A lot of damage can occur in 12 days away from your garden, even if you hire someone to take over. A homeowner's unexpected experience with a plant sitter provided a cautionary tale on the r/gardening subreddit.

After a nearly two-week vacation, the gardener returned home to find some of their plants in poor condition despite their hired help. A few boxwoods were in bad shape, while a sageleaf willow seemed unsalvageable.

"I cannot believe this damage is from 12 absent days," the Redditor exclaimed. "She even sent pictures of her watering!?"

Redditors had a bunch of theories for what exactly went down. Some guessed the plant sitter didn't water at all before overcompensating and watering too much.

Another group suggested they'd watered from the top with a hot hose in the heat of the day. As opposed to helping the plants, this sort of watering (better-served for weeds) fried the plants and hit the early recipients especially hard.

Excessive heat and sunlight combined with high water temperatures can damage plants, leading to bleaching or leaf loss, which was evident with these plants.

The group also theorized that boxwood blight had struck, and it probably didn't have anything to do with watering. The Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Laboratory says gardeners should be careful to buy only plants from nurseries that are part of a boxwood blight compliance agreement.

While it was probably impossible to get to the bottom of this without interrogating the plant sitter, the saga did provide important lessons. Choosing a skilled plant sitter and providing thorough instructions are essential.

Conducting a trial run, providing a checklist, and placing plants in favorable locations can prevent problems. Another smart move is to choose native plants, which require less maintenance than alternatives and are more tolerant to local conditions, including drought.

Commenters sounded off on the OP's dilemma.

What's the most you'd pay per month to put solar panels on your roof if there was no down payment? $200 or more 💰 $100 💸 $30 💵 I'd only do it if someone else paid for it 😎 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

"You should never assume anyone you hire to care for your pets/plants/children is competent," a user wrote.

"Boxwood blight is making its way around my city right now," someone else revealed. "Almost everyone's are dying and once it gets into one, it gets into all of them."

"Yeah it's either not watered at all or some kind of innocent incompetence," another Redditor surmised.

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