FLOWER BED FOLLY

Ok, this post is not really about flowers or beds but it is about folly, and that’s the key point.

The Quail Meadow documents as well as the City of West Palm Beach Code require mulching. To be specific, the regulations require mulch in those places that, well . . . everyone understands are supposed to be mulched. And not just any mulch, the Code describes the specific types of mulch that are acceptable.

Mulching serves a crucial purpose from an arborist’s standpoint. Although its secondary purpose may be beautification, its primary purpose is to hold the topsoil in place around the roots of bushes and trees and to retain moisture.

In junior high school – that’s grades 7 to 9 in New York City – everyone takes a class called “Earth Science.” The one thing I remember about Earth Science is the lesson on erosion. Hillsides, denuded of vegetation, are subject to erosion. Why? Once the roots of the vegetation that held topsoil in place are removed along with the vegetation, there is nothing to hold the topsoil in place. It then gets washed away with the first heavy rain.

The keen of intellect among you may say: “I see where this is going but not so fast. There are no hills in Quail Meadow. After all, it’s Quail Meadow, not Quail Hills.” But hills there are.

All of our homes are on the top of slight inclines that grade toward the street. This permits rainwater to drain from around our homes. The topsoil that surrounds all the bushes and other landscaping that has been exposed by the absence of mulch has been substantially or completely washed away, exposing an underlying sand layer. The erosion has also exposed buried pipes and electric lines.

Take a look at this recent photo of one Quail Meadow home. The depth of the erosion is nearly one foot, exposing an 24” length of PVC pipe and in-line apparatus that is now hanging in the air, sagging, unsupported by soil. Apart from the danger to pedestrians tripping off of the sidewalk, the risk of an accident caused by the exposed conduit is obvious.

The next photos show sand eroded from a front yard, washed into the street gutter by summer rains.

The absence of topsoil robs our landscaping of basic soil nutrients that occasional fertilizing does not supply, causing the haggard appearance of much of the community’s landscaping.

The volume of fill and topsoil required to replace the eroded matter and restore the level of yards to the sidewalk is likely to be several tons. The folly is that in a misguided effort to save money by eliminating a necessary and required landscaping practice, successive Quail Meadow boards of directors, all presided over by Toni Leben, have created a situation that is not only unattractive but that also constitutes a dangerous hazard.

The Board’s decision a decade or more ago, acquiesced in by subsequent boards, apparently as a cost saving measure, is indefensible and reckless – mulch is not a discretionary budget item – and yet it is defended by Leben, on budgetary grounds. The board is on notice of the problems, in some cases inherently dangerous hazards, yet has done nothing to correct them. “Where will we get the money,” board President Leben asked me, as we walked a stretch of Quail Meadow Way together this summer.