OK to kill poppies growing wild in a community garden Aptos, CA? Yes? No?

OK to kill  poppies growing wild in a  community garden in  Aptos, CA?  Yes? No?

Some say, “Kill!  Kill!  It’s OK to kill poppies, because ….”

CA poppies are just a weed, right? And it’s OK to kill weeds ….

 Weeds are plants that happen to be where someone does not want them to be, right?

And  if you think that a CA golden poppy is a weed then it’s OK to  kill — eradicate — poison  CA poppies, right?

And, that’s what happened in sleepy, lovely Aptos, CA.

Someone or persons  decided that it’s  perfectly OK to kill CA  poppies. That is, poppies growing along a fence and within  a community garden located in Aptos, CA.

History:  For  the last couple years,  CA poppies grew  freely along the fence of a community garden in Aptos, CA. #AptosCommunityGarden      And as poppies are want to do, some poppies growing along outside the fence migrated  inside the community garden.  There were lots of poppies just outside the fence and a few poppies here and there inside the fence of the community garden.

Suddenly one day recently  —  no more poppies grow  along the fence of the community garden in Aptos.  Almost all of the poppies inside the gate, along the gate and next to some plots are also history.   Pictures of garden available on Twitter:     #AptosCommunityGarden

Someone  or persons —  was it an impulse or was it planned?  — wiped out in one day  almost all of  the  CA poppies growing along the  community garden fence and most of those growing inside the garden.

A person or people who kill poppies ….. what also do they kill?

They kill  beauty.  They forget or never saw the beauty of CA hillsides.

 What else do they kill?  One wonders,  what kind of a person kills CA poppies growing wild along a fence at a community garden.

Maybe the person(s)  who killed the poppies believes  that poppies are “invasive weeds” which will take over the boxes of  the well manicured vegetable boxes.

Not so.  Poppies don’t tend to be invasive.  Poppies prefer sandy ground, no water and no  care.  Poppies are a true wildflower.

Maybe the person(s) who killed the poppies  did so to “clear the pathway” between the garden plots?  That theory fails because  lots of flowers and other plants continue to grow along the pathways.

Whoever targeted these CA poppies was not interested in clearing the pathways.  The goal was to kill poppies. And they did quite a good job of killing off the poppies.

 So,  what was the motive for killing poppies? God only knows!   And that person knows.

Well,  what to do?  Accept bad behavior of people who kill poppies?  No.

What to do?  Stand up for what you believe in.

I believe that poppies and wildflowers are good and help the world and people to heal.  So — what to do when faced with bad behavior of those who kill poppies?  Grow more poppies.  And keep an eye out.

So, let’s  keep an eye out for person(s) who kill poppies growing on public lands and along fences. Tell them about the laws in CA about poppies. They need education.

The law has plenty to say about killing poppies without the express permission of the land owner.  CA poppies do have legal rights.

“California Penal Code Section 384a requires written landowner permission to remove and sell plant material from land that a person does not own, and removing or damaging plants from property that a person does not own without permission may constitute trespass and/or petty theft.  However, these laws do not prevent the collection of California poppies on private land by the landowner.”  

Those poppies recently killed along the fence of a community garden in Aptos, CA  — if the other side of the fence is public land (owned by the government)  then it appears that a crime may have been committed.   Taking that which does not belong to the owner is a theft. And trespass.

Would the owner of a community garden in Aptos, CA  knowingly give permission to kill  CA poppies growing along the fence?   Or inside the garden?  I think not.

Stand up for what you believe in.  And I believe in wildflowers.

 Remember this quote? By Martin Niemoller

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

“Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

“Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

So,  who speaks up  for the  poppies growing along fences of a community garden in Aptos, CA ?

What do you say?  Comments appreciated.    #Aptosia

http://www.parksconservancy.org/about/newsletters/park-e-ventures/2013/09-npn.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/