Cindy wrote:
bougainvillea

Talk about timing! Not a month after I posted that question about
car-stopping hedgerows, did a car come crashing through my hedges at my
northern CA home. The intoxicated driver was being chased by the police
when he decided to turn onto my front lawn.

http://www.robert.to/Police.jpg

In this photo, the car on the left is sitting in the middle of my lawn,
after going through some shrubs planted in the corner of the property.
He came to rest at a birch tree:


http://www.robert.to/CarTreeImpact.jpg

(Here he is after backing up a foot or so. You can see the plate got
bent when he hit the tree.)

About 18" of bark, 50% around the poor tree got dislodgled:

http://www.robert.to/TreeDamage.jpg
http://www.robert.to/TreeDamage2.jpg

Anyway, we're going to try to plant something with more car-stopping
power in the corner here (though it was probably a freak accident
because this is a quiet, residential street in a very safe community.
And maybe we'll help the bushes out with an iron post or concrete
barrier, hidden inside the plantings.

The arborist said my tree may not make it. It'll take a year or so to
know for sure...