I have a neighbor who voraciously gardens and I appreciate the beauty she brings, in her 70’s or 80’s this is her favorite pastime.
My attached unit has a back patio and a tiny piece of yard, I am in an end unit. My kitchen window looks out onto her front door and gardening, often a pleasant morning experience. One day I noticed something up against my kitchen window on the outside, after investigating I discovered she had put plant stands and potted plants up against my window. While it looked nice from the outside, it felt uncomfortable that she was actually up at my kitchen window with little or no regard to my sense of privacy.
After a couple of days of processing this latest invasion of privacy and how would be best to handle it, I left a short note on her door saying “having things up against my kitchen window felt a bit intrusive…”. Eventually they were removed
She has family, friends and help that visit. She brings people around the side and to the back of my unit and then on to her own back area, where she has many things planted but, they are also planted in my area (which I asked her to please not do, since my dogs bark endlessly when they see her outside my living room window, about 1 foot away.) She continues to parade people back there and today, as previously she has done, has her helper just outside my kitchen window Gardening and Planting. Just outside the kitchen window is really up AT MY KITCHEN WINDOW. There is no 3 feet or 2 feet it is right up against my open kitchen window. Uncomfortable!!
I walked into my kitchen, began to cook brunch and said aloud, This is uncomfortable. No acknowledgement as they remained there planting fresh cuttings – but they were whispering, not talking as they normally do. This indicates to me a knowing that this was not OK.
Until I wrote that last paragraph I started to wonder if maybe due to her age, she had forgotten. As I recalled them stooping there whispering I no longer wonder about the possibility of forgetfulness. I’ve often thought of hanging out in front of her kitchen window, but it would be very odd if I were to do that with no pretext of gardening (in her front yard). I can’t imagine how that would be for her to find me standing outside her window.
There are times when I wish I could just go live alone up on a mountain.
Verbal Banter 
Trinity River
/ July 23, 2012She’s not just invading your privacy she is trespassing. You feel uncomfortable because what she is doing is wrong, and illegal. Sometimes there is no “nice” way to handle this. I hope that find a way to tell her that you don’t like what she is doing and to stop it immediately.