Plant thief!

Be paranoid.

Plant theft is becoming an all too frequent occurrence. There are some out there who wouldn't give stealing plants a second thought.

There are even reports of commercial nurseries being robbed of plants. Some nurseries that used to allow customers to roam freely among their stock plants will no longer do so unless they are closely chaperoned by staff.

One day my neighbours shoo'd away two little girls picking flowers from one of my front flower beds. Little wenches.

Lisa

In article , snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com says...

Technically, the property around a street sign is public property. I dont know if taking a plant from public lands would be considered stealing.

It happens. A neighbour had his house renovated and when it was over did the front yard too, this was behind the fence line. He put in a row of nice looking shrubs. A couple of days later he had a row of nice looking holes. He then erected a row of signs instead that said what was stolen from each hole and left them there for several weeks, apparently trying to shame whoever took the plants, this had no effect but looked quite comical.

David

of years ago, and we also had a gas grill hefted. Happily, in recent years shrubbery thefts have declined here.

If the sign is simply in an easement, then it's still private property. But if it is publicly owned land, it is still stealing, only the victim is now the public entity that owns the land.

Central Park is public land, but if you tried to take a park bench, you'd obviously be stealing. Just because something is on public land doesn't mean it's there for the public to take.

well, i'll do my part to remedy this by planting things in random places that are not on my property. i accidentally bought a shade loving phlox when i actually needed something for a sunny spot. maybe i'll put it across the street near the mailboxes instead.

any suggestions for the median strip of the highway near work?

-kelly

I like you!

Daylilies, older ones or species - can't kill them and they look great!

Cheryl

Thistle!!

The message from Cheryl Isaak contains these words:

i accidentally bought a shade loving phlox

It's a nice idea to plant in public places for everyone to enjoy but there are sometimes drawbacks. For example, certain plants might be unwelcome around childrens play areas or within reach of animal grazing land, and sometimes it's more important for drivers to have a clear view, or for pedestrians to have a safe refuge, than it is to look pretty.

I've found that snowdrops and daffodils work well; that was in an area where the long roadside verges were tractor-trimmed every summer for safety reasons, so anything summer flowering would have been pointless. There's just one more downside, which was that quite often, drivers would stop,leap out and pick some flowers. There were so many flowers, it wasn't so much the picking that mattered as the fact they had stopped the vehicle on a very dangerous narrow bend above a deep unprotected drop :-(. So be careful where you place temptation.

Janet.

In the grand scheme of things. it is stealing. However you or others want to rationalize it, it's stealing.

Spanish dagger, prickly cactus, twisted leaf yucca, agaves, anything that's sharp.

When you notice someone clipping something desireable, hang around and ask if taking 2 or 3 clips is OK. Even a day or so later you may find usable little snips on the sidewalk or the street. zemedelec

Last summer I found a cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) (protected by state law here) on state land (a natural area, where ALL plants found are protected by state law). I returned to show my girlfriend that night, as she'd never seen a cardinal flower. Someone had cut the entire flower stalk, and taken the flowers.

Whoever did it borke two laws, including the one protecting threatened plants in this state.

I assume it was kids, who wanted to take the flowers home to their parents. I sincerely hope the parents try and educate the kids on why not to do that, but expect instead they'll tell the kids how nice the flowers are.

Since they took the whole plant in your case, I doubt it was kids. Personally, I would add half-buried mousetraps to any plants you assume are in danger of being stolen. Perhaps the screams will catch a thief. (notice - do not actually do this, as they're likely to then vandalize your house if they're not caught).

theoneflasehaddock

Please don't do this. Invasive plants are a problem. If you must do this - pick something that's native, please.

No need to spread introduced plants pointlessly.

theoneflasehaddock

Daffodils spread, and stay for years. Another non-native plant to keep to your own gardens.

If you must, try lily-of-the-valley, or periwinkles (Vinca) or wood lilies, or trout lilies, or whatever is NATIVE where you are.

theoneflasehaddock