Planting shrubs and trees in a garden

Many park owners will have in their Express Terms that you request permission to plant a tree or shrub - any plant that is going to grow to a large size.

Don't take this as yet another petty Park Rule. There is a reason behind this and could save an embarassing problem in a few years time.

Some service providers ie. gas, electric, telephone etc have in the small print of the contract to supply the services to the park, that no shrub or tree must be planted within one metre either side of their pipework etc. I'm sure you can understand the reason why!  The park owner will know where these services are and will be able to either say, no problem, or suggest an alternative position.

As they grow, so do their roots. I'll leave you to ponder of what could happen.............

Ed.

Choice of tree is important too! i cant think of anything less appealing than a tree which has been inexpertly lopped/hacked to keep it within bounds. There are lots of trees which are compatable with a park home site and are a great asset. On my plot i have 6 trees- one apple espalier, one pear espalier, a crab apple, a miniture rowan [sorbus vilmorrini], a variety of hawthorn [crataegus prunifolia] and a silver birch. The birch was already here when i moved in and does need occasional pruning-so  wouldnt reccommend that unless you can let it grow to full size unmolested.
The espaliers are great! they supply more fruit than i can use and make a low maintenance living boundary and look beautiful in flower. I tell my next neighbour fred 85yrs] to help himself to fruit which he does, i also planted a thornless blackberry which is trained on wires- again making a attractive living boundary- and fred looks forward to making apple and blackberry crumble! One other tree/large shrub i forgot to mention- Prunus Incisa 'Kojo no mai'  this is a lovely miniture flowering cherry, i think the name means 'flight of the butterflys' an allusion to the cloud of flowers it produces, in autumm the leaves turn orange/red. Its a bit pricy- a 4ft tree costs £35/£40 so i bought a small specimen for about £12 and will grow it on, Its a good time to plant now but container grown plants can be put in any time [except in severe weather]. 

Hi Andrew and welcome to the forum,

Thanks for sharing that with us. I am sure it will give our forum members some great ideas. It also solves some of the boundary marking issues with those parks that for one reason or another, don't allow fences.

Regards

Ed.

Ed,

I don't wish to digress from Andrew's excellent treatise on the type of plants that can be used to adorn our plots but just a quick word on fences.  I can well understand park owners being reluctant to allow fences - they can look attractive when new but over time when some residents either can't or wont maintain them they can fall into disrepair and look awful.

Emrys

I agree Emrys,

Sadly this is where another park rule comes into play.

Ed.

Hi Emrys.
            For once this is a problem that the park owner and I have come to an aggreement,we have dogs who the owner said "Have to be tied up" in the garden,hence we put up a two foot fence all around the property which is post  and green wire, posts are painted green  and have put small bushes in that will grow into the fence and will be cut back to the fence height therefore having a low maintanence fence that keeps my property bounderiers ,looks very good with the bushes after 2 years and my dogs do not have to be tied up when in the garden.
            I hope this is something that you could mention to your park owner
Regards
The Prof

Hello Prof,

Sorry - I can see now that my earlier post may have been misleading.  We have 140 homes on our park and almost all of them have fencing in some shape or form on all sides.  I have just performed a mental count-up of our current canine population and reckon it to be around fifty dogs - the majority are yorkies or westies but there are larger specimens!  I guess that if we didn't have our fences already then life here would be pretty interesting!

Glad that you reached an accomodation with your owner on this subject - no-one should ever be told to tie their dog up - it's inhumane in the first place.

Emrys

Hi jjp, emrys, editor,

I have found it interesting reading all the comments on fencing and aggreeing with site owners on sollutions, surely when you buy a park home your garden is shown and therefore you can put up a fence, the local council dictates the height which I believe is 6ft high, to tell a resident that they must tie up a dog further shows certain site owners try to dictate to residents what they can or cannot do, many residents because of their lack of knowledge or fear of intimidation accept what the site owner says and hence the continuation of site owners getting away with this sort of behaviour. The problem lies with the fact that the only sollution with many of the problems is through the courts, the site owners have the money and because residents are frightened of the unknown and possible further intimadation they accept whatever the site owner says! I have seen this happening, I know of residents who do question and site owners back down, not all problems are written within the site licence to help all, one day maybe all site owners will treat residents as their customers, I believe this 10% they get on sales dictate that if they upset x amount of residents they will sell up and move on!

gandad     

Hello  gandad  I  totally  agree  with  your  post..people  are  selling  up  here  and  moveing  on ...when  I  see  new  people  looking  at  the  homes  I  want  to  run  outside  and  shout  noooooooooo  turn  away  and  never  come  back..this  will  be  the  worst  experience  of  your  life..........................unsuspecting   just  like  me..wish  someone  had  shouted  at  me...........regards  evergreen

Interesting topic, I'll put my twist on it.
In Sept 2010, before we had a park home, we were going on holiday to Skegness.
I looked on the internet for park homes on our way, and others within distance of having a look at whilst there.
On the way we called into a park we looked at about 3 years earlier but didnt like. Different day 2010, nice and sunny, we liked the site and noted their were 9 units for sale (out of 100)
After the hols, I arrange to go and have a look with a rep from the management company.
One I saw was "it", so I mentioned could we bring our 2 cats. Yes, on proviso when they die we cannot replace, which was ok with us.
Next day I phoned the management office to arrange next step and just mentioned we were ok with taking cats but not replacing when they die.
We were then told the rules had recently changed at request of the residents association - dogs allowed but no cats. 
I wrote to them, offering to put gates on the front of the unit so the plot would be enclosed, the other 3 sides were enclosed, and explaining one of the cats had cancer and according to the vet not long to live (he lasted a further 10 months, and the other was so timid if you said boo to her you wouldnt see her for a week. 
The answer was still no.
Neither of them attempt to get out of the garden in the home we lived, neither when we did move into a park home and put p a temp fence.
There was 9 units for sale out of 100, Nine percent is a large proportion of units for sale, here was someone willing to buy one, but rules could not be relaxed. That unit we liked took at LEAST another 10  .months to sell.

The site we moved on to also has a no pets (cats dogs rabbits) policy but the owner relaxed the rules so that we can fence our cat in (and he gets 10%), but that sounds sensible in these difficult times.

Dear jar
It was very interesting to read your comments.When we first went to look at the park home plot that we now have ,we were told by the "park manager " that no dogs were allowed on the site,however when we saw the owners, they said it would be ok but could not replace them when they die.,Thats fine we agreed.He got his sale of the park home.The next people to come were told by the "park manager" that no dogs were allowed.Yet again two months later a new home had been sold and another dog on the Park.It seems to me that our park owner has the sence to make agreements with potential buyers but does not treat them as customers has as been  mentioned , I am sure that there are many out there who would like to be treaded as customers and not just old people who are frightened to say or do anything  to make life better for themselves .The only way that I can see a result is that if The Park Owner lives on the site then he has to abide by the rules he has laid down for the home owners as laid down by the goverment and if he does not live on the site ,give the "park manager "the authoritory to carry out the rules that have been laid out and not to tell potential buyers "No Dogs allowed". the other point is that Resident Committies can be good in one way but not in others has as been pointed out by you
One last thing ,on our site we have five units unsold out of twelve because of not been treated as customers which is a phrase i like
The Prof

Hi Prof,

You say -

The only way that I can see a result is that if The Park Owner lives on the site then he has to abide by the rules he has laid down for the home owners as laid down by the goverment and if he does not live on the site ,give the "park manager "the authoritory to carry out the rules that have been laid out and not to tell potential buyers "No Dogs allowed".

Trouble with this is that now probably 90% of all residential parks in the country are owned by 10% of all owners - this small group of very powerfull people cannot possibly live on all of their parks at the same time (and certainly wouldn't wish to!),  and most parks no longer have full-time let alone resident managers.

Emrys

Hello  jah  Im  sorry  but  I  dont  agree  with  rules  being  relaxed  for  cirtain  things...opening  the  flood  gates  comes  to  mind ........rules  are  rules  and  should  be  kept  that  way...once  they  are  broken  how  can  you  make  a  stand  about  an  issue  with  the  site  owner.....their  answer  surely  would  be ..well  you  didnt  think  that  when  blah  blah  ...........the  rules  issue  is  full  of  friction  at  the  best  of  times, but  should  be  adhered  too .........regards  evergreen

Hi evergreen,

I'm 100% with you on this one.  Nothing in the world infuriates me more these days than when the park owner quotes a certain rule to a resident because it suits them.  Then if you bring to their attention a blatant breach of another rule they reply 'well there's nothing we can do about it'.

My belief is that if a park owner deliberately allows a continued breach of a park rule then he is as much in breach of contract as a resident would be if they were doing it - but what can be done to remedy the situation?

Emrys

Hi emrys, evergreen,

What can be done? as I have mentioned on other matters, we are their customers, what other business can afford to upset their customers and gain financially. ( you do not like what they say or do, you sell up and they get the 10% ). We are all different and have our own ways and views but if a solicitor could be found that would represent Park Home owners matters could be taken to the small claims court, how many business's are taken to court for misleading customers, many! If a site owner is taken to court on a regular basis it will highlight problems on that park and surely cause problems for that business. We as individuals cannot change it, we will be intimidated and the most back down, how this is achieved I not sure, maybe writing to universities or solicitors hoping one may become interested, any ideas anybody?

gandad  

This topic has come a long way since the first posting of 'Planting shrubs and trees in a garden'.

I am going to close it now and take some of the items to start a new thread, or just to give my opinion!

Not sure whether I will get them all done today though. Still very busy in the office. I'll try.

Ed.