The arborist returns to the scene of the crime
That's actually a bit of wishful thinking on my part. It was his boss, somebody below the manager, but above the rank and file. A foreman, I suppose.
He was a pleasant young man and was properly contrite. He did offer to replace some plants, but I didn't really see much point to that. They're all going to come back, they're just kind of battered. What I've lost here is not the plants, but some of the enjoyment of the beds for the rest of the year.
So out came his secateurs to trim back the damaged parts. Now he's off to the garden centres to buy a number of stakes to tie up all my leaning towers of Pisa so they don't break off in the next rain. Tomorrow he'll be backto install them. What I really wanted was to have my garden back the way it was before, but of course he can't give me that, and I wasn't foolish enough to ask for it. He did give me a sympathetic ear to complain into and a willingness to do what he could to make amends, which is about as much as I could hope for. With a compliment for the yard in passing, which was really good psychology and maybe even sincere.
Since the first shock of this morning has worn off, I've realized that they trimmed back a lot of the branches that overhung the yard, reducing the amount of shade I'll be getting in the back. The Jack Frost brunnera is going to get quite a shock, as it's going to be exposed to more midday sun than before. And it will be a challenge to find a new place to put the hummingbird feeder where it doesn't cook in the sun. I had a lovely shady place for it, hanging from a branch out of reach of the cats, but I'm not sure there's any appropriate place left.
On the upside, the lilies (those that didn't get broken off, anyway) and the viburnum will doubtless appreciate the extra dose of solar energy. It's an ill wind that blows nobody good.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming... This blog wasn't set up as a place to vent, but I have to admit, it does help. Hopefully, I won't have anything to vent about again for a long, long time.
Technorati tag: Arborists
4 comments:
oh, I would be so MAD!
I do hope you are able to get some joy from the bed this season!
I, too, hope that you can still get some joy from those lilies and the rest of the garden.
About the Jack Frost... can you set up a little temporary canopy for him to let him get used to the sun gradually? I would normally say he'd probably be okay without, but it is July sun...
You have my sympathy, Janet - it must be so frustrating. Could you hang something on one of those omnipresent double shepherd hooks over your Jack Frost? I'm not so good on what would take sun in your climate - could something like a couple of big hanging baskets with asparagus ferns make some filtered shade on the bed below?
Good luck from Annie
I'm thinking everything will turn out OK, although some plants may have to do a bit of acclimatizing. They're going to get a dose of tough love, I'm afraid, as I'm leaving and I don't trust my sons to remember to do anything. Doesn't help that they're both more than full-time right now. Nor does it help that the next week is supposed to be hot and sunny.
I think I'll enlist a neighbour to keep an eye on things.
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