I want to KILLLLLL my landscapers!!!!

Does anyone have Camellias that bloom in November? I have some beautiful ones and one of them was BUTCHERED by over zealous landscapers! It was so nice and large and doing it's natural thing...it HAD a beautiful Autumn Clematis on it that would be blooming had they not ripped it out and proceeded to CUT and SHAPE my Camellia!!!!

I had planned to cut the vine down once it was done blooming, it was a volunteer from older vines I had taken out a year ago...

I was not home and I am so THANKFUL they did not decide to do more trimming on their own...I am just sick at my stomach!

I know it will recover, but they really did a job on it!

Thanks for letting me vent!
LOL

There, There. It will recover. Probably faster than my Picea omorika 'Pimoko' that got blitzed with broad leaf weed killer.

I am sure, it will, and thanks for the sympathy! I think if I could get out and do more myself, I would not get so irrated when something goes wrong...

between the landscapers and the deer and rabbits..and the DROUGHT...I have had more "deaths" in my garden than the last few years all put together..in one season!!

I know how you feel. I had a gorgeous pink in FL that bloomed around Thanksgiving with a scent that would leave one swooning. If they cut and shaped your camellia, they probably got most of the developing buds. How DO these people get to call themselves landscapers when they do something so blantantly dumb. If you have the room in your landscape, I'd go out and buy myself a containerized camellia that is going to flower just to soothe myself. It was very easy for me to find them in FL, maybe not so much here in VA. I did purchase a tea camellia from the Camellia Shop on the internet. It was expensive to have shipped $26.00, but it was simply beautiful--with not a leaf out of place nor a spec of soil misplaced. As for the Autumn Clematis, I just have to shake my head at such carelessness.

I don't know how any of them get to be called "landscapers"...I just want them to CUT THE GRASS...lol I didn't think that was too hard to do....nothing was ever agreed upon concerning working in my flower beds! I think they just didn't like the way it looked with the vines overgrowing, which I understand, but in full bloom it is quite the spectacle...

Fortunately I have several more that WILL bloom very nicely in the same bed....I think if they had cut more than one I would have been LOCKED up for violently attacking them.....SUCH NERVE!

Thanks Pam...

I would immediately call whoever is in charge of those guys and inform them how irate you are over this.
Horror stories like yours are a daily occurrance here...except these "landscapers" we have only know how to do 3 things:
Mow, blow, and butcher things into geometric shapes.

Hopefully yours speak (and understand) English.
What a novel concept...

Nope, they do not UNDERSTAND for sure. It was funny, when I questioned them, they told me the "guy in charge" Samuel, cut the Camellia and Pulled out the vine...when I called him, HE told me "Oh, yea, one of the guys did trim one of your Camellias, I understand." He never said sorry or kiss my booty or anything near an apology.

Of course it would not do me much good would it. I told him NEVER CUT OR PULL ANYTHING THAT IS NOT IN THE GRASS!!!!! Maybe he understood that.....

Janet: I completely understand your frustration, but I have learned that in our modern age, incompetence reigns supreme. I never ceased to be amazed how some people manage to function today and even flourish, it would appear. Have a nice BIG margarita and keep telling yourself, "It will grow back."

I see that with Azeleas a lot around here. They prune them at the wrong time of year. I think they simply say it's out of shape whack it back. I have a very early blooming camellia and it has buds on it right now. I would be very mad.

I just shudder to read this thread. We don't have a whole lot of grass on our lot, but there is a lot of "edging" work that needs to be done regularly because of the layout of the beds (no straight lines, all curvy, and the mower can't reach). I would be terrified to hire someone to do that, so we just keep doing it ourselves and sometimes it does not get done for a few weeks. I just know what can get taken out if the trimmer strays a foot over the edge of the border...makes me sick to think about losing a miniature conifer or my one Japanese Maple that seems to actually be doing well in the yard.

I agree 100 %...I despise those weed whackers...they destroy everything in the path of the radius of the line.

I was determined to eliminate as much lawn as possible, which I did. I hated the wasted gardening space and the mowing...now I only have grass as paths...and it takes forever to EDGE !!!

Now that I have way more planted beds than lawn left I too have miles of curved & straight planting bed edges. So I treated myself to this apparatus - which has made edging something I actually look forward too. Done in 10% of the time it used to take.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200331632_200331632

Worth every cotten picken penny.

Story of my life: It's not available for Calif !!!
Craftsman used to have a similar one, but I never tried it.

You can buy a mantis too. Works well for light duty jobs.

http://mantis.com/home.asp

http://www.amazon.com/Mantis-2-Cycle-Cultivator-Kickstand-7225-15-02/dp/B000FIY9MC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1219019037&sr=1-1

Amazon has the best price.

My, I didn't see the CA restriction. Pollution control issues?

I also always thought Mantis was simply a tiller. I'm sure it does a good enough job for the standard planting bed.

I think there about 6 different attachments for a mantis and you can get a 4 stroke version if pollution is a problem. CAL?

Ah, "landscapers". The tales I could tell.....fortunately, our lot is small enough that 2 years ago we stopped the lawn service, after 15 years of increasing frustration and occasional heartbreak (it took seven years for my lilac to recover from overzealous trimming). I've never been more contented with my yard and garden. It seldom looks manicured, but I don't care!

There are a lot of 'amateur' people in the field. A reputable company or a certified arborist shouldn't make that mistake.
I saw magnolias pruned in late summer once.

If you want it done right do it your self. I do. I rather enjoy it.