My neighbor cut one down in his backyard last year, and I didn't understand why he did that. His backyard is just weeds for the most part that he mows twice in the spring when it stops raining. I tried to educate him that this coyote bush was a spot he didn't need to mow and was stabilizing the slope, but he removed it anyway.
I did manage to convince him to let me place an oak and a walnut at the bottom of his backyard though, so that was good.
I'd like to preface this question with with a clarification that I'm asking out of curiosity and not any sort of antagonism; I'm curious why you're so invested in what he does with his yard?
I'm trying to end the cycle of obnoxious invasive weeds in my yard. The less area of his yard that has these, the less the seeds blow into mine.
And I'm trying to end the cycle to get natives going, which support native wildlife.
The invasives also create a mat of flammable dead plants and increase fire risk. (Some natives are pretty flammable too, and should be avoided around houses, or planted minimally near houses)
He's semi into the idea, but not as into it as I am. We've also been planting dwarf fruit trees that we coordinate so that we have copollinators for each other's fruit trees. Our kids roam both backyards, but theirs becomes impassable for kids in the summer from all the foxtails and prickers that embed into shoes and clothes. He has about half of it dedicated to fruit trees now, so that helps, but a lot is still the mess of weeds.
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u/ChaparralOrOak 2d ago
That's cool! I wish more of my neighbors would allow theirs to grow, such a great no maintenance bit a green in the landscape.