People who have kept up with the saga of us, our landlord and all manner of dubious prospective tenants for the flats above us via Twitter will be aware of this. Cutting a very long story short, we have some dodgy builders in the upstairs flat who will think nothing of working from 7:45am to 9:00pm, hammering loudly and incessantly the whole time. They may well be putting in internal walls (illegally, as it's a listed building and no planning permission has been sought), and they're sticking a new back door on at the top of the fire escape.
On Thursday they dropped their drill. Into Jurassic Park. Hubster saw one of them come down the steps, reach in and pick it up, and go back upstairs. Then he went outside to check on my plants.
That used to be Euphorbia characias "Black Pearl". I doubt it is anymore. There are a few things about which I am incredibly protective. My family, my gecko, my students, and my plants. Not only did the builder smash the plant, but he did not own up to it. If he had tapped on the back door (which is almost always open when we're in) and said "I'm really sorry, I dropped the drill and it smashed the plant" then we could have had a civil conversation about it.
But ask any one of my students, and they'll say that not owning up to things is one way to really piss me off. So by the time I had got together the pieces, I was seething with rage. I absolutely screamed at the builders, all of whom denied it, until one of them said he'd dropped the drill "so I think maybe it was me". YOU THINK??? Hubster, by this point, was more concerned for the safety of the builders than he was for my distress.
Eventually they asked me how much it was, and I plucked £15 out of the air. Perhaps a little more than it would normally cost from a garden centre, but I'm happy enough to factor in a replacement pot, compost and the several stiff margaritas I needed to calm down. However, I'd bought it from Burncoose Nurseries on holiday in Cornwall this year, so if that proved to be the only place selling it then delivery charges alone would be £13. I don't think "Black Pearl" is too unusual a variety, but it's not really the right time of year to buy euphorbias as they're all finishing up their flowering (I deadheaded "Robbiae" today). The plant itself may not be lost - I shall repot it and put it in the ICU to see if I can breathe some life back into it.
One thing I did manage to impress on them is that they were jolly lucky the drill did not fall a couple of feet in either direction. Whilst the guy who appeared to be in charge seemed to have more money on him than we have in our bank account, I don't think they'd appreciate replacing what is now a 1.5m tall Wollemia nobilis, or Encephalartos princeps (could I even get another one of them?). And I doubt replacing my £300 fountain is in their budget either.
On Thursday they dropped their drill. Into Jurassic Park. Hubster saw one of them come down the steps, reach in and pick it up, and go back upstairs. Then he went outside to check on my plants.
That used to be Euphorbia characias "Black Pearl". I doubt it is anymore. There are a few things about which I am incredibly protective. My family, my gecko, my students, and my plants. Not only did the builder smash the plant, but he did not own up to it. If he had tapped on the back door (which is almost always open when we're in) and said "I'm really sorry, I dropped the drill and it smashed the plant" then we could have had a civil conversation about it.
But ask any one of my students, and they'll say that not owning up to things is one way to really piss me off. So by the time I had got together the pieces, I was seething with rage. I absolutely screamed at the builders, all of whom denied it, until one of them said he'd dropped the drill "so I think maybe it was me". YOU THINK??? Hubster, by this point, was more concerned for the safety of the builders than he was for my distress.
Eventually they asked me how much it was, and I plucked £15 out of the air. Perhaps a little more than it would normally cost from a garden centre, but I'm happy enough to factor in a replacement pot, compost and the several stiff margaritas I needed to calm down. However, I'd bought it from Burncoose Nurseries on holiday in Cornwall this year, so if that proved to be the only place selling it then delivery charges alone would be £13. I don't think "Black Pearl" is too unusual a variety, but it's not really the right time of year to buy euphorbias as they're all finishing up their flowering (I deadheaded "Robbiae" today). The plant itself may not be lost - I shall repot it and put it in the ICU to see if I can breathe some life back into it.
One thing I did manage to impress on them is that they were jolly lucky the drill did not fall a couple of feet in either direction. Whilst the guy who appeared to be in charge seemed to have more money on him than we have in our bank account, I don't think they'd appreciate replacing what is now a 1.5m tall Wollemia nobilis, or Encephalartos princeps (could I even get another one of them?). And I doubt replacing my £300 fountain is in their budget either.
I don't want to say you were lucky it fell on the euphorbia but compared to some of the other stuff you have that may have been the best place for it (although having said that Enceph princeps would probably have ate the drill and the builder trying to retrieve it - spikey little %£%$£^).
ReplyDeleteSo very uncool to not acknowledge it though. Especially given the obvious care and effort you put into them which anyone looking at it can see.
I'm very sorry to hear about this incident. I dislike liars and people who are careless. Accidents happen, but when they crash upon our plants, I can understand completely how you felt. I hope you can salvage the plant. They're stronger than they appear at times. I know they take forever to grow. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteSO annoying. You're absolutely right about euphorbias. One year there's nothing but, say, 'Portuguese Velvet' and two years later you can't buy it for love nor money. The varieties come and go very quickly.
ReplyDeletePeople never seem to realise that plants COST MONEY. And if they didn't cost you anything in cash, they cost you in time and effort.
I got home to find that my daughter's beer-drinking friends had trampled a Tetrapanax rex and Heuchera 'Southern Comfort' because they couldn't be arsed to go around the outside of the bed and just walked straight through it. I've put a big pot there instead now. But I was tempted to install a man trap...
That is the worst of it, the not owning up to it. Perhaps it's because they place no value on plants. And yet it is obvious how much effort I put in.
ReplyDeleteIt was fortunate that it wasn't one of the rarer plants, but probably fortunate mostly for the builders, as they'd have been fed into my wood chipping machine and turned into mulch.
Aw no Julia! That sucks big time!
ReplyDeleteI know how frustrating and angry i used to get with damage to my plants when all I had was a front garden in Hayes- the little s%*ts from the estate behind used to jsut walk past and trample stuff or break things off. In the end i just started growing teasels and berberis on that side of the garden. Im hope your builders will not be there for long!
Will the Euphobia reshoot from the stem like E. mellifera does? Agree so glad your Encephalartus is safe! Perhaps give him a riot sheild if the builders are still there for a while!
Owen x
Yes, E. princeps is tucked in with a load of conifers, so he should be okay. I just don't know when the builders are going to go. If they were working for us, then we'd have a timetable for work, but they're working for the people upstairs, and they appear to come and go when they feel like it and don't seem accountable to anyone.
ReplyDeleteWhat an annoying person! You're right that he was lucky the drill didn't fall on more precious plants.
ReplyDeleteHoney don't get upset its only a plant ..... is perhaps the most annoying phrase in the entire history of the planet.
ReplyDeleteOne of the kids near us once knocked a head off one of my flowers in the front garden and my husband was so worried about how incensed I would be that he went round to their house and made them come and apologise to me.
I didn't know where to look for embarrassment as it was a crummy plant. But I'm still glad they apologised.
I hope you have a nice new Euphorbia just popping into flower right now!