A tree planted near a boundary deserves thought about the neighbors who will share its future.

A sapling that suits your garden today will, in fifteen years, drop leaves in someone else’s gutter, shade their vegetable bed and push roots under their wall. By then, removing it is expensive and contentious, and the argument belongs to two households rather than one. The planting takes an afternoon; the consequences are shared for decades. Thinking about the future neighbor is not excessive caution, it is accounting for the full size of the thing.

Before anything long-lived goes in, check its mature height and spread against the boundary. Mention it to whoever lives next door while the choice is still easy.