I report ALL damage to my bosses, they take it from there.99.99% of the time it never hits the news, papers or otherwise. You know what they say.."Ignorance is bliss" guess thats why they are always smiling..
I have repaired the damage and hope no more occurs this season, I have little variety of things to use to fill in this late. Will try to post some more pics of the large beds this week, they have really grown.
I am so furious..........................
Soo sorry for the damage Kyle. I know you will get them back in shape..but it's terrible that you have to!
My DH had just put a sign out front that he got me for Christmas...and someone evidently went by at a great speed and shot a nickel into the wood. It was embedded right into it! I think they must have used a sling shot. I just don't know why people have to destroy things that don't belong to them?
Good luck in the future.
Marcia
That's such a beautiful planter, Kyle. I could never do your line of work for fear of that same type of thing happening. I'm too paranoid/afraid of that type of thing happening in my own yard, except it appears that in my basic area most people have interesting tropicals and such, so I feel fairly safe.
That is just so deranged to pull plants out and throw them on the ground, it made me laugh to read that. I'm ashamed to say it made me laugh b/c of all your work! That's so disheartening.
haha to henryr10/Ric... my brand of justice... and very Fargo-esque, too!
I hope they're caught & brought to appropriate justice!
~Gina
The ultimate judge will determine what the justice will be ..... :-) Karma is karma...
Karma is something else as well....... :-)
Well here we go again, my vandal struck again Sunday night in another section of Downtown, 7 planters shredded, same M.O. as last time, I gave up, its so late that they will have to stay tore up. I don't have enough plants left to fix all of them, will be time for the mums soon so hope he doesn't hate mum plants.
:-( worst year we have had in 8 years for vandals , theft, etc.
So sorry!
So sorry, Kyle. It's a shame you can't have anything these days without someone stealing or tearing up.
Yep, we lost another mailbox and post last night. I'm glad my garden is hidden so the vandals aren't tempted.
So sorry Kyle!
Kyle, I am so sorry that your work has been vandalized. I enjoy your pics so much.
There is nothing more infuriating than to have someone destroy the beauty you have worked so hard to create..... and the ignorance is bliss attitude ( apathy) of those in power actually contributes to the problem.
The lack of respect for real natural beauty and others property including government property unfortunately is a bad problem in society today.
However, you have been able to positively influence such a fine young man as your intern, he is lucky to have been able to work with such a talent as you. I am happy that his work is safe so far and that you care so much about his feelings in all this. What you have given him far outweighs the negative.
As for Karma "What goes around comes around."
A letter to the editor of your local newspaper from someone is at least in order, and anything else anyone can do to bring this crime to the attention of the community so that it gets solved would be great. After all It 's the taxpayers who ultimately pay. I would think they would be interested!
It's too late now, but have you thought of planting some plants with big thorns? How about a nice Bouganvilla stuck somewhere in there? On a two to three foot plant the thorns can be very long!
( Mine gets me if I'm not real careful and I'm not trying to rip it out of the soil!)
My only other thought is : Do you think this could be personal in any way...someone jealous of your work perhaps?
I hope whatever this is it stops.....
Thank you for sharing your work and all my best,
Michelle
Oh, I like that idea about thorns. How about some mini pyracanthas and/or barberrys mixed in with those mums.
My husband once worked in a building near the local social sevice office. They found that SS clients were crossing the parking lot to use the rest rooms in DH's building which were much cleaner and larger. Security became an issue after there was a theft so DH had a double row of Barberry's planted between the buildings and it solved the problem.
Oh, Ah,,,
ardesia....
What would you recommend in S. FL for the same result?
Hap
:-)))),
How about those bougainvilla's shellabella recommended. Or those citrus trees they use for rootstock; I think they are Poncirus trifolate - huge thorns.
Maybe a water feature with electric eels?
Robert.
That's really awful and you too Brian! My grandfather tired to allow the public in to his Orchids but after watching people- nice little old ladies- steal cimbidium bulbs he gave up and went completely wholesale. I don't understand how people can do that sort of thing, trash something that required time, effort and talent- or steal something from a small business!
Hechtias or Puyas would do nicely. They're both terrestial Bromeliad genera. Both have recurving spines that go in both directions. If you get into them it's very bad news.
Dave.
Well, I have several young Hechtias and they are yours if you want them for your gardens next year Kyle. They are thorny!
Well I need to try something, they don't mess with the fan palms cause of the huge teeth on the stems..
Happy: for S. FL, try a hedge of Y. aloifolia (Spanish Bayonet)... They have rows of long, stiff, spiny leaves that will impale anyone careless enough to bump up against them... as a matter of fact, many FL/gulf coast residents plant them under their 1st floor windows as a cheap anti-burglar device. Poncirus trifoliata (hardy orange) is another good one (and one that works in Zone 6 and 5b as well), since even small 1 gal size plants have thorns that are over 1 inch long... Mature shrubs/trees will have thorns about 2 inches long that are very sharp and stiff. As a matter of fact, some army base in S. TX had problems with illegals cutting the barbed wire on some of the base's outer perimiter areas where they ran along the border and sneaking into the country through there, so what they did was plant a row of hardy oranges along the fence, and they have not had any more problems in that area.
Kyle, maybe you could add some cholla cacti to your planters..... That stuff is easy to grow, fairly common to find (at last at places specializing in cacti and succulents), and has some wicked spines (I've stepped on pieces of that stuff before, and had the spines go right through the soles of my sneakers). Either that or some Aralia spinosa (Devil's Walkingstick).... I gurantee that if whoever is vandalizing your stuff grabs that, that will be the last thing he grabs for at least a week (until his hands heal up enough that is).
Also, I'm planning on going back to Japan this Christmas, and I remember a store in Akihabara, Tokyo (near where I was stationed when I was in the Navy several years ago) that sold all kinds of video cameras, including some buttonhole cameras (I'm talking wireless video cameras the size of your average dress shirt button) for pretty darn cheap.... I could pick you up a few so you could hide them on some strategical planters and catch the jerk in the act.
It just burns me up when I hear about some yahoos doing crap like this... I bet that if we had the kind of laws they do in Singapore, these stupid punks would at least think twice about it (not to mention how cathartic it would be to watch said vandal get his butt whooped by a grandmaster armed with a rattaan pole). Some waste of human DNA did something similar to someone's hosta bed in downtown Greencastle, but fortunately hostas are tough perrennials, so I just took the hosta that was torn out and thrown in the street and planted it back in the hole it was ripped out of, and it didn7t seem too much worse for wear.
I'll second Hikaro's suggestion about the Cholla. I got a small one (Opuntia kleiniae) at a sale recently and while repotting it got just a single spine in my finger. I'll swear the plant pushed that spine in further. And the worst part is that Cholla spines are barbed like fishhooks. Very nasty.
Dave.
put a small cholla behind and under the plants that are being pulled out. That way they dont' see it. But when they grab... they sure will feel it! *giggle
I had a run in with the teddy bear chollas in Calif desert one time..nasty evil things!!..........OK chollas next year it is..we have several kinds that are hardy here too. :-)