Not as many rants and perhaps meloncholy

 On the same note as butchering trees and shrubs, there is the trimming of grasses that really shouldn't be trimmed.

Liriope muscari aka Giant Lilyturf

This particular grass like plant can get as big as two feet high and wide, sometimes has a stem of purple flowers and is a really tough and good plant for low water areas. Because this particular one is near a sidewalk along with another one, the gardeners trim it back along small paths in the dirt. It looks like a bad haircut that needs to grow out. Again another example of a plant that may have been put in the right place but over time the size is misunderstood with what is going on around it and it just is trimmed that way from now on. Sigh.

There are also some Paperbark trees in the complex behind us that were thinned and topped to just above the eaves of the building. If these trees were left to grow their mature  height they would be double that size or more. (30 x 20 feet)

Melaleuca sp. possibly quinquinervia

It is distantly related to Eucalyptus both being in the myrtle family. Yes indeed. You've likely seen this tree everywhere with the spongy peeling bark sometimes coming off in small sheets. Anyway, people have used it as hedges and screens. But whyyy? Why plant a tree like that and then have to prune it to keep it within a managed size? Because people.

For the melancholy I believe an old friend of mine from forty years ago has passed away. Rather cryptic note on another persons page in facebook clued me in. She was a bigger than life lady and hosted weekly open house for anyone to drop by in her small house. My kids grew up knowing her and all the people we knew that dropped by.

She took up being a florist out of her home because she loved flowers and it was a way to support her habit, in her words. She was the one that introduced me to Costco and in a roundabout way I met my first husband at the gatherings. She had a Ponderosa Lemon growing in her side yard that was sour as can be (the lemons get bigger than a grapefruit) because if anyone came to the house in a foul mood from work or whatever she'd tell them to go 'talk to the tree, it needs to be more sour '. It was a way for people to get rid of their ugly mood and negative energy outside the house so everyone could enjoy being there and have fun.

She had a rare climbing rose growing on the front of her house called Belle Portugaise, Belle of Portugal Rose.

She was very proud of that rose bush and it's one of my memories of this wonderful lady. They lived in San Jose for decades and then her husband got a job working in Seattle and they moved probably about ten or fifteen years ago. If not for facebook I would never have known we lost contact when I got divorced and moved to San Diego.

People sometimes want to plant a tree or bush in memory of a pet, friend or loved one that passed away. I actually encountered a couple that was buying an orange tree that they would plant on the first birthday of their first child.  Plants, like people, need care in order to thrive and grow to their full potential. If you wish to do a memorial planting, please be sure that it will be cared for properly and if you don't want to plant a tree, consider a favorite flower that they liked and plant that. Even if it's an annual, you can plant it every year as a reminder of the passing of time. My mom's favorite flower was sweet peas and was able to grow some in a tiny garden before she passed away. Oddly enough when my daughter was getting married she wanted sweet peas in her bouquet (sadly it was August and way out of season) and I had never told her about my mother's flower. She said they were her favorite flower too.

Other than the Shakesperean and Victorian meaning of flowers think of what flowers mean to you and what memories they bring. So many people hate geraniums because their grandmother had them all over and they associate it with being old or just don't like the way they look. Fine... but what if they were your grandmothers favorite flower and she wanted them planted on her grave? 

Anyway, flowers have meaning and so do words, remember those that you love with not only words but actions and their legacy in a garden.