New shoots

Not only in Westminster.

Some may recall that on June 2nd a swathe of our newly-planted  saplings was accidentally razed by our neighbour's grandson who mistook his instructions for cutting grass in another area. I'm happy to report that most of the shrubs are regenerating. [Clockwise from bottom left: hawthorn, hazel, wild cherry.]  But the trees with a single trunk  remain as bare stumps. There's still hope for them but if they don't revive they will have to  be replaced.

Neither the young man who did the deed nor his uncle who gave him his instructions have provided any explanation or apology. His mother wanted to bring her own horticulturalist around to check that our claim for compensation, as calculated by our arborist, was correct.  She asked us not to contact her parents (our neighbours) about the matter as they are old and get stressed.  Well! I did point out that we are old too (older in fact) although I didn't add that the event was a tad stressful for us too, given that we had put a lot of work into establishing the trees.

We have agreed to re-calculate the damage when we know how many need replacing but I think our neighbour feels embarassed that the matter has not been cleared up straight away as a gesture of good will,  in line with old-school rural etiquette.