Behind this fence is the most expensive hedge in town.

Jim Shanklin, owner of this house on 22nd Avenue North, has paid $550 in fines and nearly $10,000 in legal bills defending his right to grow a 10-foot hedge to keep out bottles and prying eyes from the busy thoroughfare. The city of St. Petersburg has probably spent thousands of dollars forcing Shanklin to cut said hedge down to six feet. (That’s not even counting the fight they had over the sign he hung from the hedge for months protesting codes enforcement.)

City Hall eventually won, but it seems Shanklin has the last laugh. After a judge ruled against him, Shanklin put up a fence shielding the hedge and slapped on a vinyl sheet depicting — yep, you got it — a hedge. He defines it as art, which is not subject to signage rules in the city.

“The actual hedge wasn’t [legal], but I can have a picture of one?” he says. “Come on!”

(Photo courtesy of Jim Shanklin)

This article appears in Nov 7-13, 2007.