Rosebush Watch officially ended July 1, when I received an apology for the vandalism of my rosebush. I forgot to tell everyone. Sorry.

The camera is gone, as is the Rosebush Watch page.

The bush is now in its second bloom cycle and is covered with new flowers.

I meant to post these earlier. These are from June 12th, when the Rosebush Vandal struck again.

Before

After

The person was who everyone expected. Because the person is a minor, I am not posting the video of the act.

This person came onto the porch, pulled the petals off the existing blooms, threw them in the air, and danced and twirled in them as they fell to the ground.

The Rosebush Vandal has struck again. This time, I caught the perpetrator on video. Obviously, I will not be posting the video of the commission of this most recent crime until such time as I am able to determine whether or not it is legally safe for me to do so.

This time, existing blooms were ripped off. The perpetrator demonstrated an inordinate amount of glee. When I get a second to catch up with posting the daily videos to the YouTube, I will also upload photos of the damage. It is too dark right now to take any.

I set up a camera to watch my rosebush. You can see a live picture of my rosebush here or by clicking on the little rosebush sitting on the W in the header. The camera watches 24/7. If you’re lucky, you might catch me watering it some time.

I have a rosebush.

It is a floribunda with deep red–almost maroon–flowers. I’ve been working on it for a few years now, and I prune it when it needs pruning, and I water it every other day, and I feed it and rotate it (it is in a large pot) and clip off dead blooms and whatnot. I care for it, rather like some people care for pets. It is a thing that I am proud of. Proud that I have kept it alive (I have a bad track record with plants); proud that I have been able to transform it from the scraggly little runt I bought at a Home Depot somewhere into a big, beautiful, healthy bush; proud of the time and money and love I’ve put into it. It has been getting ready for its first bloom of the year, which I expected during this first week of June. It had produced more flower buds this year than it ever had in years past. I was really looking forward to it.

This morning, I discovered that some merry prankster had come by and chopped off all the new buds.

Attached image: Rosebush 1

And left the buds strewn all over the porch.

Attached image: Rosebush 2

Thirty-two in total. I collected them and put them in a Ziplock in my freezer. When I find out who did it, I intend to present the rosebuds to that person and ask that they pay for them.

The culprit left four buds uncut, all of which are difficult to find as they are hidden among the foliage.

My leasing office seems to know exactly who did it. Because they have received numerous similar complaints of property damage from other residents. I have no personal knowledge, however, of whodunnit, so I shan’t go about casting aspersions I cannot back up with the photographic evidence.

Hence a new acquisition.

I shall set up the camera to watch my rosebush from now on.

The office seems to think it is a particular young person who lives a few doors down. If it is indeed this particular young person who is responsible, I should be very, very worried about her sanity. Someone as young as that, able to form the necessary malicious intent to cut of just the buds of my rosebush, and without any prior contact with me, may have the early makings of a sociopath.

Or maybe it is just that young people these days have no concept of property?

My rosebush will recover. But it will take another month before it is able to fully bloom.