And it is boring. Not just boring but predictable. In most places I've lived in, it almost seemed as though someone had passed a law mandating it. It's like the "elevator laws" that no one has ever seen written down but that we all somehow know - don't talk, don't touch, keep eyes straight to the front, staring at the numbers if at all possible. Somehow the uniform hedge has become an unwritten law like that - sometimes violated but usually obeyed by unspoken consent.
And what a sad thing that is! Especially in neighborhoods where most houses look alike, the front yard plantings are the homeowners' only opportunities to express themselves and to give people some clue as to their individuality in a sea of uniform building style.
Beginning the Transformation
Our own home is the only one that remotely looks like itself in our neighborhood, mainly because it was the original house in the village and later, as the owners began to parcel out the land, a lot of smaller houses sprung up about it. This is why I thought it even sadder that it should sport the same mustache as all those other houses. We had the land, the space and the know-how to change that. It's just that my husband couldn't bring himself to cut down a healthy, thriving hedge and then go spend money on other shrubs just for the sake of change.
He also couldn't bring himself to prune them very often, until they were far too tall to even tackle (said he).
I refused to try it myself, because deep down, I knew what would eventually happen. Eventually when I half-expected a neighborhood petition about that neglected, overgrown shrubbery, he got embarrassed enough about it to cut the hedge way down.
At the height it should have been maintained at, all that remained was the merest sprinkling of needles. Almost no greenery.
I let it sit.
After a year it still had only a few sad looking snippets of greenery attached, and was an even worse eyesore than the original overgrowth. I started threatening to spray paint it in colors to coordinate with the house. And so finally, he gave in. The yew hedge came out, and I got to plan a front yard that had some color, texture and variety.
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