A Car Ate My Tree

This was NOT the blog entry I'd hope to do this evening. I'm fine - everyone is okay. No pedestrians, bikers, or other drivers were involved. The driver himself was shaken, but is physically fine - thanks to his airbag. By the grace of God, I was in the backyard during this incident. I heard it, but did not see it. What I did see was the look of horror on the faces of those who were looking in that direction.

I live on a very busy intersection and once before a car ran into the front yard hill and took out several of my lavender plants. They were easily replaced. This time though, the driver went over the sidewalk, past the border rocks, up a steep hill, through the groundcover rose bushes and completely demolished birch tree, before hitting the houses' brick wall and coming to a stop.

I loved that tree. Newly planted when I moved in about 5-6 years ago, it had just started to peel its bark in interesting ways. Pictured here is the car exactly where the tree used to be. I'm looking through my collection, but not many show the tree as I'd always focused on the perennials surrounding it or did tight close-ups of the bark.

Amazingly, the car looks pretty unscathed as does my house. Again, no one was hurt and it was quite the show for my surrounding neighbors. I wanted to kick the tow-truck driver who tromped through my perennial beds. Isn't that always the way? Why do the "helpers" actually cause additional damage!

I'll be contacting my insurance company shortly - at this point it looks like replacing the tree is the major thing - then getting the groundcover roses and perennials to fill back in as well. I may have lost an azalea or two - hard to tell as they are under the tree debris and I'll need a saw plus assistance to movie it.

Did I mention all this happened during my first "Open Garden" hours? Luckily my only visitors for it today were neighbors and a few passing motorists who saw the sign and asked where to purchase the magazine. I'll be doing the Open Garden again next week and keeping one eye on passing cars as I weed and tend my front yard.