Development at all costs. Paul harvey and every other news outlet had this story lately. I heard it on harvey also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mountain be-gone

Thank you lkz51a. They already have a golf course on part of a flattened mountain, and they now they need to build a baseball and soccer field. Makes perfect sense.....*she says sarcastically*.........

Terry, while it was initially disheartening, I've learned to live with it as my energies have been channeled into my own property.

Even with it being compromised and bastardized (the old place across the street), it's still better than the rest of the homes on my street, since it still has many of the elements that were installed by me.

After all, anything's better than the prototypical front yard in my neighborhood: proverbial lawn taking up the majority of the front yard with cursory foundation plantings of yews, threadleaf cedars, etc. To all, a Happy New Year. I'm sure glad that the Editor "edited the trash" and deleted the incindeary posts by the non gardener. This Forum is a "shelter from the storm" out there in cyberspace. Don't need non gardeners proseltyzing about what "they know not".

You are right, Birdsong, but we must all choose our words carefully and thoughtfully if we are ever to make anyone understand why we are all so dedicated to our own personal spaces.
My mother-in-law is a lawnlover, too, but she is slowly coming around to seeing how her actions in pursuing the perfect shade of green have an effect on much more than just the grass. Of course I despise her love of diazinon and would like nothing better than to rake every animal it killed into a big pile in her kitchen, but hostility won't change her and most people don't take kindly to it either. I don't expect her to start ripping it all out and sowing prairie stuff anytime soon but sometimes just becoming AWARE of small things can lead to huge changes.

I hear you Terri, but we don't have the luxury of "time". I'm not crying the sky is falling, the sky is falling, but there will come a time when it all hits the fan and our corrective efforts may be too little too late.

Water is the big dilemma in my opinion, especially here in NJ. Lawn is KING with the misguided gestalt of suburban homeowners. And most of the projections relative to water needs and a real crisis (here in NJ) are based on population figures which have already been exceeded.

Salt water intrusion in local shore wells, the inability to build more reservoirs, and a general wasteful approach to what is believed to be bottomless resource tells me that my kids will be paying thru the nose for desalinized water down the road.

Keep the faith. Turning one yard and homeowner "around" at a time. That's all we can do. It would help if there were some monetawry "incentives" (tax incentives) if homeowners converted their properties to more environmentaly friendly sites. That typically get's John Q's attention: if you can save a buck on taxes.

Too bad the elected officials (from locals to the the state capital) don't see it.

Peace.

I agree dirtgirl. I think words were chosen carefully at first, but weren't being understood and then "we" were all attacked in why we do what we do. No questions were ever asked, except to put down. Thus the gloves, so to speak, came off. Hostility went both ways. That of course, is just what I got from it all. I know it took me by surprise...this is the wildlife forum after all. I never dreamed on a wildlife forum, a post would be described in the manner given, nor that I or anyone else, would be referred to as an old fogy.
My father (who's always right) is much like your mother. I'm helping him to rid 3-4 acres of invasives and others that have taken over. This spring, his plan is to spray what we've done with cross bow. There's a creek not far from him, but he doesn't seem to understand what his spraying does to the earth. The people below him have horses also. He wants to replant different types of trees, shrubs and perennials, but he doesn't want to do native. He doesn't want to do wildlife plants. Yet he and my mom both love nature (seems like an oxymoron), love feeding birds...they have wild turkeys, deer, coons, possums....all sorts of critters out there. Put it this way, he has an environment that I would love to have, but just have a small in-town lot. We need to switch. Or, he should just let me do my thing out at his place :) yea, like that's going to happen. I talk and I talk, I send him links, I bought he and my mom William Cullina's books on native shrubs, trees and vines, and the native wildflower one, to help him see what we need to do. Sometimes I really think he's getting it, then he comes up with something like spraying the cross bow or how he should replant the ribbon grass (landscaper did that) into the steeper areas to prevent soil erosion. He was also talking about filling an area...aproximatly 20' deep by 50' long with burning bush. I told him of reading that burning bush was considered invasive, but he thinks they're pretty. I will keep talking, till I'm blue in the face if need be.

Birdsong, your street sounds like my street. I wonder what the neighbors thought when this spring I started ripping out the sod? And invasive type plants? Barberry, burning bush, privet is going.....do they care? I have gotten compliments, so hopefully, the bug that attacked me years ago will be affecting them in the near future. And thank you, Happy New Year to you also!

Terry

Terry,

I'm wondering if "Noah's Garden" by Sara Stein might get through to your father. I think it's entertaining reading also. On the other hand, I'd lent my copy to my SIL, and about a year later heard from her that the intro to some other book had really gotten the point across to her. At some point Ill have to ask her if she remembers which book it was, because unfortunately I donÂt. Of course if your father has no interest in reading books on the topic they wonÂt be much use.

Maybe getting your father interested in alternatives to burning bush such as blueberry or Aronia would help. I think most people would find Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima' as attractive as burning bush. Below IÂve posted the first page of herbaceous perennials for sale at a site that specializes in erosion control. It looks like they only sell to people in Massachusetts, but somebody had suggested them as a place to do research for plants that could work in my yard's moist soil. I donÂt know enough about these plants to know if all are native or any are invasives. Maybe youÂll find a good alternative to ribbon grass there.

Of course all you can do is try. I wish I could say IÂve influenced friends and family to plant more natives and never invasives, but that just wouldnÂt be the truth. If your parents end up planting mostly non-invasive exotics, I think thatÂs still a large step forward. Most plants have some wildlife value--shelter if nothing else.

dirtgirl, I wanted to thank you for trying to keep things civil here (even if I think civility was more than was being offered to us. Sometimes on the internet things come across harsher than theyÂre meant, but don't think that was true in this case)

Lori

Lori, I think he's interested and he does love reading. He just doesn't get the why's of it all. I can't say I get the why's of it all, but I'm trying to. I guess what I'm trying to get across to him more than anything, is the wildlife value. He complains about the cost of birdseed, so....plant berry producing and seed producing plants that the birds will enjoy. Since we're clearing out so many invasives, the ribbon grass doesn't make any sense. He knows first hand what that stuff does, it's the reason he removed it from the bedding area's. I don't want him to rip out everything the landscapers did, they enjoy those plants, but let's add plants for the wildlife they love so much in the woodland area.
Thank you for the link, I'll email it to him.

Terry

Lori, I ordered 2 of Sara Stein's books. 1 for me and 1 for my dad. Maybe my mom will read it too. I'm sitting here, reading the inside they provide, reading and turning pages...totally engrossed, wondering how much will they let me read...not much, but enough to leave me wishing I had it in front me. You're right, she's an excellent writer. Her other book looks equally as good, but I think I'll wait for it to come out in paperback too. Or I might get lucky and our library carries it. Hmmmmm.....

Dirtgirl - I love your posts by the way. I guess you are a true wildlife gardener when you start dreaming about it. I had a nightmare a few months back that still gives me the shivers. In the dream I went to work and when I returned they (whoever "they" are) had built condominiums as far as the eye could see - the only thing that was not grass was my little piece of land. I was then running around trying to coax/herd all the wildlife onto my little 5 acres. I remember deer, raccoon, etc just wandering among the townhouses. Then I was trying to decide if fencing the wildlife in would be best (remember this is a dream) or whether I should allow them to escape through some holes in the fence. I woke up curled up in a little ball and was so shook up I could not function for part of the morning.

The unfortunate thing is, some day the development will be all around my little 5 acres, I just hope I am not around to see it!

Lori. You know and I know. aronia 'brilliantissima' is head and shoulders a prettier plant than burning bush.

I have 3 of them (6'ers) still ladened with berry clusters; if they're planted in full sun, the leaves turn a fiery orange in Sept/Oct. Flowers beautifully in the spring.

Good luck convincing him. It takes time, patience (finding these plants) and a willingness to try soemthing different. For many gardeners, they go to the local retail nursery who many times have stock that is cheap and quick to market (like burning bush, yews, flowering pear, etc). And the aronia can be had for basically the same price in many cases.

HEY! Birdsong...lol..this is my dad we're talking about! Be nice! I'm writing it down...aronia 'brilliantissima'...some for him, at least one for me. Or do I need more?? I had the pleasure, and I mean pleasure, of pruning his burning bush this fall. I hacked and I hacked....lol...my husband was getting nervous! Thought for sure I'd take the whole thing down. I was cussing that stupid plant out the whole time....then he wanted me to "trim" up his redbud. I shouldn't admit this, but you all seem to "get" me, well I cried while trimming it up. I apologized. TO A TREE! I've lost my mind.....So anyway, BIRDSONG, I WILL get him to try different things. My dad isn't a big box nursery center type person, he is the local nursery type person. We have a couple here in this little town, and they don't have just run of the mill plants. Some are of course. But not everything. I've already emailed him a link to Musser's. And if all else fails, birdsong, you come on over to IL. You and me together could hog tie him and plant our hearts out! You crack me up.....

Terry

Terry, glad you like what you've read so far. I haven't used it yet, but I think most libraries in the US are in an interlibrary loan program that allows you to borrow books you're interested in from libraries quite a distance away. I think it's either free or low-cost. Don't have more details, but it might not hurt to ask at your library. (I have bought some native plant books I've ended up not keeping, so I really should be make use of this too to help me decide what to buy!)

Birdsong, I like the autumn color on the Aronia 'brilliantissima' I have in partial shade. It's orange leaning toward red and brown. I think it's different than the brilliant orange you're describing, but is one of my favorite autumn colors in my yard.

Lori

Lori, I know they get books from other local town libraries, but I don't know how far they go. I was looking for another book for my daughter that they didn't have and couldn't get for me. I will try with this one! I got an email this afternoon. One of the books has been shipped! I should get it in a couple days. I did a search before typing this on aronia. It says the soil should moist to wet? He doesn't have that. I don't have that. I'm thinking I'll need to find something else. Other than the rain, I have a feeling it won't be watered much.

Terry

jillhudock,

I didn't mention this in my previous post, but the description of the nightmare you had, definitely struck a nerve here. I was so happy when we started getting chipmunks in my yard--until I started seeing articles about animals needing to go to more and more developed areas as they were losing their habitat.

Terry,

I have my Aronia in moist soil, but both the UConn Plant DB and William Cullina's book list it as being able to deal with soil ranging from dry to wet. In your place, Id probably try at least one. On the other hand, plants can get expensive, and seeing something not thrive isnt fun, so of course you and your parents need to make the decisions that seem best to you. Maybe well hear from people who have grown Aronia in drier environments than mine. Most of my yard is moist side, so those are the plants that I tend to think of.

You can always try a search on UConn. I just took a quick look, and you can specify what color fall foliage youre looking for along with the other traits. My curiosity got the best of me. I used it now for red foliage, dry soil, US native, large shrub and got back 2 viburnum, 2 sumacs, a chokecherry and American Filbert.

-- Lori

Jillhudock...been wanting to get back to you but for obvious reasons could not until now...
I let the things I love most influence what I say and how I try to say it, and that is anything to do with the natural world. I had actually come very close to writing about that nightmare several months ago, but it seemed too personal and exposing at the time. Then the need to share that experience came up all on its own with the arrival of this thread and I felt it was time.
My agonizing tree-burning dream is only narrowly surpassed by the worst one I ever had, which was a nuclear-holocaust styled vision-complete with vaporizing people and my own eyeballs melting in their sockets- that I had for a week or so after they made us watch the film "The Day After" in grade school. Can't say that their mandatory viewing had any grand repercussions like stopping the arms race in my generation or anything, but it sure scared the holy crap out of a bunch of kids.
I think about these two separate nighttime visions, some 15 years apart, and realize that either one of them could come true. I hope I am not alive to see it become a reality.

I got 2 books (1 for me, 1 for my dad) in the mail today........I can't wait to get reading! :)

Terry

Dirtgirl.....that's awful, that they showed that to grade schoolers!!
I preferred "Testament".......but I certainly wouldn't show ANY of those shows to little kids!
Terry....Enjoy your books! And I hope your dad appreciates them and grows from them too.

Here's a different take on this subject; I moved into a house in Northern CA, and the first thing I noticed was s spindly vine growing in hard-packed clay in the front yard, and several spindly rose bushes and and another struggling something growing next to the back fence. All these plants were trying to survive in total shade and terrible soil. Five years later when I sold the house, I dug up those poor plants and transplanted them into some compost-filled containers a couple of months before I was to move, and VIOLA,; the spindly ones are now safe with me, three moves later. A fragrant coral-colored old rosebush, and star jasmine, a Jackmanii clematis, and some Acanthus mollis have moved with me everywhere I go, and next move a blood peach tree I started from seed is also going with me. I now have a large collection of found and rescued plants, and one of my favorites is the Jackmanii clematis is dug up BEFORE I moved.

It is with agony that I read this. I am in the process of installing a lifelong dream, a 1/2 acre ceritifed Wildlife habitat, with an emphasis on butterflies.

As I do this, I figure the trees I plant will be too large for someone to rip out, or I'll just keep the house forever and leave it to my kids...all optimistic in a world where things can change. Some thoughts though....1) for each that moved and had a garden ruined, many others were left in some degree of intactness. Also, most of you started new ones, so hopefully, nature is at least equal....thirdly, an idea. For those of you who do this and are then forced to move, and an easement isn't possible, how about taking as much as you can and selling/giving it to fellow gardeners in the area (the ultimate "yard" sale), taking other stuff with you, and putting in something lower maintenace before putting it on the market. I hate to say it, but there are too many people who just epitimoze what my late father called "The great American pig"...i.e. you go to the wilderness and find beer cans/garbage at some wonderful nature site. The same goes for those yards. The 'pig" sees the beauty, but has no clue what it really is...Gardening as we do, is love, therapy, and the hope we can add a bit to the natural world, as the by product of our very prosperity is destruction of habitat. Teach your children what this means....and always always always grow something!

sluggishlaura, you did good! You rescued those poor plants. I'm hoping if we have to move again, it'll be into a nursing home in..oh say...40 years??

msrpaul, Unfortunately, we moved from zone 7 to zone 5 in Dec...so it wasn't really possible for me to bring many plants (those I did bring, I had to plant at my parents house on Dec. 17th). If I'd had an idea, even an inkling (not just my gut), I would have dug up more, I would have given some away, I would have had it written in the contract that I would be back in spring and dig it all up. I am happily planting again..well not right now, it's too cold! I love the last part of your post:

"The great American pig"...i.e. you go to the wilderness and find beer cans/garbage at some wonderful nature site. The same goes for those yards. The 'pig" sees the beauty, but has no clue what it really is...Gardening as we do, is love, therapy, and the hope we can add a bit to the natural world, as the by product of our very prosperity is destruction of habitat.

Very wise words!

Terry

Just wanted to pop in with my 2 cents'--
When we bought our house several years ago, I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd want to garden. I wasn't an outdoor person, and the thought of scrabbling around in the dirt--with worms!--was unthinkable. When we were looking at the house, our real estate agent kept insisting we look at the yard. And I remember thinking, "What do I want to look at the yard for? I'm never going to go outside." But I went to look, just to make him happy (and get him to hush up about it).

The minute I stepped outside and saw the little strip of garden, I just instantly knew that I had to have that house, and that the garden was my new love. I remember telling my husband, "We're buying this house, and I'm going to become a gardener." (Which surprised him to no end!)

My new next-door neighbors very kindly taught me what all the plants were, when to cut things back, what to do in spring and fall, etc. (They had been pretty close with the original owner and had even worked with her to install a sort of "double bed" on each side of the fence, so it would look like one big garden bed between the two houses.) I've become really close with my neighbors since we are the only two houses in the whole neighborhood with gardens--I have learned a ton about gardening from them, and I'm sure they were relieved that the new owners (us) didn't want to rip out their half of the double bed.

In any case, I've since expanded the original garden beds to extend all the way around the property--I've kept that original garden bed as it was (well, except for the *@%# gooseneck loosestrife), and just added on. Every so often, my neighbors will tell me they've run into the previous owner at the store or something, and that they've told her about all the work I've put into the garden, what's new since the last time they talked, and how many new birds and rabbits have moved in. I kind of secretly hope that she drives by once in a while and is pleased with what I've done.

Anyway, just wanted to say that at least one gardener can rest assured that not only has her old garden remained intact, but that it also spurred a former non-gardener to become obsessed.

Oh--and if we ever have to move? I'm putting it into the contract that ALL my plants leave with me. Either that, or we're only showing the house in the dead of winter when everything's snow-covered, so I can run off with all the shrubs and the new buyers will never know they're missing.

Hi Terry,
I haven't been on the forum in awhile and I just read your post. I'm sitting here reading along and my jaw drops open... I can't believe what I'm reading! Some people, namely the new owners, are such freaking idiots, and that's being polite.
I've had flowers stolen from my yard before. Not just a flower picked, but entire plants pulled up by the roots and taken under cover of night. I know it wasn't another gardener, who would do that? No, it was someone that had no idea what they were doing, but were just greedy and had no sense of right and wrong. A real gardener would have at least brought a shovel! I was so angry.

So, I can imagine the anger and hurt you must have felt hearing about your yard (and may still feel).
People are just morons and idiots and don't know what they're doing nor do they care. As someone else with a yard for nature, I really do feel for you. Wow, I'm just speechless.

Sorry to hear about that.

Dan

Hi Dan....I still feel angry. And of course the anger is a cover for my hurt feelings. I just really wish I'd known. Wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't done everything that I did. Planted all that I did. Or could have brought the plants with me. I can't believe people would pull up a whole plant in your yard! Sometimes people don't make any sense to me at all. I've said all that you said and then some. Thanks for feeling my pain......

Terry

Terry,

Sorry to hear your pain. I didn't read all the threads, but thought i'd relate a better news story.

I sold my house two years ago, after spending almost 16 years of planting and making it a wildlife sanctuary. My father chastised me, saying "someday, someone will have to cut all that stuff down!"

Nothing could be further from the truth. I drove by recently, and the new owners didn't change a thing - all the fruiting shrubs, evergreen cover, etc was there and maintained. (When they bought the place, they said they liked the plantings. Ironically, I'm guessing the plantings were a deterrent to most buyers - many seem to prefer a sterile landscape.)

I'm starting over with a new yard, but I've learned some plants the birds like, and that i like as well. Its all an adventure.

glassmouse, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you! I somehow missed your post. Gardening is an addiction, isn't it. Especially when you see the various wildlife you can get in your gardens, your yard.

chrsvic, it is an adventure! I agree. It's just...I don't know...a real bummer to learn all those plants made it into the trash heap. It's funny, isn't it? People would rather go out and spend all that time mowing than take care of some shrubs, trees and flowers. I'm not sure sterile only applies to new buyers. I see houses up and down my street that are sterile and I know the people have lived here for years. I'm really glad it turned out well for you! I take it your father isn't much into gardening? My old house up here hasn't changed much. They're still trying to figure out what's a weed and what's a plant, so they tend to leave it all. And the man of the house pruned up some of my evergreens and my weeping tree out back. He said it's easier to mow. I can't have everything, so I'll take what he does.

I was known in our other house up here as the plant lady. People drove very slowly past our house. Even the mail lady wanted to see the whole backyard, not just what she could see from the street. Having garage sales, people always asked if they could see the inside of my house and my backyard. Down in TN, people again drove really slow. I saw a couple taking pictures once (before the house was up for sale). I don't do it for other people, but it sure makes one feel good to know that their house is the one people talk about...in a good way.

Terry

Maybe someone in their family died or is VERY sick. Although gardening is peace for me and many others maybe it is too much stress for others.

This is a young couple...mid to late 20's. The neighbors say they simple aren't "outdoor" type people. I've heard from 3 people, the house no longer looks like anyone lives there. It hasn't looked like anyone's lived there since we moved out. They didn't want it, plain and simple. No reason.

Glassmouse....I loved your story.

Paul

It's late at night but I'm still here, reading in the dark, mesmerized by these horrible tales. After living in either church housing or rentals my ENTIRE life, I've finally bought my own home...two years ago dh got a job with some real stability (he works for the State :- )so we bought a 100 year old farmhouse on the edge of a town of 1000. Alas, much of the original farm property had been sold off years ago, but to LARGE parcels of many acres, which are now kept as woodlots, a walnut grove and--unfortunately, right behind our yard--a field rented to a farmer.

Anyway, the 2/3 acre we DO have is SOOOO precious to me that it's like a dream come true. I had "we've got to move away" nightmares for months after buying the place. I've gotten certified as a backyard habitat already, and am already trying to talk my neighbor out of that acre behind me, that he rents.

Anyway, I digress..Dirtgirl, I LIVED your nightmare long ago. My husband and I were graduate students at the University of Iowa, and rented a quaint old farmhouse about ten miles from town. We loved our first "nature experience" and thrilled at the lilacs, irises, old roses, woodlots and groves, and other "farmhouse plantings" that we discovered when Spring came. We made our very first vegetable garden on the site of the old chicken yard, just by luck!

Well, one glorious Spring day our second year there, we drove down the lane after a day at classes, only to find--to our utter horror--a smoking wreck of a scene that rivaled Dresden after the bombing: the retired farmer had, while we were out, gone totally insane and bulldozed EVERY TREE on the large property, scraped off all the shrubs, the rosebushes, smashed the charming old outbuildings, and shoved it all into a huge pile and set it aflame. Our beautiful haven was a black, smoking wreck: the trees were rootside up, the stumps were charred and a spiral of black smoke rose many feet into the sky.

It was simply appalling. And why did he do this? Greed, of course. His property was off an exit on an interstate that ran between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, and he (rightly, alas)figured that urban sprawl would soon connect the two cities. He wanted to sell his ancestral land--a farm that had been in his family for over a century--and turn it into a truckstop.:-(

We moved the hell out of there, and across the way into a veritable wildlife sanctuary (a huge wooded area surrounding a large reservoir) and had a few nice years on other people's property, before leaving the area.

That was in the early 80's. A few years ago, my husband and I took our daughters on a sentimental journey back to those two places, where we began our lives together. The farmer had gotten his wish...There was absolutely NO TRACE of the farmhouse, the smaller hired help house next door, the ancient barn..all gone! Smack on the site of our bountiful vegetable garden was a Quick Stop convenience store and gas station. Standing there, trying to envision the lovely place it had once been, I nearly fainted.

Hi Terry,

I am so sorry. I know how much blood, sweat and tears we put into our yards. Very few people, it seems, want landscaping, or even appreciates what it does for wildlife. Seems they don't want that, either.

My husband and I just sold to developers and are moving to Asheville, NC this summer. So I am fretting about my plants and am planning to bring what I can and give away others. Where I live now (western suburbs of Chicago), they are tearing everything down and putting up McMansions with all house and no yard. Very sad, which is part of the reason we are getting out.

I am hoping to do more wildlife landscaping in NC. There isn't much wildlife here, but I do have lots of natives in for the birds.

It will be hard to come back and see my house gone and my yard covered in sod, but I guess that's just how it goes these days. The land my house sits on it worth a lot more than my house.

I am hoping things will be better in NC. At least we will have space instead of being crowded out by neighbors in huge houses.

Jeanne

Jeanne, I forgot to mention in my other post, that I was just up your way last Sun. It's really sickening all the development going on. Are you from NC? You should move down here by me...you won't find all that development going on. We still have lots of rural left. My county was voted the 5th best county in the midwest and we came in 23 across the states. I love coming up there and shopping...and the only place I've found native nurseries...but I wouldn't want to live up there.

Terry

This is so horrifyingly sad! But an eye opener that I will definitely remember if the situation should come up for me. Right now I rent. We rent from family which has been a blessing and a curse. But it has allowed me to garden till my hearts content. But, I've made it clear to our landlord that none of my landscaping stays. When I move to the home we are building EVERYTHING goes with me - I will return it to the generic shrubbery that was here when we moved in 10 years ago. Now, there's the issue of where we're moving to. Its all ours but it isn't a great situation so there could be a time in the future when we decide to sell and move. The thought of it when I look at the plans I drew up for the 3/4 acre property!!! The orchard, the kids pumpkin patch, the woodland garden, the rose & cottage garden, the ponds!! What I would do and feel if someone bought the place and then tore all that out?? The stories you have told are so devastating I will never trust someone else to my garden - far too much back breaking labor and heart felt determination goes into turning my home into a blossoming jewel...

My heart goes out to you.

wow - this topic really hurts but i am glad of what msrpaul said about new natural gardens possibly equaling the ones that got 'sodded' by idiots.
my main problem is trees - i seem to be a pox on them because even when i was a kid in n.j. a gorgeous birch at the back of the narrow lot next door was cut down when new owners built a tiny house close to the street- but the tree hadn't needed to go at all! i cried. then in n.c. there were woods behind us with the most magnificent huge golden beech i have ever seen but the new owners wanted a dirt road thru there and cut it down, tho they could easily have moved the road over 15 feet. i cried again. here in n. ca 20 years ago we moved next to a property like ours with century old 'heritage class' native oaks that i treasure, but the man behind us took many of his down to plant a christmas tree farm. as old as i am, after frantically calling every gov'mt agency i could think of,(none had the authority to stop him), i helplessly cried. the first years he ignored my advice and grew all monterey pines to sell but a pine virus came thru and he had to start over. ha ha -that gave me a laugh but i STILL hurt for those gorgeous trees he had. i am the only gardener on the road who plants for wildlife and i'm sure the neighbors think our place is "messy" and (the horror!) -no grass at all. so i was glad (in a very sad way) to find this posting - i don't feel so alone now, but i'm upset and angry on behalf of all of your losses, and for our poor bewildered wildlife. keep trying, and teach the little kids! min

I am late on this one, but I have to comment. I have also spent a TON of time planting native platns and trees in my yard and have become quite attached to them. Each plant is like a child-its crazy. When I go on vacation, i worry about my plants. My husband's job discussed relocating us temporarily to the Ntherlands and I couldn't bear to think of someone renting my house and not properly caring for all my babies, never mind kililng everything. ugh..this makes me NEVER ever want to sell my house. And if I do, I am taking it all with me.

Terry, not sure if you are still lurking here, but I feel awful for what happened. I don't know how people can be so disrespectful to nature. If they didnt' want the plants, the least they could have done is called you, instead of just dumping them.

dkgarber, yes, I'm still here. It's just been one of those years.

I don't know either how people can be the way they are. I did meet up with the young people at our old house there in TN that year we went. And I spoke with the builder also. I gave him a really hard time about the way he always said "we were sooo bad"....lol.

Late spring or early summer, I met the newest owners of our old house up here, in IL. They're missing a ton of different birds we had while living there for 21 yrs. The man recently hacked down and got rid of some of my shrubs, saying they were "old". They looked good, but to him, old. He also told me he's removing a viburnum or 2. They removed a tree, and hack or prune in the most bizarre way. Again, old to him. Go figure.

Terry

I feel sorry for the wildlife and the plants but I do not see much of a diference with this case and when people move leaving their pets behind with a new owner because they can't take them with them to the new place.

I find strange that in my farely new neighboorhood (3 years old) only few people have planted trees and plants at their backyards.

I told one of my neighbors that I was going to plant flowers on my backyard and she told me that she is afraid of bees. I just felt her comment was just plane weird.

What I see, is if I sell my house, all my backyard plants would be removed by the new owner.

People have changed a lot.

A few things I might suggest for the future:

1) If renting, hire someone for yard work and do a walk through with them, make sure they understand which areas can be mowed, not to hit tree trunks with weed eaters, etc. I would explain to the renters that they do not have permission to alter or trample plantings. I would look for someone without kids and not allow any pets. That should protect the plants and animals.

2) Consider putting your land into some kind of land trust or conservation program if it is a larger property.

3) A new type of subdivision requires so much of each property to be covered with native plants. I know Madison, Wi has such a subdivision. Purchasing a property in such a subdivision will encourage other developers.

4) If none of the above is feasible, install native plants in the typical border around the house and windows fashion and plant fast growing natives and annuals if you won't be staying long. A lot of times people will leave hedge rows or yard trees, so those are still worth planting. You can get bareroot trees/shrubs for the shrub row from your state nursery for cheap. You don't need to spend a lot of money to plant "the bones" of the landscape.

I would say the difference is that these people were asked multiple times and wanted the plants. I could have given them to people who would appreciate them and not have them thrown down the hill in the culvert. That's the difference.

As for installing native plants in the typical border around the house and windows fashion, those were all ripped up, with the exception of a magnolia. The trees in the yard were removed also. We also had no clue when we moved there that the president of the company would bankrupt it.

Ya I know, that's a tough one. I think you did everything in your power in this situation. This is just one of those senseless acts that aggrivates me to no end!

I just came across this e-mail chain and had to relate what happened to me several years ago. I had to sell a house becuase I was being transferred. I had a very special rose garden in one corner of the yard. At the closing I gave the new owers a drawing of the bed, a list of roses and how to care for them. All went fine. About a year later I happened to drive by. The rose bed was gone and in it's place was a huge ugly garage and a blacktop driveway.

I was devestated. But it taught me a lesson. I garden for my own pleasure and nature's critters, primarily birds and butterflies. I have move many time since then. At each new home I have planted flower gardens and roses. I feel that I made my mark. But once I move on, I never look back. I realize that not everyone is as passionate and devoted to gardening as I am. The house and yard belong to the new owners for them to put their own idenity on. I would no more criticize their landscaping than I would the decorating on the inside.

It's hard not to look back. But it beats days and weeks of depression over something you cannot control.

This is why this summer or the next one that follows I'm going to get promission from a state park/nature center and plant the natives I have in there so the plants are not owned by landowners. ( Contacted the local DNR, they would've told me if it was illegal I figure as I asked them)

Private property is just that, private, you have no control, that and buying natives supports poaching, and jerks who just go out and collect to make cash. there are lots of reasons why natives should like animal wildlife be left wild.

1. Many are Aggressive, large and invasive ( milkweeds,brown eyed susans,lilly of the valley, joepieweed)

2 Alot are quite rare or are getting to be rare, and really should be prohibbited from nursheries because of that status.

3 wild animals that can damage property are attracted to them

4- moral issues- Illegal Poaching, delopmant, jerks that don't give a S+++

5 the loss of vigor and plant health- Columbines for example are being bred away from the wild state, meaning they could one day, go extinct or just as bad, mix with others to create weakened plants.

6 libality and the fact we do not live in the wild anymore

Many cities have laws requiring plant height and growth, also neighbors may think lower of you or worry the yard isn't being controlled or kept up/ this could lead to fines, lawsuits,ect..

7 torturing the earth

Its bad and a waste of money and time IMHO to pour chemicals, and rip out plants that are invasive, only to plant natives, have land renew to the way it should have always been and then BAM! to have it go right back to the way it was before you did anything..

How to really help natives and save money

Volenteer at local parks, and restorations.

Educate people about native plant ecosystems

go out in nature walks

become part of a plant society/do restoration work

go polictial and write to your congressmen about why natives should be consittered in homeowner lots and wild places. Subjest they pass laws that protect gardens such as your own, from this awful fate.

Its me again..after reading more responses, I had to chime in again.

I have good friends of mine who just bought a house and they want to rip out 4 shurbs from their foundation--a viburnum, a huge rhodie and 2 others I can ID b/c the "birds and bees are all over them". Really??? How ignorant!! And, to make matters worse, as a housewarming, I planted the wife an herb garden w/bee balm and agastache and when the husband found out, she said "if I see any bees on those things, I am gonna spray them. I don't want bees anywhere in my yard".

Ridiculous. So I told him I wiil GLADLY take the Viburnum and the Rhodie w/me and any creature that wants a free ride to my house is welcome to come along too. I am very concerned for any birds who have nested inside, but I must take the shrub NOW, as he is about to spray it w/roundup.

That is why I love gardeners..its hard to be a gardener and have no respect for nature. I love my earthworms, bees, etc. I haven't always felt like t his, but ever since spending time in my garden and seeing the critters up close, I realize they all have a place. I don't rip out plants anymore (and am now blessed w/my yard naturlizing back to normal w/jack in the pulpits, trillium and solomons seal everwhere).

This whole subject makes me so sad.

Interesting concept-pesticides/herbicides are now thought to alter DNA and affect future generations. This so called friend of yours must really be an angry person to pass really nasty DNA onto his great grandchildren.

Beautiful gardens are a piece of heaven and I feel sorry for your friend. He doesn't know what serenity he is missing. You need to rescue the plants you gave them and provide them with a proper home where they will be appreciated.

So sorry for what happened, Terry. We had something similar happen when we sold our house in East Dallas to move to Spain several years ago. Our house was a typical prairie style house abut a hundred years old with a big old wrap around porch. It sat in the middle of big lot shaded by lots of old trees. The backyard was just a natural haven for wildlife of every kind. I left it as natural as possible with wood piles and water sources, etc. We were only about 10 minutes from downtown Dallas but in the years I lived in that house I saw just about every wild thing imaginable. My son, who stayed in Dallas after we moved away, always said that one day he would buy that house back. There was such a magic to it. But that will never be now. They have torn down the house, ripped out all the trees, shrubs, plants, and put up one of those disgusting MacMansions. It is a veritable plywood palace that almost totally covers the whole plot. It is completely out of proportion for the space it occupies, and of course, it leaves no room for anything but a tiny bit of lawn. For shame on these people who so happily destroy what little of Nature there is left in our cities.

Sorry, my year is still long, except it's a new one! Gettin' better now though, so all is well.

Ya know, I can only feel sorry for some of these idiots out there. My own sister can't believe I'd have anything that blooms near our front porch. The bees! Oh my. I only think to myself that she need not sit out there then! My "new" plants I've planted everywhere here are growing like the weeds a lot of people claim them to be ;) I'm still waiting for the seeds to "blow" over and actually catch at the park behind/caddy corner from us..lol. Still waiting on a much of any other bird than a HOSP, but all in time, all in time. 'Good things come to those that wait'. I did see a Gray Catbird last year in one of my Viburnums. That was really neat!

Unfortunately, I think, today, the lack of familiarity with natural things leaves too many people empty. We all are not only familiar with it, but we revel in nature and seek out its wonders. Being a teacher, I try to instill both a respect for and an awe of nature in my students. I will never understand the destruction of gardens or the construction of a McMansion. What I do understand is all of the world's gardeners share a secret and a joy that others never know. Lucky us!

cyn, right on. Lucky us, indeed!

PART I

"I said, you are about to hurt yourself silly. And don't forget your necklace on the way out."

I turned around, startled

"Huh?... What??" I sorta said out loud to the chilly, golden light of the early Spring morning.

I wasn't aware that a tree could sigh and speak in the same moment of time, but I experienced it in this way.

"You're sweet, but go home to your kid and make yourself a nice cuppa joe, cuz It's not gonna happen".

Just then, the 20 year old, 7 foot tall , Contorted Filbert Tree did it's best Guido - "ForGEHT about it".

As my thoughts scrambled to present a solution, it became clearer to me while I dug a radial trench around the drip line . The careful work of my shovel was revealing a 2" thick root system, and I thought, the answer to today's transplant/relocation endeavor might be;

"Damn. You're right. I know your probably right. I need to take a break and think about this. I'll be back in an hour. Don't go anywhere..."

"If you say so..."

"But believe you me, when I tell you, I'm not going anywhere today."

Three yellow finches flitted as they merged within the inner canopy of this otherworldly specimen, this magnificent Hazelnut, who's future was on the chopping block of it's existence. The new home owner's botanical sentiments being, "Curly whatever's just not our thing, ya know? "

No. I didn't "know".

"We want it gone because we are going to put in a fabulous stone stairway from our front door to the sidewalk, and that helps keep the carpets cleaner."

I literally bit my tongue and flinched from the pain.

I needed a quick mantra before my tongue recovered enough for ego to make a bigger mess than this pile of dirt I'd been digging up.

"Focus on the tree, the tree is your focus. Focus on the tree, the tree is your focus."

How do you make it your goal to stay in the good graces of someone you don't agree with or hold respect for?

By remembering they are you. If I pick this battle, I am jousting with an aspect of myself, albeit one I may have grown away from. Somewhere in my shadow is the quality of preferring nice carpets over sacred old growth trees.

Not today.

Invoke love, not ego's spite - thoughts of being better for experiencing reverence for this living symbol of life's bridge between worlds.

I did some affirmative nodding while projecting a thoughtful countenance and said,

"Yes, yes. Let me see what I can do - the root ball is getting a good soak, so I'll be back in a bit with some help".

I left with my necklace still dangling on one of the tree's lower limbs. Earlier that morning, when I first arrived, I offered my respects and sought the tree's permission for the task at hand, offering a bit of brown bread and ale, and hung my stone on it's branch as a calling card.

Now, I kinda felt silly for the whole thing, because I could have just asked. Who knew? Wood could talk.

PART II

When I returned to the site, it was not with help and it was not with cakes and ale and a reverent attitude. I plopped down under the branches atop a large, well established ground root, which had surfaced itself long ago into just the right shape to keep my backside from slipping off down the slight decline of the current landscape. A landscape scheduled, soon, for sheer destruction.

A little flock of purple Crocus shuddered together in unison, causing a usually cheerful patch of Forget Me Nots to worry that their namesake would be for naught.

"Pull up a chair. Talk to me".

Why did I get the feeling I was the one being comforted? I was curious about the calm demeanor emanating from this non-human entity in the face of it's hingey future. I thought about this Filbert Tree being felled for selfish, cosmetic purposes. "..but, you're so beautiful... you're - so beautiful", was all the internal language I could come up with. Could I really get teary over this?

"Hey, I brought espresso, biscotti, pears, and a cheese c.., canna, cannelloni." I said, in a morning-breakfast-picnic-voice. "Would you care for any?"

In the original draft of this writing, the spell checker went off on me as I typed this last line, listing the goodies.

So did the tree, right then. "Holly Saint Julian, no, It's, ... CAHN-uh-LOWWW-nee. Bees-CAA-tee."

"What do you know of St. Julian?" I asked, between cookie bites. And without saying so, I understood the tree to take it's coffee with 4 packs of sugar, and that the Finch Clan would have a bit of the ricotta filling from my pastry-pronunciation-disaster.

"She was a dancer."

Right, no. I was expecting anything but that misinformed answer. But, to remain respectful, here...I responded in the least patronizing tone possible, "Okay, - really? She danced?"

"Yup. That is just exactly what I originally meant to say. She- was- a -dancer. And, she IS the patron Saint of all things Hazel."

Okay. I thought, now I'm talking to a Catholic tree. Maybe the original owners of the property were Italian Roman Catholics, which could then do my needy, pitiful, Gemini mind a favor, and throw me a bone. That info could wrap me up one clean, tidy, logical explanation of this Goodfella sounding Filbert with it's East Coast pizza-pie accent.

So I asked. " I was wondering about the other family, if they....."

"Nope. Not even close. And no cigars from Cuba, either. Atheists. They was both of them math teachers, no time for the Who-What-When-Wheres & Whys of 'Thee Uni-verse'."

Awesome. At this point, I just wanted to munch on my pear for a minute, and process my head. I flashed to the other night, in my son's room, helping him with his homework.

"Mom, do you hear that?" "Hear What?" I said.

"That really fast piano music, like a chase scene in a cartoon?" He explained. "You don't hear it?" He was asking, worriedly.

I said, "Well....not right this minute, but if you give me a chance I might hear it..."

His eyes started to water up as he asked, "Mom, am I crazy for hearing music by myself?" I said, "Not even a little. I think you are ready for piano lessons, that's all."

I promised him, "Hey, everyone in the world hears someone saying their name just before they doze off. Just ask around. Its very, very, common."

I thought, now would not be the time to share with him about these tree talks. Later, for that. So, I took another bite of pear.

"Yup. A- tee-yests."

...cont'd

(c) E. Wyndrose

huh?