Neighbor V's My Laburnum Tree

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theoneill

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This morning while I was at work my girlfriend got a visit from our management
company's gardener. Basically about two months ago I planted a Laburnum Tree
out the front (on my side). Now if enough seeds from this tree are eaten they will
make you very sick, with that in mind I kept the little warning tag on the tree.

Our neighbors were away when I planted this tree and only returned last week,
the gardener called to ask us to uproot the tree as 'somebody' had sent an
e-mail to the management company to complain that we had planted a toxic
tree in our garden. Our front garden is open plan with the street but we own our
little patch and as far as I'm concerned I can plant what I like there.

The thing is that if the guy had just asked me if I could move it I probably
would have obliged, I don't like the president it sets if I move it now.

Incidentally my girlfriend called to the local garden center to enquire on how nasty
the seeds are and was told that daffodils are more toxic (which the neighbor has as see of). They have offered to exchange the tree if we want but I kinda want to keep it.

The neighbors have cited that they have two children to protect (I have a son) but I
would have thought that every child should know not to eat berries and the like from the ground. I know I was and my son knows better than that.

The management cut the grass and weed the front of the house but it is still my property I fail to see how they could force me to take the tree out.

It's not as if I've planted mandrake or something really nasty.
 
Ah just exchange the tree. This is how petty wars start between neighbours and you have to live beside them after all. Do the decent thing and be reasonable. It's really not a big deal anyway, sure is it?
 
Laburnums are beautiful, I was admiring one in a friend's garden the other day.

However, according to this web page - http://www.haworth-village.org.uk/nature/time-lapse/time-lapse.asp?pic=16 -which has a nice time lapse of a laburnum tree over 11 months - the seeds can actually be fatal! The warning sign you have left on your tree is of no use if a child who is too young to read decides that your laburnum seeds look tasty. Would you really want to be responsible for that?

Could you move the plant to your back garden? At least that way you still could admire it!
 
Hello theoneill.
Unfortunately, most plants are poisonous to a lesser or greater degree.
Take the daffodils that you mentioned, it is the bulb itself, below ground which is the most toxic, more so than the foliage or flower.

As you decide what to do, bear the following in mind....
All parts of Laburnum voissi (if this is the variety) are poisonous, but most especially the seed pods, following the flowers.
Two seed pods once ingested sufficient to send a child into seizure possibly leading to respiratory failure.
It is the fact that the seeds are in pods, resembling pea pods, that is often so attractive to children. Especially if they have ever eaten peas from the pod.

One option is to remove the spent flowers before they go to the pod stage.
You will require a ladder, plus plenty of time and patience.
Even after all that, who is to say other parts of the tree will not be eaten.
 
"The neighbors have cited that they have two children to protect".
God it drives me insane people who hide behind their precious children. They're probably dumped in a creche for 12 hours a day or dragged around a shopping centre at the weekend as a form of 'leisure'...
Don't be bullied by these cranks. This is the thin end of the wedge. Stand your ground, enjoy your laburnum (my mother has a magnificent specimen!) and with any luck these people will sell up and move to the deepest recesses of the countryside.
 
I would be happy to move it if he had just asked me.
I don't like being informed by a management company that I
have to move my tree off my property.

I know I getting territorial, however I would imagine I'll come home
one day and my girlfriend will have moved it. She has a thing for lilac.
 
HMC said:
"The neighbors have cited that they have two children to protect".
God it drives me insane people who hide behind their precious children. They're probably dumped in a creche for 12 hours a day or dragged around a shopping centre at the weekend as a form of 'leisure'...
Don't be bullied by these cranks. This is the thin end of the wedge. Stand your ground, enjoy your laburnum (my mother has a magnificent specimen!) and with any luck these people will sell up and move to the deepest recesses of the countryside.
Click to expand...

A lot of presumptions here plus a big chip on the shoulder me thinks!!!! Children are precious and terribly rude to presume they are "dumped in creche.........." etc. I myself have one of these trees in my garden and it is just beautiful. I also have two "precious" children to whom I have explained not to touch the tree and why. However if a neighbour asked me to move it I would fully understand and would oblige. I fully agree with previous poster who said they should have approached the owner directly.
 
theoneill said:
I would have thought that every child should know not to eat berries and the like from the ground. I know I was and my son knows better than that.
Click to expand...

Kids will be kids. God forbid that some child does get poisoned by the tree, how would you feel then.

Err on the side of caution, eat that slice of pie, be the good neighbour, be the bigger man...... I would be annoyed with the neighbour for how he handled it (badly), and if it had been an aestetic matter rather than a health/safety matter, I suspect my view would be different.
 
HMC said:
"The neighbors have cited that they have two children to protect".
God it drives me insane people who hide behind their precious children. They're probably dumped in a creche for 12 hours a day or dragged around a shopping centre at the weekend as a form of 'leisure'...
Don't be bullied by these cranks. This is the thin end of the wedge. Stand your ground, enjoy your laburnum (my mother has a magnificent specimen!) and with any luck these people will sell up and move to the deepest recesses of the countryside.
Click to expand...
I guess you dont have kids then, and with that kind of attitude, perhaps you should keep it that way.

I have kids, and I value them greatly. I suspect that despite your attitude, your mother cared for you too. I am sure that she was constantly on the look out for dangers to you that could be readily averted.
 
BlueSpud said:
Kids will be kids. God forbid that some child does get poisoned by the tree, how would you feel then.

Err on the side of caution, eat that slice of pie, be the good neighbour, be the bigger man...... I would be annoyed with the neighbour for how he handled it (badly), and if it had been an aestetic matter rather than a health/safety matter, I suspect my view would be different.
Click to expand...

Err what pud said...
 
Theres a fine line between living under the harassment of big brother and acting sensibly. Ask yourself whats the risk? And whats next on big brothers list? No swimming pool (for example) in your back yard because someone might climb over the wall and drown ?
Nearly every decorative garden vegetation is poisonous and as far as I know kids taste everything around them while they are still toddlers but at this age they should be under the full time supervision and care of a responsible guardian.
Risk is a part of life. Parents are responsible for what their kids do . Not you.
Since when (god forbid) has any kid in Ireland ever been killed by a Laburnum Tree ?
However as a neighbour this is kind of tricky because if you actually envisioned the possible consequences you will realise you dont want that kind of bad luck to happen and even if its not directly your fault you still cant escape being involved if it happened on your property and with something you planted.
If you had tied up a pit bull in your front garden I'd know the answer straight away (based upon my beliefs) but this case doesnt seem so clear or straightforward to me. (in my opinion).

Its probably easier to keep the peace and not break up the bonds of an apparently well run neighbourhood. God knows you could be worse off and live in a neighbourhood where nobody cares about standards.
 
That's a good point sign, I just wish he had come to me.
I don't like this whole ringing the management company thing.
 
..and having something in an open plan front garden like a swimming pool or a pit bull would be exactly like having one in non open back garden. A fine line?
 
aircobra19 said:
..and having something in an open plan front garden like a swimming pool or a pit bull would be exactly like having one in non open back garden. A fine line?
Click to expand...

Nobody has a pool or a pit bull in the front garden. Is there a relevant question?:confused:

I think dictating what may be planted in somebodies front garden is dangerously close to a fine line. However it is more complex than this. My opinion is posted already earlier in the thread.
 
sign said:
Nobody has a pool or a pit bull in the front garden. Is there a relevant question?:confused:
Click to expand...

Its your analogy just extrapolated.

sign said:
Theres a fine line between living under the harassment of big brother and acting sensibly. ....No swimming pool (for example) in your back yard .....
If you had tied up a pit bull in your front garden I'd know the answer ....
Click to expand...

I think its useful comparision. If you had swimming pool you'd have to fence it off and sign post it. Probably the same with a dog.

sign said:
I think dictating what may be planted in somebodies front garden is dangerously close to a fine line. However it is more complex than this....
Click to expand...

Someplaces don't allow washing on a line in front garden, or walls in an open plan scheme. So it doesn't seem that much of stretch that non hazardous objects in open plan gardens would be not in keeping with the community ethos/agreement.

theoneill - do you have a contract or agreement that details any of this.
 
I'm beginning to wonder how many kids are dropping dead because they happen to be born in the countryside next to mother nature's evil works.
 
TreeTiger said:
Laburnums are beautiful, I was admiring one in a friend's garden the other day.

However, according to this web page - http://www.haworth-village.org.uk/nature/time-lapse/time-lapse.asp?pic=16 -which has a nice time lapse of a laburnum tree over 11 months - the seeds can actually be fatal! The warning sign you have left on your tree is of no use if a child who is too young to read decides that your laburnum seeds look tasty. Would you really want to be responsible for that?

Could you move the plant to your back garden? At least that way you still could admire it!
Click to expand...



The rest of the time-lapse photograpgy on that site is brilliant as well. frogspawn, flowers, canals etc



Murt
 
sign said:
I'm beginning to wonder how many kids are dropping dead because they happen to be born in the countryside next to mother nature's evil works.
Click to expand...

No idea. I'm sure there stats some where on laburnum though if someone could be bothered to find them. I got this far then had to go do something else.

[broken link removed]

Luckily mortality in humans is very rare, hence this report in the Lancet in 1979: "In an average summer over three thousand children are admitted to hospital in England and Wales because of laburnum poisoning. It is suggested that laburnum is not as dangerous as has been thought and that many of these admissions are unnecessary."
(Lancet. 1979 May 19;1(8125):1073)
Nevertheless anyone who has eaten Laburnum seeds should be taken immediately to an emergency department, where activated charcoal may be administered to soak up the poison and other drugs and treatment may be administered as required for possible seizures or respiratory failure.
Remember that as little as two seeds can suffice to poison a child and the tree should therefore never be planted near children's playgrounds.
Click to expand...
 
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