Has anyone ever had flowers or plants stolen from their garden?

[passingcat]

I once woke up to find all the beautiful flowers from my rosebush had been cut off and stolen. Have you ever found any flowers or plants missing or stolen from your garden? I felt so helpless.

 

[Babble64]

I haven't had this happen but I thought I was being robbed of lilac trimmings a few weeks ago. Turns out the man had stopped and talked to my husband, asking permission to take some home to his wife. But I did feel violated until I realized what was happening! I know we need to share our gifts but for someone to just take something you've worked hard on is wrong. I'm sorry you had to live through that! Any idea who the culprit is?

(As I was telling my story about the lilacs to an acquaintance he told me once he had his year's worth of manure, stockpiled from their horses, "disappear" on him. Grr!)

 

[Jed]

I once woke up to find all the beautiful flowers from my rosebush had been cut off and stolen. Have you ever found any flowers or plants missing or stolen from your garden? I felt so helpless.

That would be heartbreaking to find all the roses stolen. Obviously someone wanted more than a smell of a rose.
I must confess to have snipped a flower from a plant hanging over a fence on one or two occasions.Only one mind you and I make the excuse if it's over the fence and there are plenty. Lavender seems to be fair game.

 

[claudine]

Passingcat, I'm so sorry that it happened to you
Once, when I was a child, a man tried to steal our boxwood. I was home alone and I noticed him through the window, it was terrifying. Fortunately my neighbour noticed him too and started yelling at him. He ran away quickly

 

[Soliloquy]

A few years ago we tried to grow a selection of vegetables in the back yard, thinking we'd save money on produce. All the vegetables except for one small potato disappeared, though; we don't know for sure if it was neighborhood kids/homeless or hungry people, or maybe squirrels. My money is on the squirrels, though.

 

[passingcat]

Thank you everyone for your kind words. It was soul destroying, as I put a lot of hard work into getting them to bloom well. Sorry to hear about your experiences. Sometimes I feel like I need an out door camera!

 

[happyflowerlady]

We have been pray to small nocturnal critters of some sort here, raiding the garden. Every time that I planted sunflowers and squash, I found the hulled shells the next day, so I finally sprouted them in containers, and then set them out.
We are far enough away from any other houses to not have to worry about human predators, but there seems to be plenty of rabbits, squirrels, skunks, and the possum.
When we lived in town, I did have flowers stolen that I had set out in the front yard in pots, and also once or twice, they were taken right off of my front porch.
After that, I pretty much kept the potted ones out back where they were inside of a fenced yard.

 

[Jed]

A few years ago we tried to grow a selection of vegetables in the back yard, thinking we'd save money on produce. All the vegetables except for one small potato disappeared, though; we don't know for sure if it was neighborhood kids/homeless or hungry people, or maybe squirrels. My money is on the squirrels, though.

That would be devastating. In some way having humans steal the food would be less of a problem in the long term. Generally they grow up or move on. Whereas having animals eat all your hard grown vegies would mean it would be a continuous problem. I've had to build quite a few enclosures over the years to see some results from all my efforts.

 

[Shannon]

I'm sorry that happened to you.I did catch the 2 little girls once next to me pickin' flowers from my yard and asked them what they were doing and they told me pickin' flowers for our mommy.Hehehe they were little--so I helped them get better cut ones and told them if they would leave them on the plant next time they would live longer and their mommy could just look out the window and see them all the time.Later on that night their mom come over about in tears over it and I just smiled and asked her if she liked them---and she found her smile again and told me she always looks out over to my yard and tells her girls how pretty it was and thinks that's why her girls did it.I think the girls were 4 and 6.Just glad other people can enjoy my hard work.-------

 

[Babble64]

One of my friends just posted on facebook that she had a hanging planter stolen from in front of her apartment. I think she said she had it four days. I just don't understand some people.

 

[nelson castro]

Those people are just jealous 'coz they cannot make their plants bloom!

 

[passingcat]

I'm sorry that happened to you.I did catch the 2 little girls once next to me pickin' flowers from my yard and asked them what they were doing and they told me pickin' flowers for our mommy.Hehehe they were little--so I helped them get better cut ones and told them if they would leave them on the plant next time they would live longer and their mommy could just look out the window and see them all the time.Later on that night their mom come over about in tears over it and I just smiled and asked her if she liked them---and she found her smile again and told me she always looks out over to my yard and tells her girls how pretty it was and thinks that's why her girls did it.I think the girls were 4 and 6.Just glad other people can enjoy my hard work.-------

What a lovely story. I remember picking flowers from a stranger's garden when I was little and being chased away! I was so young I didn't realize how wrong it was! He eventually caught up with me and spanked me! People were allowed to do that in those days without getting into trouble, although my father did go around his house later and tell him off. It is lovely to hear about people who show understanding and grace in these situations!

 

[Shannon]

What a lovely story. I remember picking flowers from a stranger's garden when I was little and being chased away! I was so young I didn't realize how wrong it was! He eventually caught up with me and spanked me! People were allowed to do that in those days without getting into trouble, although my father did go around his house later and tell him off. It is lovely to hear about people who show understanding and grace in these situations!

they were just too cute to fuss at...plus I remember doing the same thing for my mom.

 

[maddie]

I have had my lovely indoor plants stolen from the entrance to my house before. Luckily all my flowers are on a balcony that people do not have access to. I would feel terrible if all my roses were stolen. I just can't understand why people do this. But the it takes all kinds, I guess, to make this world what it is.

 

[ACSAPA]

I've had outdoor decorations get stolen and I've had plants kicked over. I rent a crappy little apartment that's attached to a house and I have a chest freezer in the back where I stockpile meat for the month's meals that I buy on sale.
I noticed that after the landlord had some guys do some work ,that's when the plants got kicked over and the level of the meats in the chest freezer went down.