Gardening, beyond being a hobby, can be a real labor of love. It's no wonder this Reddit user is upset that their native plants were vandalized.
In the subreddit r/NativePlantGardening, a Reddit user posted their story of how, after working on restoring their land to native plant species for over four years, they were "so disappointed and frustrated" to find their new native tree saplings vandalized — stakes broken in half and saplings ripped out of the soil and thrown into a creek. The user noted that this vandalization happened twice in one month.
This Reddit user had been working hard to get rid of invasive plant species on their land and, in turn, replace them with native species. If planted in an environment where they can thrive, invasive species will edge out the native species and potentially wreak havoc on entire ecosystems. Natives, by comparison, directly support their ecosystems and promote biodiversity.
In this particular case, the Redditor notably acknowledges that they have been lucky to obtain "quite a few saplings" through Pennsylvania's 10 Million Trees, a collaborative organization that plans to massively increase the number of trees in the state by 2025.
This story of plant vandalism is unfortunately not an isolated event. A recent Guardian article highlighted the cutting down of almost 300 trees and hundreds of other plants in the middle of the night on public land in Sydney, Australia. The majority of these trees were native to Sydney, according to the city of Sydney's tree species lists.
"You're not talking about just the loss of the tree but a community asset that's been nurtured, managed, and looked after for a long time," Greg Moore, an arboricultural scientist at the University of Melbourne, told the Guardian.
Another example of plant vandalism was the recent and highly publicized case of the Sycamore Gap Tree, which was cut down by a teenager in Northumberland, England. The tree, which was close to 300 years old, was featured in the 1991 film "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves."
No matter the scale of plant vandalism, whether accidentally trampling someone's plants or purposefully cutting down hundreds of trees, there will be environmental implications. This is especially true when native species are being destroyed, as they are already often faced with the threat of invasive species.
"Who in the world has time to rip out trees? Western PA is infested with invasives so I'm super glad you're doing this, even if your work is being destroyed," commented one user.
Another user chimed in, saying: "I'm also in Western PA, planting natives with the hopes of someday getting to restoration. The worst my neighbors have done is call my place an abomination, which is disheartening enough!"
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