So you can imagine [Sally Papso]'s shock this week when I told her what happened to a 76-year-old woman I'll call Norma who lives in another part of the city.

The notice began: "An urban forestry branch representative has inspected your boulevard and has made the following observation(s)... "Shrubs on blvd... "It is against the city's blvd. maintenance bylaw to plant shrubs on the blvd..."

I didn't even know there was a maximum height, but it's one metre, which affects almost everything in Norma's tenderly cared for side and front boulevards.