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August 30, 2007
Today I received a letter from my neighbor's attorney. It contained a threat of "radical defoliation" against my tree, when they "hire a professional tree trimmer to cut all the way back to the property line".
The tree in question is a beautiful river birch (Betula nigra), which resides at the front corner of my house. As birches naturally do, this tree drops twigs, seeds, pollen and leaves. My neighbor refers to these as "effluent" and believes that the "mealy substance" given off by my tree is clogging his gutters. Check out these pictures that he sent me as evidence.
As you might have guessed, my neighbor is one of those people that believes that the outdoors should look like a living room. His yard contains an expanse of perfectly mown lawn that he never uses. There are a few shrubs pruned into submission. Of course there are no leaves or sticks out of place. Any strays are either vacuumed up or thrown into my yard. This explains why he is too ignorant to appreciate the benefits of a tree and why he confuses seeds with effluent.
Now I am being asked to trim the tree to his satisfaction. I will not be complying with that request. He has a legal right to trim any branches that hang over the property line, but I am not legally bound to help. The tree is healthy and poses no danger to his property. He greatly exaggerates the nuisance factor. I can say this confidently, because I have not one, but two of these trees in the front of my house and I experience no clogging of my gutters.
Since it is illegal to cause the death of a tree owned by your neighbor, I hope that he does hire a professional tree trimmer. Maybe a professional will be able to satisfy my neighbors needs without killing the tree. It would be a shame if my neighbor was forced to pay me for a tree that he hates so much.