A Birch Tree, Severe Allergies, and a Maple Tree
Hello friends,
I've always had moderate allergies—when I was tested as a teenager they found I was allergic to dust mites, grasses, and mold. In my early twenties I was treated for my dust mite allergy with allergen immunotherapy, but as I'm allergic to multiple things, I've always had to take antihistamines and allergy sprays daily. But over time my allergies have gotten worse and worse, and over the years my allergen immunotherapy treatment for dust mites wore off.
My sinuses, which are under attack constantly from my allergies, also got worse and worse, and I ended up having sinus infections 3 - 4 times a year. Last year I had sinus surgery to improve drainage, but unfortunately it made my situation worse. I'm still getting sinus infections multiple times a year, and my allergies have gotten worse too.
In September of 2024 I had another complication, when I developed asthma during peak pollen season. I couldn't go outside without needing to wear a mask, and sometimes had to wear it inside the house also. I couldn't catch my breath, was coughing and wheezing, and had to keep taking breaths between talking in sentences. My GP prescribed asthma medication, and got me fast tracked to see an allergist. My allergist checked me over, gave me extra asthma medication, and had me retested for allergies. It turns out that in addition to having allergies to dust mites, grasses, and mold, I now also had a severe allergy to birch.
She advised a 3 year long allergen immunotherapy treatment for birch, grasses, and dust mites (which they can now do in one injection once a month), but it couldn't start until the end of birch season in March 2024. All parts of the birch tree including pollen, seeds, leaves, and stems contain the birch allergen, and can cause allergies and asthma, and unfortunately my symptoms were severe because outside our house on council land was a giant birch tree.
And because of wind patterns, and it being very close to our house, our home and garden was constantly inundated with leaves and branches and pollen and seeds. I couldn't escape the birch allergen at all, and had to dry our washing inside the house (so not to bring the birch allergen inside), and keep all the windows closed permanently. Over spring and summer until allergen immunotherapy therapy treatment could begin, I had to wear a mask both inside and outside the house to keep my symptoms under control. By February I was over it, and I contacted the council about the birch tree, and my allergist sent them proof of my severe allergy. The council agreed to removing the birch tree, but only if I could get consent from all neighbours within a 50 metre radius of the tree.
Over a period of a couple of months I contacted all 23 of my neighbours, and over time I got consent from every neighbour, except one. The problem was the neighbour over our back fence,who refused to sign the consent unless I chopped down the maple tree in our backyard. They said they hated trees, and wanted ours gone. We tried comprising with them, and other neighbours tried talking with them, but they were nothing but rude and horrible to us. No matter what we suggested in terms of compromising, they refused, saying that they were blackmailing us.
After talking with other neighbours we found out that this was a known thing they did, and the neighbours had had problems with them reaching over other their fences to attack their trees and plants if they thought the plant was annoying them. The non-consenting neighbours had even battled with the DCC for years about a council owned tree outside their property, and it mysteriously ended up dying under suspicious circumstances...
I was angry and heart broken. Our stunning Japanese maple tree, Acer palmatum, was one of the reasons why we bought our home. After much convincing, my husband said that I couldn't keep living this way with severe allergies and asthma while the birch tree was still outside our home. He said that while the non-consenting neighbour's condition was that the maple tree would come down before they gave consent, they did not make any other conditions regarding what happened afterward. He said we could replant another maple tree, and as many other trees that we wanted too.
We gave the non-consenting neighbours our agreement that the maple tree would come down, and they handed over the consent. I sent all the consents to the DCC, and they approved the removal of the birch tree. Within weeks, they had organised a contractor, and they came in early May to remove it.
The removal of the birch tree made such a big difference to my health, and my asthma symptoms decreased to a tolerable level. And as a bonus our home now had more light now that the tree wasn't shading our property. Other nearby neighbours were also happy that their homes had more light.
The non-consenting neighbours started hassling us about getting the maple tree removed, even though we told them that we had contacted an arborist, and that the wait would be approximately a month. They didn't believe us, and kept on complaining, even though we showed them proof of the quote from the arborist.
Well even as the non-consenting neighbours were still complaining, the arborist called, and they arrived early. Within hours they had chopped down my beloved maple tree. I'm not ashamed to say this, but I cried and cried. I was inconsolable for about a week, I couldn't even face looking out our windows without crying, let alone go outside into our garden.
In the mean time the non-consenting neighbours discovered something they hadn't thought about, they no longer had any privacy in their backyard. Our home is two storied, along with other neighbours in our street, and they all look out over the non-consenting neighbour's backyard, and lounge and kitchen. They no longer have any privacy at all thanks to multiple neighbours looking out of their windows over the course of a day, and of course they started complaining about that too—which fell on deaf ears because their other neighbours were over their complaining.
Hubby gave me a budget for replacing our maple tree, and then suggested it might be worth redesigning our back garden while we had the chance. Our backyard was a mix of rhododendrons and a mishmash of other random plants and trees that at the least were boring, and at the worst were weeds. After much thinking, I contacted a garden consultant to come over and give me some ideas about what to do with the space. The consultant went away to work on coming up with a plan, and I got to work with removing shrubs and plants we definitely wanted removed...
Over the next wee while, I'll be sharing the garden plan the garden consultant came up with, my tweaks to it, and then the work being done in our back garden.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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