That is so disheartening, I totally understand your pain. I've had the same experience myself in the past. I don't know what it is about some gardening "helpers"! They just don't seem to see the stuff they are ruining. We recently had our Douglas firs windsailed, and I did see some of the workers trying to be careful with the plants growing under the trees, but some things still got trampled by big men in muddy boots.

That's sad. You have every right to be mad and I hope you said something to him. If the plants are ruined he needs to replace them. Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about the peony buds. Mine are about to bloom and though they have a short bloom they're really showy and I love them.

Last year I sowed wild flower seeds in front of a fence and they were just sprouting when the guy with the weed wacker cut them all down. This year I ws them then put up cheap plastic fence in front of them so he knew something was there.

Caryl

I'm so sorry. Why is it that people who know and care so little about plants seem to end up billing themselves as lawn services and such?

Oh, that absolutely stinks! I'm so sorry to hear what happened. I kept putting off hiring someone to do spring clean up and now I'm very glad I waited. My mother hired someone to mow the huge lawn here years ago. The guy complained about the low branches on the dogwood trees but Mom told him not to cut them because they would never grow back. The guy cut them anyway--from all 4 trees along the boundary.

Oh, thank you all for the sympathy and experiences. I'm going to keep my hopes up that everything will recover.