So, for a few years I've been saying (lamenting) that the person who invented the whipper-snipper should be taken out each week and whipper-snipped around the ankles. Oops, did that sound harsh? If you don't mind a little rant, read on...
The Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos) above, and below, I bought and planted several years ago. Discovered this week it had been "kindly" mowed and trimmed around, by whoever was doing the mowing for the neighbour at the cottage next door. How kind (grumble, grumble).
Then I found that most every little tree and shrub that borders the next property was also harshly treated. And I have quite a few young specimens along the property line.
Now, I must say, the owners of the neighbouring cottage next door are wonderful, cooperative, and accommodating. I like them a lot; I like what they do. It's just that whatever team of young ones doing the mowing and trimming got quite a bit too ambitious. I wish they would not be so generous to mow into my lawn.
Above and below are photos of a thriving little Amur Cork Tree (Phellodendron amurense). About four years ago, when it was quite tiny, it had the bark whipped off at the base, and finally now the bark has sealed over the holes and healed.
Well, it's back to square one.
On the happier side (gotta inject some sunshine into this lament), I found a nest in this little tree, with what looks to be thee hatchlings and two eggs. Did not linger long enough to discover what kind of bird.
Nearby, admittedly in some tall, weedy grass, a little Bristly Acacia (Robinia hispida) was trimmed down to a bare, black twig. It was, so I hoped, protected with a wire tomato cage, but the anonymous snipper was thorough.
In another locale on my property, far from the wandering whipper-snipper, is a mature locust shrub, coming into bloom for the second time this season. It's a great little thing, found 'wild' in Nova Scotia on an old dump site in Wolfville. (That's where I collected this, a decade ago.)
Well, the litany of scarring becomes a stanza of decapitation. Below you see what remains of a Hydrangea 'Blue Billow.' One branch with leaves, the rest - gone. Sigh....
Amid some tall grass I have some things planted in a temporary spot, including this Clematis recta 'purpurea.' The second photo shows the work of the avid mower of lawns, except that 60% of this plant was not cut off.
I have been nursing a yellow-flowered currant (Ribes aureum) to health, even propping it up (and thinking I was well protecting it) with a tomato cage and a small stake. Note how the neighbours employee kindly skinned the bark off this little shrub.
Should I go on much longer? The local weed-whacker did! Here is my cliché shrub, Dappled Willow (Salix integra 'Hakuro Nishiki). Planted everywhere, yet I could not resist getting one. Not too much damage here.
The final victims were several Burning Bushes (Euonymus alatus). These came as seedlings some years ago from a gardening friend in Parrsboro. Now in their permanent locations, I've been hoping they would get healthy and fill out, branching up from the base. And they started to do that very thing, last year.
Well, they just got a trim. See the nice, green-barked twigs, now short and de-leafed?
Not to mention the bark.
OK, I've ranted, I've shared my pain; I think I got this out of my system. :-) I've got to end on a happy note. So I'm changing the subject completely. Here, simply, is a shot of the Cup Plants (Silphium perfoliatum), in the prime of their first blooming season.
If you suffer the unintentional destruction of some of your garden specimens, I hope it's not the end of the world for you. Carry on. Most plants have such will to live; most will survive to thrive another day. I reigned myself years ago to the fact that there will always be some casualties due to human error. Hey, I even mowed over one of my small tree seedlings myself, this spring, a Tree Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). It has grown back with a vengeance.
But... don't forget risk management, and send those local whipper-snippers to the dump!
