Dear Editor:
As I watch houses being demolished in my neighbourhood, I am struck by the simultaneous demolition of the gardens that once surrounded them. So many shrubs are crunched under the bulldozers. What a terrible waste.
When we visit other cities, I am always interested in the handsome displays of shrubbery that line their highways. What a beautiful setting they provide, and how much it speaks to the visitor about the kind of place they are visiting. By comparison, our highways are bleak.
Why not make it part of each building permit that on the day of demolition, the bulldozer must scoop out the shrubs on each property and line them up at the edge of the road. Not all will survive, but many will. The shrubs could then be picked up by our public works department and planted along the Highway 1. Can you imagine lines of gorgeous rhododendrons blooming all the way from Horseshoe Bay to the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge?
Or if that is just too much work, the shrubs could be made available to neighbours for replanting.
We are destroying so much: let’s do a better job of rescuing and reusing our garden stock.
Margaret Campbell
North Vancouver
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