Timonium resident, highway officials none too jolly over loss of holly

When Timonium resident Arlene Fatzinger was commuting to work, or when she drives to visit her daughter in the eastern part of the county, she always made a note to look at the clump of winterberry holly shrubs — and their bright red berries — along the ramp from Dulaney Valley Road to the beltway heading east.

"It was a bright spot in the morning," she said.

The stand of several bushes, which she described as being up to 6 feet tall, would lose their green leaves by December, leaving behind bright red berries standing out against the gray landscape.

"It was really nice," she said. "They were just loaded with red berries. I like to garden, so I really appreciated them."

So when she noticed just before Christmas that they had been cut down, she was a bit upset and disappointed.

"I said, 'Whoa, what happened to the trees?' I couldn't imagine it was the state highway (administration) that cut them down," she said.

It wasn't.

State Highway Administration officials — who learned of the trimmings only after being told of Fatzinger's inquiry — said Jan. 6 that the bushes were heavily pruned "without our knowledge," according to SHA spokesman Charlie Gischlar.

"Winterberry is a popular holiday greenery, and this probably occurred sometime last month," said Gischlar, suggesting that someone may have harvested the shrubs for decorations.

"We can't gauge whether there was malicious intent," said Gischlar, who said the SHA was not apt to report the loss as a crime. "Sometimes people just don't know."

Gischlar said SHA landscapers went out to the scene, took pictures of the damage and determined that the shrubs will eventually grow back.

"Hopefully, it will grow back rapidly," he said.

He said such instances are fairly rare, but the case should serve as a reminder that landscaping in public medians and highway rights-of-way is not for anyone to harvest or prune.

"You can't just do that. You can't go in and just arbitrarily cut down the bushes. We don't put up fences, (but) no one is allowed on our right-of-way," he said. "It presents a danger to the public."

According to a description from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, winterberry hollies can grow as tall as 15 feet, and the red or orange berries are popular food for small mammals and dozens of bird species.

Fatzinger said she's happy that the shrubs will eventually grow back. But she remains upset that someone would cut them down without permission.

"It's our tax dollars," she said, "and then all of a sudden, it's gone."

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