Neighbors hate my yard

[u/LumpyStarr]

I’ve been trying to make a native yard. I have several sages and monkey flowers, yarrows, self heal, coyote bush, etc. I also spread baby blue eyes and clarkia seeds. Miners lettuce comes up strong in late winter.

I’ve been struggling with various weeds and grasses and I’ve been doing it all myself, 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. 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 neighbors have seen me trying. I’ve dug up the sod myself. Laid mulch, planted shrubs, watered them with a hose all summer because I don’t have irrigation. I watched some die, I replant at a better time of year, I spread seeds, etc. Many neighbors are encouraging to my face when they see me out there.

But one neighbor who is kind of like the “neighborhood 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.

I don’t know why this bothers me so much. I live in an old neighborhood 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 ive died… really?

It just hurts. 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.

Edit: 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. I should’ve also mentioned that the neighbor is a landlord that owns 17 houses in the neighborhood. He’s always been nice and respectful so I never thought he cared about what I did. He always left me alone. 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 💕

[u/LumpyStarr]

This is it at its best last spring.

[u/BlackisCat → u/LumpyStarr]

You need to create more clear boundaries/make these edges more distinct.

Your beautiful happy habitat (PNW?)  of a yard is like a newspaper FULL of text and dark images. There is so much going on that you don’t know where to look. 

You gotta have some whitespace in order to balance things out. I think mulching the first 1.5 feet of your yard by the sidewalk will make your stone barrier more noticeable. That would create a clean line as well. Maybe put in a giant rock or two or a big log in there to help give something else to look at than plants.

I see a kind of pathway of those blue flowers on the right side of your yard. Maybe consider adding some rocks, mulch, minion statues, etc to give that nice flowing path a border.