John, stupidity is part of being human. There's not one of us who has not had an "oopsy" moment . I've snipped off flowers when I meant to trim foliage, speared bulbs with a shovel or trowel when I was sure they were no where near the place I was digging - it goes on. Though granted, generally not on this scale. Kevin, the sad part is that both of the destroyed sites were apparently well known as locales where these rare iris grew. It's just that through some oversight the sites were not marked on the work-order maps. On a happier note, today I got an e-mail from my sister in which she mentions that " Rest assured that the Iris that were uprooted here were all rescued and replanted with little damage. I hope that the uproar that the mismanagement that led to this error will lead to better organization and information sharing between bureaucracies here in the future. " Judy in New Jersey where the sun was again shining in a cloudless blue sky today