Photograph by Paul Myers

Volunteer Graham Burrows planted 16 magnolia trees for the town early this year, 15 of which were recently destroyed by vandals.

Vandals dim town's bright spring

By Gloria I. Wang

Police say they are not investigating the string of plant vandalisms that occurred downtown in the past few weeks, when unknown vandals damaged some greenery and tore up the exterior landscaping of a few businesses.

Plants were ripped out of their boxes and dirt strewn all over sidewalks the evening of Feb. 21. At least one N. Santa Cruz Avenue shop also had lipstick scrawled across its front doors. And, on Los Gatos Boulevard, 15 newly planted magnolia trees were destroyed; however, it is undetermined if that damage is related to the downtown incidents.

According to the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department, only one report was filed out of the various vandalisms that had occurred. One business--Adrienne's on N. Santa Cruz--had its flowers outside pulled out of the planters and reported it to police.

"We won't go out there and actively pursue a vandalism unless there's a good suspect," said Detective Sgt. Tim Morgan; in this case, there were no suspects. Morgan said that although the department had heard about the other acts of vandalism through word of mouth or information phone calls, they could not treat the incidents as a rash of cases because there never were official reports filed for each.

The vandalism destroyed what had been a labor of love for Graham Burrows--known as the "Johnny Appleseed of Los Gatos"--who had spent hours planting a row of 16 magnolias between Jan. 16 and Feb. 6. The trees were on the left, just past the stop sign after Los Gatos High School heading north. Burrows, a retiree who volunteers to plant trees wherever needed, said the Los Gatos Boulevard job was especially difficult because the soil was full of stones.

Most of the magnolia trees, Burrows said, were either cut or snapped near the base. Some were pulled out at the roots. Because the trees were young and fragile, they were unable to recuperate.

Park Superintendent Tim Boyer said the town has ordered 15 new magnolias and expects Burrows to replant those trees on or around March 6. "He was pretty upset about it," Boyer said of Burrows' reaction to the destruction.

Burrows said a sycamore tree on N. Santa Cruz Avenue, near the Black Watch, had also been pulled up by its stakes and snapped. According to Burrows, the town has tried to plant trees in that spot over the years, but they never last long because of vandalism.

That tree will be replaced immediately "to make a statement to the vandals," Burrows said.

The daffodils next to St. Luke's Episcopal Church that were snipped off were also planted by volunteers. In November, elderly residents of the Meadows and other volunteers had helped plant those flowers as part of the town's annual Bloom-a-Thon.

The heads of the daffodils had been simply cut off, said Shirley Henderson, chairwoman of the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce's Beautification Committee, which was responsible for the Bloom-a-Thon. "I just don't know how anyone could be this mean," Henderson said.

Henderson said she assumed that the reason her store, The Antiquarium, was not impacted was because the planters outside were bolted down.

Travel Advisors' travel agent Mary Hoppe said the pink, white and purple cyclamens and pansies that she had lovingly planted and called her "babies" were "literally uprooted. ... I take pride in the flowers and I just don't see the need to take them out."

Hoppe called the police to inform them about the vandalism but decided not to file a report because she said there was no point in doing so. Hoppe then tried to push the plants back into the soil, but some could not be saved.

"You try to make everything look better and more bright and more cheerful, and somebody comes in and annihilates it all," said Jean Newhart, owner of Jean Newhart Antiques. Newhart had been in France when her neighbors discovered that vandals had broken her brand-new planter, spilling plants and soil everywhere. The damage was estimated to be "hundreds of dollars," Newhart said.

On N. Santa Cruz Avenue, Adrienne's suffered damage when the large red cyclamens adorning the front door were pulled out of the planters and smeared onto the sidewalk. Saleswoman Betty Dahlgren said so much dirt had been emptied from the planters that she could not open the door on the morning of Feb. 22.

Adrienne's neighbor, Couture by Mison, was also damaged. Owner Mison said there was lipstick smeared on the windows, after she had cleaned the exterior a day earlier. In addition, a plastic container with company brochures was ripped off.

"Someone probably got drunk and did those stupid things," Mison said.

Boyer said he hopes the public will be more aware of plant vandalism and be alert to potential suspects. Boyer also said there could be increased patrol of the downtown areas.

Burrow said, however, that there are few preventive measures the town could take--"People want to vandalize the trees-- there's nothing you can do about it."

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