Frogleg wrote:
On 01 Jul 2004 02:34:05 GMT, (OhSojourner) wrote:
I'm steamed about this. It wasn't necessary to remove the trellis in
order to
do their job. It's also not a comforting thought to know there's no
guarantee
of keeping things protected and maintained on your own property.
You might call the electric co. and ask if you can be informed ahead
of time when they plan to do trimming in your area. If you're very
polite (and pitiful) about your ruined Schisandra, they *might* help
you out with a new plant.
Update: I sent them an email yesterday, and they responded shortly afterwards
with an apologetic email, promising to follow up to get more details. Now I'm
hoping that I can locate a plant of similar age so I know how much they can
reimburse me for.
Thing is, utility companies' business isn't horticulture. "A little
bit in the way" to you is simply "in the way" to a trimming crew. If
you don't want things slashed down and hacked out, check with the
company to see what kind of clearance is supposed to be maintained,
and do your own trimming.
None of my own plants were in the way of power lines. They were working on a
very tall, old tree that was on the other side of a fence on the border of my
property. They were trimming some of the higher branches, and they decided to
toss the branches onto my property (in the direction of the trellis, where
other workmen ), when they could have accessed the tree and tossed the branches
onto the other lot (which was behind a garage where nobody was growing
anything). The fact that they could have used this vacant area instead is
what's especially annoying.
Of course, maybe they were just following their scheduled paperwork and the
tree "belonged" to my street (not the street of the adjacent lot that would
have sustained less damage). Actually, I'm not even sure whose tree it is.
It's behind a fence that somebody put up years before I bought the property, so
I assumed it was the property of the neighbors. Maybe not, if what I'm
deducing is correct.
Incidentally, this was the same power company who was at fault for the major
blackout last year. Maybe they just hire klutzy people (and/or were trying to
overcompensate for the mishap that happened last year.) Well, at least,
hopefully I might be able to get the plant replaced.