significant hurdle in building a healthy home garden. A desire for a view has led many to cut down perfectly healthy trees, for example. When homeowners associations get involved, sun cover can become an even more ridiculous struggle.

A rich garden full of native plants introduces loads of benefits to an ecosystem. The poster already mentioned how they were trying to feed hummingbirds, which are key pollinators. Native plants are also low-maintenance since they’ve evolved to thrive in the local climate. That means less time and money spent watering when compared to caring for more exotic varieties. Native plants are also more resilient to drought conditions.

Redditors had a few ideas for the original poster.

“Plants besides cactus and succulents can be low maintenance,” one commenter said. “Ferns, palms, staghorn ferns look nice on walls, jasmine for that lattice, lilac chaste tree or vitex, golden-bell/forsythia, turk’s cap, purple heart, and the privets/ligustrums. Autumn Sage (salvia greggii) grows in the shade and hummingbirds love it.”

“Get some floods. Plants don’t need sun rays (technically speaking) … so artificial lighting should be a great solution for you,” another recommended. “… I’d also suggest throwing in heavy drinking plants to help mitigate moisture abundance AND find a native viner to grow up whatever partition is between you and the neighbor.”

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