California state park's viral flower field destroyed overnight

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/california-park-flower-destroyed-21953424.php


Video here
https://www.reddit.com/r/BigSur/comments/1rfurjq/thats_disappointing/

On Monday morning, California State Parks chief ranger Mike Dippel began receiving alarming phone calls: Visitors reported that someone had chopped down all the flowers at Calla Lily Valley, a coastal ravine in Garrapata State Park on the north end of Big Sur where bunches of blooming calla lilies amass a mountain of social media virality every spring.


It looks like somebody took scissors or some sort of gardening tool and got rid of the flowering parts of all the lilies,” Dippel told SFGATE in a phone interview. “They didn’t dig into the ground and rip the whole plant out. They just cut the tops off, if that makes sense.”

Park officials are unsure who the culprit or culprits are, Dippel said, or exactly when the flowers were cut. It’s also unknown what motives might have been behind the act, but Dippel has some ideas.

“I can’t speculate, but the calla lily is a nonnative plant to the region, and there are some folks that probably don’t like that it’s here,” Dippel said. (Calla lilies are considered an invasive plant in California.) “And the other aspect is that the place has really exploded on social media.”

[markodochartaigh]

1. From the video, that wasn't scissors.

It looks like they used a hoe. If the plants were in full bloom maybe they cut them to sell the flowers, there weren't many flowers scattered about.
Callas have rhizomes so they should come back next year.

[Old Crank]

8. Not everyone knows how they propagate

I didn't. Thanks. I had thought it would have been seeds.

[markodochartaigh]

9. Callas do also produce seeds,

but that is a slower process to produce adult plants.

[Old Crank]

10. Good to know

That I get at least partial credit....

[NameAlreadyTaken]

2. This place:

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

3. Beautiful

[C Moon]

4. With a scissors? Wonder how long that took. Sheeeeeesh.

[calimary]

5. Sorry to hear.

They’re such beautiful flowers.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Stolen for florist shop(s) seems the most obvious guess. nt

[Figarosmom]

7. Looks to me like they've been harvested

Probably selling them at a farmers market.

[intheflow]

11. The first time I drove through this area,

I had to stop to take photos, it was so vast and beautiful. What a shame, but at least they’ll come back next year.