finger blight: we notice

This is the same planter that had all its soil and bulbs pulled out a couple of weeks ago.  We had carefully replanted it and the tulips were blooming beautifully, and today, this:

finger blight

The thing is: We notice!  I know every single planter that we care for in Ilwaco, Long Beach, and Peninsula points north, and while I know the loss of a few tulips is trivial in the world’s woes, it plagues me that today people driving or walking along the street will have one less bright cluster of flowers to enjoy.  Somewhere, in someone’s living room or perhaps on their kitchen table, is a lovely bouquet of stolen tulips, and only the members of that household now get to enjoy them.

My friend Mary took a photo for me of a sign at the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland Washington, which reads:

READ THIS....Please.
<-- This is Eartha Riche, our head gardener. She is
very strong because she works so hard. She is also
grumpy for the same reason. The only time we see her
smile is when she catches someone breaking the rules.
We suspect she uses rule breakers to fertilize the garden,
but we're afraid to ask. She is always lurking in the
bushes hoping to catch rule breakers, so please read
and follow the rules. We just hate to lose our guests.

1. No running or climbing trees or shrubs. No playing in the flower beds.
This is not a playground.
2. Stay on the paths when you can. Eartha does not
take kindly to trampled plants.
3. No smoking or alchohol allowed. Eartha will not
tolerate either of these.
4. Do not pick leaves, flowers or branches. This
REALLY ticks Eartha off.
5. No pets, no matter how cute or well behaved. You
don't want to know what Eartha does to pets.
6. Be kind to our workers. Nearly all are unpaid volunteers.
Friends or members of the Hulda Klager Lilac Society.
7. The gardens are open daily from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. during
Lilac Days. You had better leave then. You don't
want to meet Eartha after the gates close.

Eartha says:
DON'T MESS WITH
HULDA'S GARDEN

inspirational Tilth sign

I saw the above sign at Seattle’s Tilth garden in 2007, so last year, when one particular planter near the Ilwaco boatyard kept having its center plant stolen, I made a little sign of my own:

plant protecting sign

It actually worked and the center plant (a pink Gaura) was left alone for the rest of the summer…but I can’t see putting a sign like that in every single planter because it makes the town look like a den of thieves live here!

So I will probably have to continue to live with that disappointed feeling when I see a planter that should be glorious and is instead a big nothingness. At least I know that Eartha and Tilth and I all share the same problem and I am sure many other public gardeners empathize with my plight.