Thursday, March 24, 2011

I'm Disappointed with the Landscaping

Hmmm...  I HATE confrontation, but I'm gonna have to tell the landscaper how disappointed I am with the arborvitae that are planted along the fence.

These were (ARE) my requirements:  I need an immediate SOLID screen to block my dogs from seeing and barking at the neighbors. 
We discussed a couple of options.  Burning bushes would have been great except they drop their leaves.  He suggested the arborvitae--it was a short chubby one that would get 5-6' tall and was about 3-1/2' wide.  They were expensive at $100/tree, and he stepped off how many I'd need (19).  More than I wanted to spend, but making sure the neighbors don't hate me is that important to me.

Well...  When the guys spaced out the 19 pyramid arborvitae, they only spanned HALF THE DISTANCE of the fence! So, I called Mr. Landscaper Dude and told him how far the trees went along the fence.  One of the workers stepped out how many more I'd need:  SIXTEEN.  WTF?  Lucky me...  he had that many, and he'd send them right out.

Then I checked the tag out on one of the trees, and it said this particular arborvitae would reach 20-30' tall and 5-8' wide.  That is definitely NOT what he told me.  I was pissed so I asked one of the workers to call him and find out if these were the right trees.  The response:  somebody printed the wrong info on the tag.

At first I thought "well at least I'm getting the right tree."  But...  I can understand over- or underestimating 1 or 2 trees, but NOT 16!

I got online and checked out the description of a pyramidial arborvitvae.  Guess what:  they're supposed to mature to 20-30' and 5-8' wide.  Was the idiot LYING to me or does he really not know about these trees?

So...  to kind of fix the problem, the workers started spacing the trees further apart.  Now I have trees that are spaced very close together to the middle of the fence, and then trees that are spaced wider from the middle to the end.

#1.  if I end up keeping these trees, they're spaced entirely too close to mature at 5-8' wide.
#2.  yet, the trees are spaced too wide apart for me to remove the ugly landscaping fabric we have stapled to the fence as a temporary block
#3.  the trees need full sun, but now they are on the north side of the fence with the sun blocked because of the landscaping fabric
#4.  I still have to keep the ugly landscaping fabric in place SO THERE'S NO FRIGGIN' POINT IN HAVING ANY TREES PLANTED THERE!

Ultimately, I KNOW we were on the same page when he left here becuase there is NO WAY I would have let him leave here with me agreeing to pay almost $2000 for trees that didn't do what I wanted them to do!

I'm gonna go visit the guy this morning.

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