To be angry about this

[Wheredidallmytreesgo]

Bought a house a few months ago, and the garden is huge and stunning. I know bugger all about gardening and I’m as useless as a chocolate tea pot. The gardener of the previous owner had worked there for 15 years so we decided to keep them on. They asked for more hours per week as they said the garden needed a bit of an overhaul/extra time than they had been able to give. Fair enough. We also paid them quite a lot of money to spend a weekend clearing out weeds, old shrubs they said needed to go. All fine so far.

A week later I come home to find they they have absolutely mutilated my garden. They had removed about 6/7 trees and shrubs and essentially left a huge fucking patch of dirt around my garden. I think received a hefty bill for this and also then had to pay to have the trees removed.

I was in a state of shock I suppose and thought “what’s done is done”, paid and didn’t say anything else. He kept working for us. I asked if he had a plan of what to replace the trees with and he said “that’s not really what I do, landscaping”. So no. Just a dirt heap in my garden.

Luckily a good friend of mine is a genius with gardens and has developed a beautiful plan but now that lockdown has stopped everything and I am looking at my shitty fucking dirt patch every day where there were such beautiful trees...I’m just getting ragier and ragier (I doubt those are words but you know what I mean).

AIBU? Should I let it go? Can I even do anything at this stage?!

Here’s a tree as a thank you for reading such a long post 🌲

What species were the trees that were removed?

Also, those trees look very healthy!
I love trees, you wouldn't want to be the person that damages my trees.

Was the big tree in your garden, @Wheredidallmytreesgo? It could have been diseased rather than dead and needed removing, or the roots could have been causing damage.

I am with your gardener on the shrubs though. If you look at the largest one, it has been cut back so you can see the dead centre and the ivy growing through it. You wouldn't be able to prune it back so it would have just continued to grow larger and destroy the other shrubs. If you did cut it back to shape it, it would just die, you wouldn't get new growth on the branches you have cut back. Once you removed it, the other shrubs would probably be the same, you would have had a view of the dead growth inside. You probably wouldn't be able to remove the largest one without killing the others anyway.

I think it was the best decision from a gardening point of view, at least as far as the shrubs were concerned. It would have needed to be done at some point in the near future. It's hard to say about the tree without knowing more.

I really don’t think he knows anything about gardening. The after picture is shocking but even the before picture does not look like a well maintained garden. We have a big garden, half an acre, and both work so it doesn’t get endless hours of maintenance by any standard. We only get a gardener every few months and it still looks better than your before picture. You need a new gardener. These are from our garden today. As I say we only get the gardener 3 times a year

I think he probably did a good job in the long run. There wasn't anything there I would have kept

Me too. I suspect he did the right thing, nothing in there looked worth keeping, it was an over grown mess, but if the op wanted to keep the trees she says she believed to be dead, then he should have clarified what he was going to do.

And no way he sold or gave that stuff back to the previous owner. 🤣

@gemandjule

What a fabulous garden!

If the previous owner is dead, I’d wager he is a chancer and not even a real gardener

You’ve been had!

I’m a keen gardener, I gasped at your photos.
If he’s been doing that garden for 15 years why on earth would he rip it apart?
I would be raging and definitely not paid him, no way should he have removed so much without a discussion.
Get rid of him and find someone new.
I’m so angry on your behalf 😡🤬

I wonder if the neighbours paid him to get rid of a tree that reduced their light?

Trees often deplete the soul surely not!

@wheredidallmytreesgo. Thank you. I love it. That’s the back. The front is nicer. It is low maintenance honestly. You just need good planting and a good gardener 😃

Even the before picture looks very average. What a joke. Can’t think why you haven’t sacked him already! You’ve no need of a gardener with nothing actually left in the garden.

Tbh what there was in the garden was not terribly attractive and looked straggly. The gardener sounds very ruthless though and should have sought your approval before uprooting the lot. It’s a good job you have the capital to replace the shrubs and trees, it’s not going to be cheap. As for planting, you need to book a company ASAP. Good landscapers are booked up months in advance.

I think tree owners need to be careful that their trees are not affecting neighbouring gardens. The suggestion that some of the neighbours wanted rid of those trees had occurred to me too.

Ok, yes that is shit! However, may I recommend to you:
Eucalyptus trees. Very fast growing and evergreen. They can be cut to either form large shrubs or left to grow into trees.
Buddula/lilac shrubs/ also fast growing and colourful (not too costly either)
Evergreen clemetis - there's one that grows ridiculously fast, provides lovely year round greenery and has the most amazing abundance of white jasmine scented blooms in the spring.
You will see a difference by next year. In the meantime, some turf/wild flower mix could help this year.

It will be better in the long run, when you can realise your new plan. You can get some stunning new trees and shrubs, just exactly what you want - cherry? Magnolia? Birch? Some specialist nurseries do wonderful specimens at a decent size - check out online. Look at RHS recommended nurseries. Pick up an armful of mags. Do a mood board of favourites, overall look, paving type for paths/patio. Look forward x
Problem is, a lot of 'gardeners' have no proper horticultural knowledge and rely on simple stuff. Lesson learned. No real loss, apart from current view?
Don't be mad at yourself. Fire him. No question. Do some reading - any local gardening clubs? Look after your new garden yourself. You will love it.

Just get some patio down

You know what? I think your neighbour paid him to do it.

Maybe they hated the shade.

A lot of gardeners/landscapers are still working at the moment. We have people working for us. We don’t have to have any contact with them. Maybe you could try to get a few things planted so you’re not just looking at all the dirt?

Agree with some previous posters that there are a good many 'gardeners' out there who are certainly not craft gardeners and are what I refer to as 'mow & blow' merchants, lacking in real horticultural skills or knowledge. It is simple to set oneself up as a 'gardener', find oneself a few customers who will pay handsomely for regular mowing, pruning, hedgecutting ( and don't get me started on that one - NO hedges should be cut from March to August because of nesting birds), weeding etc. An artisan gardener, who is also a knowledgeable plantsperson, is a much rara avis, and should always be more than happy to present a portfolio of their work and engender a sense of pride and 'ownership' in the gardens for which they have responsibility.

I am sorry OP for what has happened to your garden, although, with respect, in my view, it wasn't anything astounding before. All I can say is move forward and start afresh, with a new gardener who can demonstrate real ability and provide excellent references from previous and existing customers. Good luck

YANBU, he's handled it badly and taken you for a ride.

However they weren't great shrubs and were past their best. Conifers are awful for any kind of regrowth so don't recover from anything other than a light tidy up.

Annoying as it is now, especially with current logistical difficulties, it is better in the long run to have a clean slate. I'd also recommend that you enrich the soil in that zone with some organic matter as conifers ruin the soil for most other plants.

The trees in the 'before' picture don't look dead although the large one is clearly not in great shape. One looks like it had been cut back at least a couple of years ago and has new growth on the exposed parts. The smaller gold conifer in front of it looks fine.

I don't know what the gardener was thinking. Maybe he just doesn't like conifers? However, I don't think there is anything you can do other than find yourself a new gardener. You agreed to him cutting trees and shrubs and you should have made sure you knew exactly what he was going to do.

Why did you carry on employing him

You agreed to him cutting trees and shrubs and you should have made sure you knew exactly what he was going to do

I did! We agreed on some specific shrubs and trees. He came for the weekend, we paid him 900£ and he did them/paid for removal. No problems. Everyone happy. Garden looked better and neater and we were waiting to come
Up with a plan of what to plant in planting season.

Then, without warning I came home
To the carnage you see on the photo, and essentially a 1000£ bill.

I know people are saying it wasn’t great before but it was a damn sight better than now.

@Tomorrowillbeachicken

I don’t really think the depth of the horrible fucking garden sunk in until I was here all the time looking at it. Honestly. And the more I have spoken to my gardening whizz
Friend, the more I am sure he didn’t really behave very well. I think I was just surprised that they were all gone when I came home and was a bit like “quite cheeky he didn’t ask”, shocked by the bill and then felt “no use crying over spilt milk”. Except lockdown has curdled the milk and made it smelly and it’s got my back up 😊

You don't know that the shrubs/trees weren't dead and I wouldn't assume anything to the contrary without proof. You say you don't know anything about gardening so you relied on him.Its a perfect time to be reading up about gardening and deciding what you want.