It’s a shame when people want to ruin something beautiful.

But it makes all the difference if you get the right people in your corner.

Gardeners know what they’re talking about.

See how this one kept things green and vibrant.

The city wanted me to take better care of my gardens, so I had them approved by the local nature conservation association

My house is surrounded by two gardens, one in the front, facing the street, and one in the back, bordering my neighbours’ gardens.

When my parents and grandparents moved into our house 26 years ago, they planted a thick hedge around the entire property.

They also installed a rose arch over the pathway to our front door and my grandfather was always busy keeping up the garden, planting, weeding, keeping everything very tidy.

Then things changed for the family and the garden.

My grandfather died in 2002 and after that, the garden was neglected for a few years as my parents were still working and my brother and I were in university/school.

But then my mum read that we should plant stuff to help the bees.

She took over the gardens, planting lilac, rhododendron, roses and various berries.

Later we decided to also install raised garden beds with various kitchen herbs.

My mum is now over 70 years old and has officially given the house over to my brother and me, so that we won’t be taxed on inheriting it when she passees.

Since then, I’ve been sporadically taking care of the gardens.

I like them in their wild shape with all the birds, bees, bumblebees and butterflies flying around, in autumn we get hedgehogs and we’ve been visited by a fox recently (which send my cats into a panic).

But some people saw ugliness where everyone else saw beauty.

Recently, we received a letter from the city stating that our garden was interfering with the safety of the street because the hedge was overgrowing the pavement and contained poisonous berries which were a danger to children.

My brother trims the hedge every month to make sure nothing is overgrowing the pavement in any way.

While the berries are poisonous, to get to them you’d have to be quite resilient because they’re surrounded by thorns.

They are also know to be ideal food for some local birds.

So, I contacted our local nature conservation association and asked if they would like to have a look at our gardens and maybe tell us if we could improve anything to make them even more nature friendly.

That didn’t last for long.

They came, looked around and then told us they rarely see gardens so in touch with nature.

They approved our gardens as “especially nature friendly” and contacted the city to tell them that from their point of view.

Any changes would be considered unfriendly to nature, and since our city prides itself with once being one of the “green capitals” in our country, they had to budge.

Don’t mess with my gardens!

Here is what folks are saying.

Probably saves on water, too!

People underestimate the power of plants.

Good. Save the bees!

Well, that’s one way to cope.

Same here! Like The Secret Garden.

Wildflowers, do your thing.

We’re just here to watch.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.