Missing: four mature geraniums. Orange in colour. If found, please return to Dave’s traffic circle.
Twelve years ago Dave Rawson took ownership of a tired-looking traffic circle in his Grand Boulevard neighbourhood and turned it into a gift for the community.
When wild grass invaded the roundabout, Rawson went to work replacing the weeds with a colourful canvas of zinnias, alyssums, lobelias and dahlias – and handmade birdhouses.
He also aptly dresses up the circle for major holidays, with Christmas ornaments, red Valentine’s hearts and Canada Day birthday candles carved out of wood.
Many of the plants are supplied by the City of North Vancouver, others the retiree pays for himself.
Every day Rawson goes about the same routine.
He unwinds his hose and walks over to his neighbour’s house on the corner who supplies the water. Combining two hoses Rawson then drags the apparatus across the street to the circle, where he spends about half an hour watering the flowers.
The morning after Canada Day, Rawson reached the circle and his heart sank.
“Wait a minute, why are these holes there?” Rawson recalls thinking.
Four flourishing geraniums had been ripped from the circle.
“They were a good size and had filled out,” describes Rawson of the flowers that he had been “nursing along.”
Rawson actually blames himself for what happened. He says the soil at the circle is sandy so he came up with the idea of sinking pots into the ground to support the flowers.
“However, anybody with sticky fingers thinks this is pretty good: I just have to reach and grab a pot and take it,” says Rawson. “I feel in some ways it’s my fault for putting them in there – and then they get stolen.”
Neighbour Kelly Riegler wrote to the News, saying she was saddened when she got this email from Rawson: “Last night we had 25 per cent of our geraniums stolen at the circle - I made it too easy for them - they reached in and lifted the entire potted geraniums out.”
Reigler says Rawson takes the circle very seriously.
“Neighbours have been giving him gift cards to help flower the circle so that he doesn't have to pay out of his pocket, and everyone who lives within a block or two all stop to say ‘hi’ and share their thanks for his work,” says Reigler. “It's been a very rewarding experience for him and he's met a lot of new friends in the ‘hood.”
Rawson is the Block Watch captain for the area and says he shouldn’t be surprised by the theft, considering the crime reports he receives. Still, he’s disappointed and says even the smallest of crimes can have an impact.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s one or if it’s 50, it’s a matter of just the very fact that somebody does that,” says Rawson.
He says he knows of a neighbour who had her ferns stolen within a week of them being planted.
“So there are people out there that say, ‘Wow, I think I’ll take that.’ It’s unfortunate,” says Rawson.
This recent plant pilfering won’t discourage Rawson from building on what he’s already cultivated at the 16th and Moody traffic circle.
“I think what I might do is put in more shrubs,” he says. “Some of the smaller plants might very well be a target. Geraniums are easy to grow, it’s just somebody doesn’t want to wait until they get to a half-decent size.”
