the largest collection ever

two years ago the government announced a project to widen a portion of a highway on our island. the project was widely publicized and mostly ignored. my friend ted was an exception. located within the project area was a substantial bougainvillea hedge, planted in 1982. when the time came, the bougainvillea would be smashed flat, hauled to a nearby green waste facility and run through their chipper. ted came by, we talked, and for the next 2 years he quietly but tenaciously pursued saving these old trees. fast forward to last friday, january 21. this was the day the project contractor was scheduled to take the hedge out. their work schedule allowed one day for removal and hauling. our responsibility was to arrange and pay for trucking and secure a site where the trees could be temporarily stored, reduced and planted. to give you an idea of the scope of the undertaking, the hedge was about 300 feet long. we rough counted about 70 massive bougainvillea. check out the photo journal starting friday 1/21 and ending today, monday 1/24.

1/21 8:00 am a backhoe and support crew start at one end. looking down the line at less than half of the hedge. all this in one day?


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at first the work moves slowly. the crew is tentative with the pulling because there is a major telephone/electrical cable buried close by. the trucker has provided a tractor with a 22 yard trailer to haul the trees. we have 2 men waiting at the processing site with the necessary tools, 80 - 10/15/25 gallon pots and 6 yards of soil. by the noon break, only one truckload of 7 trees has been brought for processing. we quickly cut away almost 90% of the branches, saving the stump for planting. this is the first batch of 7



after lunch the pace picks up. the extractors are moving much faster. they have only a few more hours to complete the job. the trucker is now using 2 trailers just to keep up. the last of the trees is uprooted and loaded at 5:30pm there are huge piles of cut and uncut bougainvillea at the processing site. 11 truckloads worth.





saturday 1/22 8:00am we have 4 guys working. more and more trees are reduced. the trees are 2 days out of the ground so we need to hustle. by 5:00 PM all the trees have to be planted. at 4:45pm the potted trees are watered. we made it !! tomorrow-sunday we rest . we count 68 trees in pots. not a bad one in the bunch.



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monday 1/24 we find someone willing to pay half our expenses for trees. we get first pick. ours are the ones with the orange tags. we show up with our trailer, load up twice and transport our trees to ted's house.





the hard work is done. the trees will recover and grow in a matter of months. then the fun starts

best wishes, sam

Hmm Sam,

what an adventure, and looking forward to seeing the long term results. Now that gives me an idea, the government has taken to planting hedges with Fukien Teas, and I know they will get fed-up of looking at them in about 5 or so years ....................................
Khaimraj

Nice work! Many folks would simply have come to the site trying to find the 1-2 best trees that would fit in their available vehicle. This is a good example of problem solving & having a good idea and then just making it happen with a little imagination.

No guts no glory.

Cool stuff!

Khaimraj Seepersad wrote: .... ... and I know they will get fed-up of looking at them in about 5 or so years ....................................
Khaimraj

That's for sure, Khaimraj!
Turnover must go on so that other individuals have their turn to put their fingers into the honey jar....

It is great to see trees being saved,well done and a big thanks from tree loving people around the world

Wow!
Great adventure. Appreciate your sharing it with us.
Jerry

thanks for the feedback. one of the biggest obstacles to overcome in situations like this (besides the contractor's concern for liability) is the need to be able to move quickly, not delay their work schedule and to be able to deal with ALL thats there. the contractors generally will not allow cherry picking.

more later on individual stumps

best wishes, sam

Sam! You never cease to amaze me! Great work, my friend. Physically demanding, but then, I know you like challenges..

-dorothy

WOW WOW WOW!

Sam, that seems unbelievable, but if anyone could pull it off it would be you.

Cheers,
Ed

You won the lottery.

Congratulations!!!

Sam, that was brilliant. You have saved 68 plants. Congratulations. Now the fun begin.

CJ

Shattering work I would imagine Sam. Free trees and the quality looks excellent. Well done and keep us posted.

thanks friends.

tiring (no exhausting) work, but its done. not five minutes from my house safe in ted's yard, sit row upon row of potted bougainvillea stumps, many of high quality. every few days I'll go by to select a tree to bring home for further cleanup and replanting into a pot I can lift. its like having a prepaid debit card with no limit. I'll start another thread to post some examples of what we got.

best wishes, sam

sharing progress photos dated today

best wishes, sam

Sam great story and results, all those stumps will keep yawl busy for some time, wish you could ship to mainland.

Mitch

Sam,

thanks for the update. Really beautiful specimens, and I am not a lover of bougainvilleas or ficus.
Really beautiful!
Khaimraj

awsome work! I´m glad those stumps didny die beacuse of man´s destructiion! I will keep track of your post so that I can see their future!

congratulations for your beautiful work!

thanks, friends. I have several others from the same save, I will share soon.

best wishes, sam