Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Adding insult to injury

Last Friday, still unable to drive anywhere, I set off on foot for our local market. In front of our house I passed a neighbor and her small child, returning from snow-play in the park. The child was giddy and running through another neighbor's front yard, odd I thought, that her mom was okay with that. But since the yard in question was only lawn under that snow I wasn't too worried. When she started to run through mine however I couldn't help but yell "No! Don't let her do that" (really? you're letting her do that?). Of course I was able to feign concern for the child's welfare "you know there are lots of spiky plants under that snow that will hurt her" (I know you KNOW that because you walk by here all the time!)...Seriously? I couldn't believe it. Snow cover means you don't have to stay on the sidewalk? Trampling plants in someone's front garden is okay? Finally the mom grabbed the child and walked on, sticking to the path I'd shoveled ON THE SIDEWALK...where you are supposed to walk.

I walked on, a little befuddled by the whole experience, deciding to detour through the McMenamins Kennedy School grounds and see how their plants look. Huh. Clearly the snow plow driver is not a gardener.

Seriously? You couldn't put the snow someplace else?

There are plants under that pile of snow. The entire pile of snow is on top of plants. Cool plants.

That Nolina must be feeling pretty lucky...

I've always thought the metal was an attempt at garden-art. Maybe it's been a warning all along. Like those tall metal poles that mark the side of the freeway for the snowplows.

At least the snow pile missed this section, the Agave-rich section.

Has Agave blood been shed? No. That's just red paint on the curb.

Poor spikes.

And pads...

Hey you look okay (for now)...

Hello down there...

Another Nolina wearing it's snow cape.

This used to be a huge Echium. Not anymore.

The undersides of the Rhododendron leaves coordinate nicely with the building, don't you think?

Their big evergreen Magnolias have suffered many broken branches this winter.

The white undersides of the Mahonia gracilipes look good against the snow.

Ouch.

I think the Eucalyptus has always had sort of a wonky angle to it.

Sad Yucca recurvifolia ‘Margaritaville' — mine looks even worse, and since mine is in a container...well, who knows if it's going to pull through.

The Loquat looks happy, that's good.

Pseudopanax laetus, this will be interesting. Monrovia has been selling this as a Zone 7 plant. I've thought otherwise and kept mine in a container, protected.

So snowy...still. (this was day 3, or 4 depending on how you count)

Money Puzzle does snow well.

I wonder if our Tetrapanax will die back? It's happened to me before during cold winters.

Schefflera taiwaniana

Cunninghamia lanceolata 'Glauca'

It also wears the snow well.

Their Magnolia laevifolia has a Rhododendron friend to lean on, lucky thing. Okay...on the the market! (need to stock up on the wine...)

Weather Diary, January 16: Hi 29, Low 21/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2016 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

29 comments:

  1. We lost the main leader on our witch hazel. I was lamenting with a neighbor as I was out there shaking branches of snow, and that nature was doing the hard pruning I myself have a hard time doing even though it needs to be done. The most frustrating damage though, is going to be what the hellstrip bed looks like after the neighborhood quad riders peeled out in them while doing donuts in the intersection and stinking up the peacefulness of the snow. Ugh.

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    1. OMG! How did you not go out there and give them a piece of your mind?!? Or maybe you did?

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  2. You've just experienced a common fact of winter garden life here: the rudenick walking on top of your snow-covered garden. Often when the snow is not that deep and plants can be seen! We have had this problem with new mail carriers to the extent that I have a message on the computer that I just print out periodically and clip to the mail box. We have to put the snow from our driveway on top of all the plantings that border it including evergreen sculpted "balls". They usually can take it but we are very careful about not gouging the edges of the beds that are planted as well. Hope that monkey puzzle is OK cause it does look nice with snow on it.

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    1. Damn, I'm sorry. Our mailman does walk between a couple of plantings in the front garden (365, well, minus the Sundays) and I've seen him get poked by an Agave...I wanted to say "well when that thing gets bigger I guess you'll use the sidewalk"... Maybe hell be getting the last laugh though when the snow and ice melts...fingers crossed it still has its bite...

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  3. I was so mad when I read about your neighbor and her kid. Before remodeling and building the fence in the front, people used to walk across our lawn all the time (and let their dogs poop there). What you describe is much worse since valuable plants could get damaged. Are people really that clueless?

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  4. Really? Why would someone feel entitled to let their kid run around on private property. I'm really glad you were there to detour the situation, but mom if you are reading this, have a little respect. Not everyone thinks your kid is cute running all over private property. Maybe I should let my chickens run around inside your house.

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    1. Oh Tamara...the mental picture I got....

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  5. Infuriating about the kid walking on your garden and the mother allowing it! No wonder you need to self medicate. Hope your snow melts soon.

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  6. I can't believe the Mom was so out of it! I am sure that was double stressful for you! Snow plow drivers are not worrying about the plants. I can't even imagine what it is all going to look like when the snow melts...probably worse than mine. I did manage quite by accident to plant hardy plants that show no wear intermingled with the ones that cratered. What I didn't expect was that some took a week to show the damage...so it is a death march here : ( Enjoy the pretty snow...we will be here for moral support when the garden damage is visible. HUGS

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    1. I've learned from past winters that things can look fine, only to succumb later. I won't be counting any eggs (is that right?)... right away....

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  7. Wow, can I relate. My neighbor's child (age 2) was writing on the siding of my house as his mother stood by and watched. I stopped him. What was wrong with her? Also when my husband gardened, he used to wear an old t-shirt and large sombrero to keep the sun off of his back. People thought he was the hired gardener so they would traipse INTO our front yard standing directly beside him as he pulled weeds and talk about the garden bed and our plants. They never once acknowledged my husband. It blew his mind.

    About the snow piled onto the plants, this may not be as bad as it seems. Many years ago, I freaked out when we got an unexpected ice storm and my plant leaves were weighed down by ice. At the time, I worked with a biologist whose specialty was plants. He told me the ice actually can insulate a plant from the cold, more so than if you just have a dry freeze. Does this apply to succulents?--Honestly, I don't know.

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    1. Writing on your house? WTF? And how the hell did your husband keep his cool? People!!!

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  8. Oh yes, Tamara! Release the chickens!

    I'd have blown a fuse if some snot-nosed brat was trampling my garden, especially while the plants are frozen. I have a hard enough time gritting my teeth when my brother brings his girlfriend (and her dog) over. The dog is nice, but large and energetic. He runs through beds at top speed, flinging soil and stomping on tiny young plants. I've tried to explain to the girlfriend, but she just doesn't seem to get it.

    Conifers do wear snow so well. I love your second Cunninghamia photo. I'm kind of impressed that the Loquat isn't damaged. I would have expected those big leaves to hold a lot of snow and get weighed down. I was so hoping it would stay above freezing last night and I'd wake up to no snow, but it didn't get as warm as predicted and dropped back below freezing. Things finally seem to be melting in earnest now, though!

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    1. Both (I know, crazy that I have two) of my Loquats seem fine, I think those leaves are shaped to help send snow away. Another reason to love them.

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  9. We've resisted driving so far but running out of wine is the last straw. Just the broken branches I know about make me reluctant to go out there to take inventory. Guess we won;t know the final, horrible truth for some time to come.

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    1. Indeed, it's remarkable how long some damage can take to reveal itself.

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  10. I like the snow cape on the Nolina. It looks like a vegetative Henry VIII.

    You know the solution to children running amok, don't you?

    MORE SPINES

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  11. Civility seems to be disappearing everywhere...

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  12. Argh, that dipshit Mom is unfXXXingbelievable. When my son was a teenager, his friends used to walk across our snow-covered lawn in Massachusetts every winter, instead of coming up the completely bare shoveled driveway to the shoveled front walk, and then traipse snow throughout the house. I am loving the image of Tamara's chickens running around your neighbor's house.

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    1. Yes that sounds like the behavior of the mail teenage human...

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  13. If I didn't have to go to work soon, I would help myself to a glass of wine after reading this post and the comments that followed. No wonder you were befuddled, left to shake your head with disbelief. If the kid had injured itself on a spine you'd probably been sued.

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  14. My childhood house always had lots of tulips growing between the driveway and the house. Then in the late 70's we had a couple of blizzards and this is where we made our snow "igloo" -- packed that snow down as much as we could and built on it. Very few tulips after that -- maybe just coincidence?

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  15. I had similar issues in the country back East! One guy when I first moved in would walk his dog (to poop) on my lawn, but he kept getting closer and closer to my windows (all over my daffodils). I said something, then learned from my neighbor the church that he used to let his dog poop on their stoop and not pick it up! People are snoopy, and crazy.

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  16. When we moved here, our renovation included enclosing the front garden with a palisade fence. I've left a 'hell strip' open to the road. Would HATE to have people (and dogs) tromping across my garden.

    The labyrinth in the next valley was reduced to ash by wildfire. Dog walkers are stomping over the ash and destroying the seedlings. Why don't people understand - keep OFF the plants?!

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