Oh Susan, I feel sick just reading that.
My grandfather used to mow over my grandmothers iris and other plants every year. She just had to hope he would mow after they bloomed so she could see some color out there in the spring.
He thought the only garden worth having was a vegetable garden.
Maybe you should put up a "No Trespassing" sign until you are ready for the guy to mow.

Susan, Sorry to hear your lawn-mowing guy went nuts. I can't imagine what he was thinking.

I agree that your perennials should come back, and I think that your sunflowers might as well. I have had sunflowers reseed into the lawn where I didn't want them, and I have had to mow them 3 or 4 times to kill them. Each time they came back less vigorously. So, if this is the first time they've been mowed down, they might come back. And, sometimes DH cuts down the liatris in June when he is mowing the pastures....after the cool-season wildflowers have set seed, and before the August bloomers like liatris, helenium and goldenrod have gotten very tall, and the liatris still blooms that same year. (Once again, though, if they are mowed 2 or 3 times, that's it for them.)

Terrydenise, Your story about your grandfather reminds me of one of my old farmer neighbors. I grow lots of herbs and flowers in my veggie garden and he always asks me "Why you growing those weeds in there?" He also thinks anything that is not a veggie or fruit is not worth messing with.

I wonder if they make any of those "Wildflower Area: No Mowing" type signs (like ODOT has along some highways) that someone could put in their yard to indicate that mowing a specific area is a no-no?

Susan, which stage of grief have you made it to so far? I'm assuming you've made it past denial and at least to anger. Bargaining? Depression? Acceptance? Let us know and we'll talk you through it. Hang in there. Tomorrow's a new day.

Dawn

Just out of curiosity Susan, did you confront him with the damage? I wonder what his response was.....And Terry you hit the nail on the head about alot of people. If it isn't edible they think of it as just so much fluff and not worth the time it takes to mow around it.

Susan,

I'm so sorry to hear about your plants. I believe I'd be finding a new lawn man. Or a new mower for yourself. Then again, you're lucky to have a lawn man. DH and I spent the whole day mowing and weedeating today. I am really getting too old for this!! We have 101 pine trees (not counting the other trees) and I have to weed eat under the vast majority of them because DH is allergic to them. DH threatens to "limb up" the trees where he can drive under them on the mower, but I beg and tell him I will weed eat them myself, since they provide privacy for our yard. But I'm realizing that I may not be able to keep this up forever. I had to take about 4-5 breaks today to get them all done! It sucks to get old... I wish I could afford a lawn man! I can barely afford the gas these days! :D

I think since your lawn man mowed down your flowers, I might just withhold his pay for punishment! I bet he'd learn to get it right then!
Dawna

Susan Sorry to hear your yard guy did that to your plants :(

Thanks for all your input. I haven't talked to him yet - he's a friend of my daughter's. Lawn guys just don't have a clue about what to mow and what not to mow. If it's in front of the lawnmower, that's all it takes to run it down.

I do hope the liatris is okay, Dawn. I planted the bulbs last year, and only had one of them bloom last year. Actually, only one came up. But this year, every single bulb came up looking glorious, and I just KNEW I was going to have lots of butterfly food from them. The poor hibiscus, which I have made rock beds of, though, I don't know if they will do much this year, or if they will put up new shoots or not.

This will be the second year my little Ironweed has suffered "death by mower", so hopefully it will just continue enhancing the root growth, and I'll have a really good stand next year.

I had told this guy not to mow until I could be out there with him, but I guess he just wasn't thinking.

Susan

Susan,

Some of my native ironweed came up in the fenceline between the veggie garden and driveway and, when it gets too tall and thick, I hack it back without mercy. How does it respond? It comes back better each time. So, I think ironweed is really, really tough.

Dawn

I hope so, Dawn. Actually, this little ironweed is not supposed to get over 3' tall, which is why I picked it for my garden in the city. If it ever makes it to 8" tall, I'll dance on the lawn. I'm sure it will be okay, but last year it got mowed just when it started to bloom! Drat!

It is supposed to really attract the butterflies; do yours like it?

I know they like liatris. And the H. cocinnus is a host plant for the Grey Hairstreak, as well as a nectar plant for the hummers and Cloudless Sulphurs.

I may just go get a couple of packs of sunflower seed and scatter them around. Sunflower, I have found will grow no matter what the soil condition or surrounding plants/weeds.

Susan

Well, Susan, I would be seriously hacked and I wouldn't pay him and I'd tell him why.

My son mows lawns as a sideline -- he has a job at Whirlpool -- and he is very careful about people's flowers and such. Of course he has been trained well because he used to mow our grass when he was a boy.

I hope everythings comes back up. DH mowed over my iris bed last summer with the riding lawnmower before. It was a spiteful thing he thought he was doing because it got full of weeds and I didn't get out there soon enough to pull the weeds. But this spring, everything came up and bloomed. So there, too! ;~) I'm going to move the bed so that it will be easier to keep the weeds and grass out, and maybe I won't have to kill DH this year.

Ilene.....ROTFLMAO! I will talk to him. He tried to call me, but I just wasn't up to dealing with him yet. Not today anyway. I just got back from the doc and had knee injections, so they're a little sore, even tho they actually feel better. Does that make sense? They told me my neck is just "trash"; meaning it is in serious bad shape. I have degenerative disc disease, osteoarthritis, and stenosis of the spinal cord in my neck. That's also what I had in my back pre-laminectomy. Years of doing keyboarding has not helped my neck at all. But, it really doesn't both me too much unless I'm on the computer for a very long time.

I'm glad you guys are okay. Did you get much damage from the storms. The only damage I'm getting is from that darned leaf-cutter bee!

Susan