Overgrown Buddleia outside my windows of flat and managing agents..

another_casualty

Thanks again .
I certainly did express my opinions about the gardening service . 
As I say , when I mentioned about the height to one of the gardeners last year, they did it the following week . So what's changed ? 

What will probably happen is that they will attend to it this week after the director got on the case. I will buy weed killer in the meantime as I know hate it more than ever.
If it is not cut down to the same level as the other plants then it has to go 

The attitude from the managing agents when they just sent a bog standard reply infuriated me . Three of my windows I cannot see out of . I tore into the director but I like to get on and just be nice and just be ordinary .

From one of my windows I can see a couple of branches on the satellite dish. It may not sound much but every time it is windy the branches lower down are banging on the pipe outside .
I was going to post more pics here, but apple iCloud syncing photos from iPhone to ipad is problematic all day . Another forum for that . And yes I've followed how tos on the net 

The only other thing to mention is imho a hedge cutter is needed now as secateurs would be difficult . The director admitted that more or less..

twopenny

Good for you going direct to the horses mouth.
And good for him coming round and having a go.
Budlia should be easy to cut, even snap. Why not have a go at the ones round the dish and pipe and give yourself some peace without creating a pecident?
Then you wont get quite so wound up if the gardeners miss some.

theoretica

You don't want it cut to the same level as the other plants - you want it cut much lower, so when it grows next year it doesn't immediately become too tall and a problem again. 

And a hedge trimmer is for trimming hedges - not tackling stems like these.  Decent secateurs or loppers are much cheaper and a better choice of tool.

another_casualty

twopenny said:

Good for you going direct to the horses mouth.
And good for him coming round and having a go.
Budlia should be easy to cut, even snap. Why not have a go at the ones round the dish and pipe and give yourself some peace without creating a pecident?
Then you wont get quite so wound up if the gardeners miss some.

Thanks again 
I did open the window where the pipe and dish are . Unfortunately , I cannot get to them due to it being a side window which doesn't open very wide . Bay window etc
I have a disability which limits what I can and can't do to an extent . 

As I say, I haven't any tools at the moment but can order secateurs online ( and possibky a saw and weed killer ) . 

I've put myself in the situation that I have to wait to see when the 'gardeners ' appear and hopefully sort the mess . 

I normally am too polite tbh ,and only point out things when I need to .
It will be interesting to see the reply I get from the strongly worded email that I sent in reply to me being fobbed off ..

RAS

Get a pruning saw, which will cut a 4 inch branch; my older ones cost £1 quid in the pound store, the youngest twice that, and all are going strong. You should still be able to get something decent for a fiver.

I'd suggest the partial approach. Cut back one branch and the gardeners won't notice. Wait a few weeks and cut back the second. Over time...

another_casualty

RAS said:

Get a pruning saw, which will cut a 4 inch branch; my older ones cost £1 quid in the pound store, the youngest twice that, and all are going strong. You should still be able to get something decent for a fiver.

I'd suggest the partial approach. Cut back one branch and the gardeners won't notice. Wait a few weeks and cut back the second. Over time...

Actually that sounds a great idea .  That seems the way to go ..thanks!

Flugelhorn

I had to chop my buddleia way back this time  last year as we needed to get some work done on the shed - it recovered fine this year.

I live on an estate with a management company - we do lots of bits of the gardening in agreement with the gardeners they employ, they stick to the bigger stuff and we do the smaller stuff, sometimes working together. TBH no-one would batt an eyelid if a buddleia was heavily pruned by a resident, a self set one disappeared completely a few weeks back (not a bad thing really)

Davesnave

A £7.99 ordinary small saw from Screwfix will do the job and have more alternative uses than specialist garden tools if you're not a gardener. https://www.screwfix.com/p/irwin-jack-8tpi-wood-toolbox-saw-14-355mm/3845g

OTOH if you are not likely to DIY either and need extra help with arm strength, a ratchet lopper is more expensive, but likely to get through most of the branches. Buddleia need severe reduction in early spring.

Just alternative ideas.

another_casualty

Thanks very much once again ..
Well , this morning 9.00am I was just finishing my porridge and black coffee and the gardeners are here. 4 of them . They have made a big improvement . 

I can actually see outside all windows ! 

The tools they used ...saws/ petrol hedge cutters ? / loppers . 

They are still here. 

The height  is still too high where the satellite dish window and my living room is.
However, it has been cut to at least half the size . So you can say that there was some serious growth going on there. 

I will get a saw and maybe loppers and cut a bit more down more or less on a weekly basis . 

The signal from my satellite dish is non existent now , so I'll see what the tech board have to say about the cheapest way of getting it fixed . 

I will upload pics later on 

Thanks 

Flugelhorn

Loppers would get through fine - just make sure they haven't lopped the satellite cable in the process