How sad to see all that hard work gone due to someone else's unducated hard work! I feel for ya!

If you do reseed, put up a sign asking that nobody other than yourselves should care for that bed. Otherwise, someone could come back with a weedwacker when the plants are big. It's getting kind of late to start bluebonnets with seeds.

OH NO! That's terrible!!! I'd put up a sign and rope off the area PJ

I am SO sorry. I know I'd be upset. I've seen/heard of this kind of thing before. My boss has had it happen to her. Twice she planted some new plant and twice her lawn maintenance people took a weed-wacker to it and killed the plant.

I've also seen lawn maintenance people digging out the earthworms from a bed (landcaping of a median near a strip mall in Austin) and throwing them on the hot pavement as they were working in that bed. :-( It's sad what they DON'T know.

That is sad having your little babies plucked from there beds.
I have some blue and maybe white mixed in Larkspur seeds I can send you, just email me Jetman1979@aol.com. I may have a few other seeds to send along with them. I would do what Linda suggest, make or find a pretty sign Saying Maintained by you and everyone else stay out please????

Bless your hearts, Barb

Why do places keep paying for people to do work that they aren't trained to do. Makes you wonder if their doctor is trained.

Lawn maintenance people should stay on the lawn and keep their hands out of the beds or get some training on recognizing plants. I have real issues on this subject.

Ok I feel better now.......rant is over! LOL

Hi Betsy, I have all kinds of seeds I can send to you, including larkspur, columbine, shasta daisies and several others. I know just how you feel. I had planted a bed of daffodils and hollyhocks in front of the building where I work. And even though the hollyhocks were 2' tall and the daffs were in bloom, the maintenance people weedwhacked them anyway. I don't think anyones that stupid, I think they were just being vicious. Send me an e-amil with your mailing address and I'll send you a bit of each of the seed types that I have on hand right now. Cheryl

That's why we don't have a lawn service.

well, speaking from the peanut galery here, but this
same thing happened to a dear friend, and the problem
was language related

her lawn people just smiled when she told them to
their faces to stay away from a certain bed

imagine her horror when she came home from work to find
all her seedlings pulled up

when she called the company, they told her never to
tell them anything, as they don't speak english, always
call us and we'll relay the message

she fired them the next day

tesa

I've heard there are some people who just won't let anyone do work in their yard unless they are present to watch them the entire time. And that doesn't apply to just landscape work. We've had people do other kinds of work outside in the yard in the past, like putting siding on the house, for instance. And certain workers just seem to enjoy trampling plants as they go around doing whatever they are being paid to do. I mean it, they would go way out of their way to trample plants that weren't even in their way.

I'm feeling for you - my lawn service is part of the HOA, so I can't fire them. It took three years before they finally stopped whacking my loropetalum into a box shape. And even then, I came home early, noticed my bushes were still in pristine condition, then noticed that yes - the lawns on either side were mowed - but not mine. Found the workers on the block, asked for "el jefe", took him back, stood on the stones outlining the bed, and used hand signals to say - this side yours, that side mine. So far, it has worked, and the bushes are big enough that it is clear you don't cut them. But a neighbor had a sign made in spanish that stays in the yard saying "do not touch the garden - ever"....

terry

Thanks ya'll for your sympathy and empathy...I knew you would understand; and we are going to put up plant markers. Thanks Barb and Cheryl, I will email you.

Betsy

I have a similar horror story. I put up my house for sale. We had to leave to go to an out of town wedding for three days. The realtor had mentioned that she was going to have someone come over and neaten up my garden of 25 years. I returned to find my 40" bed of wandering jew just gone. A 6' loripetum and a 5' oakleaf filodendrum, gone. Countless other plants just ripped out willy nilly. They seemed to have stopped when they got to the back yard. I was in tears. The realtor said she had hired someone else because her normal guy was injured the new guy was color blind. I wanted blood. I wanted to see his red blood flowing over my green grass. It was a lesson in letting go. I was selling this place. My garden still was gorgeous and it sold my house in 7 days to someone who had watched it for years. The wandering jew grew back from the roots that he didn't manage to get.

Gotta say, I am through with hiring any company who doesn't provide an English speaking supervisor. You simply need to have someone on site, you can communicate with.

This posting had me (almost) sadly laughing because at times I boil about what my lawn service does to my flower beds. Especially this time of year when there really isn't much grass to mow, they concentrate on the beds. They came in and "cleaned" up my beds, i.e. removed all the leaves that were protecting perennials and tender annuals so now there is bare dirt and exposed plants. They even did this in my POTS!!!

The other day I drove by the beautiful mormon church in Champion Forest (NW Houston) and the lawn crew was raking all the leaves and pine needles out of the azalea beds and filling giant canvas bags with this material. I wondered if the giant canvas bags were their donation to the recycling effort......I guess it's a small start - take your natural mulch to the landfill in a canvas bag and dump it without the plastic bag!

I have caught these guys weed eating in my beds, which means daylilies have been slaughtered (I guess some of them are small and look like grass). But what they can do to your trees with weed eaters and hitting them with their mowers can be really devastating. I have huge chunks taken out of the bases of some of my trees.

I have complained, but gently (and a lot of good it's done - NOT). It's a really terrible job, especially in the summer time. We have a very large yard to do and I always feel badly for them, even as they are murdering plants and trees!

Does anyone know a lawn service in West Houston/Katy that will leave your garden alone?!!

I ask this because I feel your pain: my lawn crew just weed-wacked ALL my emerging bulbs! (and yes, they will be fired--I've HAD it!)