Quote:
Originally Posted by coffeebean
Ever since I have lived in The Villages as a seasonal resident for several years, I have loved the look of the tiered walls bordering the landscape beds. I have dreamed of having tiered walls installed on our property and would love to have rock in the landscape beds now that I am a full time resident in a lovely home on a cul-de-sac.
I have recently found out that any kind of a border for the landscape beds must be a minimum of 3 feet from the property line. If there isn't 3 feet, the border would not be in compliance with the ARC. My front landscape beds on both sides of my driveway are closer than 3' to the property line. One side of my driveway has established double palm trees which are barely 3 feet from the property line and that is where the trees are located, not including the surrounding landscape bed. I am not going to be able to have the beautiful tiered walls and rock that I have been admiring for several years. Hubby and I plan to be in compliance with the ARC.
Needless to say, I'm finding out many homeowners are not in compliance with the ARC regarding the borders on their properties. Tiered walls and concrete curbing are closer than 3 feet to the property lines everywhere in The Villages. I don't know how many homeowners actually have approval for their borders which are not in compliance but I was told by the landscaper that the ARC would not give approval for borders that are not a minimum of 3 feet from the property line.
With this revelation that I will not be able to have borders with rock in our landscape beds I have another dilemma which I'm trying to sort through.....The double palm trees I mentioned earlier are mounded so high in the bed that mulch will not stay put. The soil surrounding the tree is root bound so digging out the roots is out of the question. The mulch just slides off the "hill" so I will never be able to maintain mulch in that area. I've been told by a landscaper that my only option would be to put pine straw in my beds because that is the only material that will stay put without some sort of a border to keep the material in place.
I know pine straw is used by The Villages in all the common area landscape beds but I certainly do not want it on my property. I'm at a loss right now as to what to do about this.
I realized yesterday when discussing this problem with the landscaper, if I had a border installed around the landscape bed to hold in rock or mulch, there would not be enough room for a riding lawn mower to get through between my property and my neighbor's property. My neighbor's property has a border for rock in their landscape beds. I'm at a loss.
If you have gotten through this long post, I thank you for your time, and welcome any suggestions how to fix this.
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Regarding your mulch not staying put around your palm trees, you can get shredded rubber mulch, mix it (not spray) with mulch lock and spread the mixture around the trees. The trees at the Walmart on 466 are done like this if you would like to check it out. Water does pass through and the rubber mulch. Although more expensive, it lasts practically forever. It is made of shredded tires. The color is guaranteed for ten years. I chose the dark brown color so that when it fades, it fades to the tire color (black).