Neighbor mowed my hibiscus

I know he didn't do it on purpose. It wasn't doing very well and until a few days ago I thought it might be a goner anyway, but in the past week had started growing again. Now it's been mowed back to half inch nubs. Is there any chance it might survive this? I've never had a hibiscus before and was so looking forward to this one. I almost cried when I came home and saw the neighbor had mowed a strip on my side of the fence. One of my rose bushes was another of the casualties.

Sorry to hear that country - hopefully it wasn't a graphed hibiscus otherwise if it survives it will only the donor plant that survived. Although in your zone if you had one planted in the yard you probably had a hardy hibiscus which may very likely come back. Your neighbour must have poor vision to get both a hibiscus and a rose bush in one swoop! Perhaps you could put a little chicken wire fence or posts around your precious plants so he doesn't do that again.

Why would your neighbor be mowing on your side of the fence anyway? I'd definitely have a word with them! I could see if there wasn't a fence and it wasn't totally obvious where the property line was, but a fence is hard to miss! I agree it'll probably come back, but if he keeps mowing it down repeatedly then eventually it'll get worn out and not bother coming back, so I'd definitely talk to the neighbor and make sure he respects the boundaries in the future.

Drive a metal pipe in the ground and leave about 4 inches of it sticking up..that will stop his mower, I have a goofy neighbor just like thisHard to deal with idiots sometimes..

:-)

So country, I have 5 acres where we can put the body, lol (but only sorta if it had been my hibiscus)

Anne

(not the forgiving type when it comes to my plantbabies)

I second Eclipse!!! How could someone miss seeing those bushes?? Was he/she blind? In which case mowing would probably not be the safest extra-curricular activity.

I'd be so hurt and furious.

Thank you everyone.

Ultimateshopper, it was/is a hardy hib so I'll keep my fingers crossed that it does come back. And I'm certainly going to think of something to put up around the flowers and bushes so they can't be mowed over again.

Ecrane3, I'm sure he thought he was being helpful. We only moved in here about 3 months ago and he has been really nice and helpful cleaning up debri left around the property by the previous owner. He even saved me from the evil grackle that got into the house somehow. My boyfriend has been out of state working since we moved so I've appreciated his help. He stayed away from anything that was obviously a flower, ie in bloom, but that hib was less than 6 inches tall and the rose bush was a miniture. Doesn't make me any less furious but I don't have the heart to yell at the old guy....unless it happens again. ;)

Eclipse, now that's an idea. Metal poles and large rocks. That should keep evil lawn mowers away.

AuntAnne, if it happens again I might just take you up on that offer. ;)

AmandaTaylor7, neither of the bushes were very big, and ....ahem....I hadn't weeded that area in a while so they weren't very obvious. I was furious though, kind of on a slow boil for the rest of the day. When I'm calmer I'll let him know he mowed down some bushes, in the mean time, some metal poles and large rocks should stop him from doing it again.

Oh, that makes sense then why he was mowing in your yard and I definitely wouldn't yell at him, if they were that small and there was grass all around I could see it would be easy to miss the fact that there was a garden bed there. Maybe you could go over there and tell him how sweet it was for him to mow the yard and help you out, but that you've got things under control now so he can stick to saving you from grackles and you'll do your own mowing. Or just put up some wire around them to make it obvious that there are plants there.

Country,
My hibs have been hit by lightning and survived! You'd be surprised how hardy they can be :)

Hey Hardys have come back up for me. I did not flatten tires on DHs lawnmower. Next tiem I will tho.

Lavina

Oh my gosh, Countrymouse! I would have been furious! About two years ago, our gardeners decided to take it upon themselves to cut my big ole Gator Pride back to about 2 inches (in the winter). It was my daughter's favorite plant and we were both heartbroken. I thought for sure it was trash, but I stuck it into a pot just in case, and low and behold, it survived! As a matter of fact, it's pretty large now and doing quite well in a big pot :-)

Good luck!!

karen

Stuff like that is exactly why I don't let anyone else touch my garden! LOL Good thing plants are pretty tough and have a will to live!

After that they were strictly relegated to the grass only!

I thinks it's going to make it. When I checked it today I saw a little bit of green sprouting up on one of the stems. I'm hopeful. Yay!

What are grackles?

It's a kind of bird http://www.audubon.org/bird/stateofthebirds/cbid/profile.php?id=14

Thanks, ecrane.

What's this grackle declining business......not in Texas, they are like something out of a Hitchcock film at times!! Your Hibiscus will survive, but your poor little rose bush is a goner!! Why don't you make some cookies and take to your neighbor, explain what happened, without accusations, and ya know what. I bet you both will be happy with the fruits of that conversation.

"eyes"

Turns out I pegged the wrong neighbour. There is an easement drive running through my property to a barn on a seperate lot behind me. A local company is using the barn for storage. I just heard a mower running a few minutes ago and ran out to find it was one of the people that works for the owner of that back lot that was mowing the strip of land I'm turning into a flower bed. I ran up to the guy and told him I have flowers in there and asked him not to mow through there anymore. He told me it was their property, and I explained to him he had rights to the driveway easement only and that the land next to the drive belonged to me. Not quite sure he understood but he said he'd tell his boss. I don't really want to have to hassle with these guys over what an easement is and property rights/boundries, but they're not going to keep mowing over my flowers!

I understand that the thorns in mesquite trees can pierce tires. Do mesquite trees grow in Indiana?

AA

AuntAnne, unfortunately not. lol Too bad. ;)

How about some Osage Orange trees. Once they grow up, they are tougher than that a vehicle. HeHe LOL Dotti

Hehehe, Dotti. No orange trees up here either. I do have some unused landscaping timbers I was thinking of dragging over there. I'm just afraid there might be snakes hiding under them! *shudder*

I live in a townhouse and we have a "lawn maintence crew" that comes through every thur. they also put down mulch in the spring. but only in some places. not all.

anyway they have run over my azalea. it was flat for a while! its doing better now. then just last week I took out some hostas out of the front (they were in a space about 6"X36" and haden't been divided in 4+ years) but I left some decoritive onions that were there and then put in some clearence bulbs I found at wal mart. well, they mowed down the onions!

so now I have a fence out front and bricks around every other bed.

My neighbor has totally given up on gardening.

I like the metal pole idea.

Osage oranges are'nt actual oranges. I had a few when I lived in Ohio so I am sure they would grow in IN.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54097/

Ahah! Thank you for the link, tashmoore! Yes, we do have those around here I just never knew what they were called.

Tashmoore, I can understand how your neighbour would get so frustrated as to totally give up. Hopefully your decoritive onions will survive. If there is someone else doing any kind of yard work around your flower beds I guess we have to take precautions to make it physically impossible for a mower to get at the flowers.

Heh, I've been day dreaming all day about that metal pole idea. ;)

I think the onions will be ok. they were already dieing back for the year. (although it could have been the hostas crowding them out).

The maintence people also don't speak english and I don't speak spanish (I really need to learn spanish). when they were putting down the mulch I saw one try to roll up my soaker hose :lol: not a big deal, but it is suppost to be under the mulch! so I had to run out there (while cooking lunch) and show him that I wanted it that way. I don't think he understood. but he at least left it.

oh, they also ran over my hyacins (sp? too late to look it up :lol: ) after I put them outside (I get them in a pot early every year then transfer them outside after the flowers die). but those seem to be doing ok. short, but ok.....

No toca (pronounced "no tokah) means don't touch. Let me know if you'd like a few other helpful words.

Anne

Country - I like your idea of metal poles! Ha!