Someone vandalized and stole plants from the Collingwood labyrinth site last night.
The volunteers who led the way to building Collingwood’s labyrinth and who have continued to tend to the plants around it have reported the theft, noticing the gaping holes in the freshly mulched gardens this morning (May 17).
Jack Marley, one of the original members of the team that pushed for the labyrinth and raised the funds to make it happen, said there were newly planted shrubs and perennials uprooted and dumped in the nearby woods.
He arrived this morning at the labyrinth to find two honeysuckle shrubs lying next to the holes. A woman he met at the site said she found the holes and later spotted the uprooted shrubs in the forest off the boardwalk.
Marley and a couple of other volunteers went searching for more plants and found the two missing dogwood shrubs and some honeysuckles. There were also perennials uprooted and left beside the holes.
Four forsythia shrubs are still missing. Forsythia is a yellow flowering deciduous shrub. There are also a few honeysuckles still missing.
“It’s just so stupid,” said Marley. “They just pulled them out of the ground for no reason … It’s not even the cost. It’s just why would somebody do that?”
The plants that were found discarded in the woods were replanted this morning.
The landscaping was paid for by funds raised by the labyrinth committee. Marley said there’s also an anonymous donor who provides more money every year for maintenance and landscaping at the site. The town manages the labyrinth fund, but the account is filled with donated funds only.
Marley said the group will have to consider buying new ones to replace the ones that are still missing.
“But I don’t want to buy more if I’m just shopping for someone else,” he said.
The site has been vandalized in a similar manner before. A few years ago, about five or six dogwood bushes were stolen on the same day they were planted at the labyrinth.
Collingwood Parks Manager Wendy Martin said the town does occasionally see theft of plants, particularly in areas with new plantings.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a huge issue, but we do get the odd one,” she said.
But outside of installing cameras everywhere the town plants shrubs, there’s not much the town can do to prevent the thefts, noted Martin.
“You definitely have to take the tags off,” she said.
If the tags are left on a new plant, they seem more prone to being carried off, according to Martin.
