I am so disappointed.  The day started out so well.  I was up early and working in the garden while it was still covered with God’s air conditioning.  I weeded and got almost all of the plants into the ground that had been waiting for me.  I pruned and watered and really enjoyed being out in the sun.

Part of the pleasure came from the fact that my favorite landscaper had finally arrived to give me a hand with the mid-summer clean up.  We have so many gardens that I can no longer keep up with them on my own.  I hire Jose and his crew once during the growing year, and once again to put the gardens to bed for the winter.  Jose got his crew started and then disappeared.  The guys did a fabulous job cleaning at the north end of the garage and around the apple tree.  They pulled the overgrown weeds from the raised veggie beds which are too shady now for veggies.  They cleaned out the poison ivy from the pear tree bed, and weeded across most of the front of the house, and the day lilly bed on the south side.

It was looking fabulous, and then one of them started to work in the herb garden. I wanted them to pull the weeds from the chat in the walk way.  I also wanted them to cut back the lemon balm to about 6″.  Somehow, through lack of English, and the fact that I didn’t understand that THEY didn’t understand, they though I wanted them to trim back plants from the raised boxes that were growing over the sides of the boxes.

Nope.  That wasn’t what I wanted.  With a gas powered cutter in about 30 seconds the sage, day liles and the most beautiful huge  winter savory plant were reduced to stubs.  I was screaming at him from the kitchen window,  but he couldn’t hear.

They’ll grow back, but not this season.  They’ll look mostly stunted until next year.

In the future I’m going to have to be out there working with them.  I’ll hire them again, but I’ll be underfoot to be sure they do what I want them to do.

The rest of the gardens and several non-garden areas look great.  They’ve done a good job, but I’m really sad about  the sage and winter savory.  Dear Husband will say to me, “In a hundred years, will this matter?”  No.  Maybe not even by snowfall will it matter.  I’m just sad today..