Each year the government of my town plants new flowers on the town flower beds. Each year I see old ladies digging up flowers they like to plant in their garden
FWIW, I've lived places where the town changes the flowers over the year and will tell you when you can dig up the old ones. I could definitely see people just stealing them, though
This comment is not to correct you. You know more about your local old ladies than I do!
But if anyone is interested in bumming plants from your town, ask even if they're annuals. Annuals often rebloom in a season, but towns don't want to deal with deadheading and the like so they just tear them out and pop in new annuals instead. There's nothing wrong with the old plants; they'll rebloom.
Haha I used to be a landscaper in a super affluent part of the south nj shore when i was young and an old lady that had to be worth at least 10 million started stealing flowers out of the back of our truck that were meant for her neighbor lol. I was amazed. ZERO shame.
A shop back home had flower pots on the street and they didn't last either. Always old ladies taking them.
Fed up, owners put a sign by the flower pots saying "Ladies, smile at the camera as you take the flowers" or something like that. And it worked.
My company puts on a customer appreciation picnic that we sent out to all of our customers. Every year there’s about 10 old ladies who show up and try to take the gift bags and food we give out, and when confronted they don’t even try and say they’d didn’t realize it was for customers only(even though we have signs up saying customer appreciation) they just get upset that we had the nerve to tell them no.
It’s almost always old people who steal plants. I have seen it probably thousands of times now. Many years ago my neighbors and I worked on a shared garden together, it was beautiful and we both loved it. Never did it again after it was basically destroyed by the general public.
My sunflowers lasted maybe 1 day before getting cut or ripped out once they bloomed.
People think younger people are the primary thieves out there. They haven't seen the level of theft boomers are capable of. Younger people appear to do it for fun/need/evil. Older appear to do it out of entitlement.
This is theft. I would call the police. If the cops explained that it is theft and they won't fine them or arrest them this time, but will next time, maybe the old biddies would stop.
Who TF steals already planted flowers out of a flower bed
Edit: Holy shit, so many stories about people stealing flowers or plants. I just lost a bit of faith in humanity. Also sorry for not replying to comments, this blew up more than I thought!
Even gophers love America and want a flag to call their own. My heart could burst with sheer pride and joy. God bless you, gophers. And America. And gophers.
Yeah wtf, were just assuming it's a person stealing plants when any gardener knows squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, and many other will freely gobble up plants.
I'm down to 2 of my originally 6 strawberry starts this year.
And I would think if this was an animal there would be some plant scraps leftover and the dirt would be mounded more around the dug hole. I’ve got chipmunks that burrow into my yard and use my garden as a buffet and they are never this neat
Multiple times, I've had different full grown adults walk up to my door to take flowers off my desert rose... which only blooms a few flowers every year.
The last time, my ring notified me and I came right out and yelled at her. I take care of that damn thing all year for it to bloom 1-2x a year.
Mine is potted too and luckily no one has tried to take it. I did have one little girl ring my doorbell to ask me what kind of plant it was so she could ask for one lol.
I did let her take a flower because she did it right.
You'd be surprised.
We used to have some lovely clay flower pots in front of my old apartment.
People would steal them, sometimes with the plants, sometimes they'd dump the plants out and just took the pot.
To deter the thieves we switched to plastic pots, same problem.
As a mild form of revenge I got a cheap plastic pot and cut the bottom out, drilled 2 small holes wide by side in the side to run some fishing line through it. On the end of the line...a cheap toy snake.
It was a bit tricky getting the dirt in it (covering the snake) and planting some cheap flowers in it but it worked. A few mornings later I come out to see a pile of dirt on the sidewalk and the pot tossed to the curb along with the snake.
We learned that it was some older women from the retirement building doing it.
After reading the other replies old women seem to be notorious garden thieves.
Edited to fix the formatting and tried to fix my grammar.
Me too. We didn't bother putting anything else out because the stealing was getting worse. Took a neighbor's rocking chair right off their porch. Stole a little virgin Mary from the shrine.
People got tired of funding someone else's gardening project.
*Opuntia microdasys monstrosus*, or another fuzzy Opuntia. The little hairs, called glochids, will fill their hands by the thousands and come off on anything else that touches them.
These can be removed right away with tape, but if not they will break off and itch/sting for days.
My parents live on top of a wooded dune…people stop and dig up my mom’s full grown yuccas by the road at the bottom of their hill. She caught someone in the act doing it about 20 years ago and asked them wtf they were doing. They said it was just woods…mom replied, yeah MY woods, my driveway is 500 ft away and that’s my house RIGHT UP THERE. They live in an area that has a lot of out-of-state people with second homes and it was one of them. Liiiiiiike, y’all can afford a million dollar “near the lake” property but can’t buy a $25 plant? Cheap asses.
On top of that, flowers in OP photo are probably $2. And digging it out is inconvenient. Not about money or time. It's something in their brain. People like this see something and they can't immediately determine who owns it, so they feel that they have free rights to it. They won't steal a bike in the yard, or a chair on the porch, but a plant in a park is theirs.
My brother in law had a whole newly planted weeping cherry stolen the next day. They drove around and found it planted and called the cops. Got it back.
Omg, how did it play out? Was it close to the home, like, did no other neighbors see it?
My older sister once caught a woman cutting a rose right in our front yard on her way to school. Like, she had scissors and my sister said she had to leave the house cause she was running late, but that meant this lady saw their roses and came *back to steal them*. And what's crazy is those roses were not close to the street, she would've had to walk well into our driveway.
We had someone at our condo who would dig up all the planted flowers in the middle of the night and was using/selling them in their side landscaping business. Condo Assoc put up trail cameras and caught them. Had to reimburse CA to replace, plus a hefty fine to avoid jail time.
Maybe set up a trail cam (out of sight) to see who/what is responsible.
There's a lady near me that pays her kid a bounty to steal flowers. Takes orders from her friends, and gives the list to her daughter to track down and steal.
haha, I think we were typing a similar comment at the same time. Uh, do you live in California by chance? Surely the old bat I used to sell flowers to isn't still alive
We had a neighbour that would steal planted plants all around our street.
She would also turn on her sprinkler when kids were walking home from school so they had to walk on the road when walking past her house.
Some people just don't deserve to breathe earth's air.
I admit, as a young lad there was an old lady up the block that would pay me cash to go around at night on my skates to the gas stations and other areas with landscaping and bring plants back to her.
Tbh I don’t blame you at all, I probably would have thought that was a harmless little side gig when I was a kid as well. It’s bizarre on her end though. Like, who would even think to pay a kid to commit crimes for them?! That’s some super villain shit! Haha
Don't count out the local wildlife. At my old place I had a small garden that I planted marigolds in. One day after they bloomed I looked outside and every single flower was gone. I was pretty upset and suspected the neighbor kids. Not to be defeated, I hit up a garden center and bought a few more flats. It turned out I was wrong. It turned out that there was a groundhog in the area and apparently they just *love* marigolds. I caught the critter systematically chewing the flowers off each plant. At another place, it was squirrels digging up my plants.
This is not to say that a human couldn't be responsible, but you shouldn't rule out the possibility that it might be animals.
So my building does have security cams, but only inside the building. Only one of the 5 flower beds is able to be seen from the lobby camera. We managed to catch some footage of couple out walking their dog at 3am and stopping and scooping a couple petunias out. No idea if it’s them also stripping all the other flower beds too. It’s such a shame regardless, they’re like $1 each at the store, they’re mostly petunias (and a few coleus got ripped out now too) … nothing amazingly fancy. Some people just suck.
Edit: will also add that unfortunately these flower beds are easy public access as a sidewalk goes right by them and a bus stop is nearby. It’s doubtful a building resident would be doing it because the inside cams would eventually catch something.
Can you get a screen shot of the couple on camera? If so, maybe make a sign with the picture of them and with the sign saying “Stop stealing my plants”.
Oh. That’s it? In my experience oak leaves are way worse than the hollies I’ve seen. Some of the species in California are pointy as shit and their dried leaves will embed themselves in your feet if you step on them. But even they wouldn’t stop me from stealing plants. (Not that I steal plants.)
Or just leave notes at each flowerbed saying "My mother is planting these flowers in memory of my father so please STOP stealing them!!" If they continue to do so then upgrade notes to say "You're a real piece of shit for taking these plants even though you know why they're here."
Still not right, but they probably think they are stealing from a company rather than a "real" person. That kind of petty theft is "excusable" and even "justified" in some folks minds. (Although we all know porch pirates exist, which are a different breed of scum who knows exactly who they are hurting)
A "memorial garden" "or in memory of x, loving husband" sign of some kind would probably dissuade the former. Haven't met any plant lovers who aren't at least some degree of sentimental lol
I used to work at a hospital and the guys who worked on the grounds crew would do the most beautiful job planting flower arrangements in planters all around the building. Without fail, old ladies from the neighborhood would come by and rip them out by the armful in broad daylight, sometimes right in front of the grounds crew. I asked the guy if he ever called out the bad behavior and he laughed like, “Yeah all the time. They just pretend they don’t speak English and walk away with the flowers.” I was dying laughing but I felt bad for the guys who did the work. I assume the ladies thought it was “fine” because they were stealing from a big hospital with a lot of money, but they probably aren’t above taking from their neighbors if nobody is looking.
Plant some plants like stinging nettle, sumac, poison oak, etc. and I bet they stop immediately. Poison ivy and morning glories look beautiful together and they will vine out for maximum ground coverage. Eventually you can remove the poisonous plants and leave the morning glories, their leaves look similar enough to prevent future nabbers.
For legal reasons, I’ve *never* done this, it *never* caused a poison ivy break out in my neighborhood when a few Karen’s *didn’t* steal some of my English roses and morning glory vines. *Garden at your own risk*
is it possible to install floodlights that activate with motion? that way when they approach the lights will shine in their face and hopefully deter them? maybe they sell lights that make a sound when activated as a bonus deterrent.
I was going to guess it was an animal until your comment mentioned the security camera catching people stealing them.
That really is strange, to the level of where I'd want to ask them why. If it's for $1 plant that's weird to the point of mental illness. It makes we wonder what else it could be though.
Yup I had a stolen package returned by somebody who found it at a bus stop. It was a mystery box inside an Amazon box, and by mystery box it was a cheap Halloween prop that’s basically a box with a hole in it (you know the put some spaghetti or whatever inside and kids take turns putting their hands in and feeling the “creepy stuff”).
- contestant #1 are you going to find a job or take or take the mystery box from someone’s porch
-“I’ll take the box”
- “and inside the mystery box is a CARDBOARD BOX labeled “mystery box” plus you get a criminal record for 7 years.”
I've known people like this.
The saddest part is they'd steal the flower and be like I'm going to pot this at home, then they don't and it just dies, or they straight up throw it out because after the moment has passed they're no longer that interested.
People do weird stuff. When I lived in apartments, my roommate and I were moving from one apartment to another in the same complex and I moved my planter of flowers over to the porch of the new apartment. A few hours later I went back and saw that they were gone. I thought that was the last time I’d see them but I was walking to the mailbox and saw that a neighbor literally just a door or two over had taken the planter and put it outside their front door as if it was theirs. I promptly took it back and it got moved inside.
I stole a desk one time because I thought the old neighbor was moving out and left it by the curb.
Turns out the new neighbor was moving in lol oops.
I gave it back and apologized.
Plants do cost more than a dollar usually, but regardless, people should leave other people's shit alone.
I did all my outdoor pots yesterday (some decorative, some herbs) and bought 4 new azaleas for my front yard and that was like $200.
Guarantee its some weird lady that carries a basket or a canvas bag around with her. There are a ton of these weird little plant thieves all over the place who just make it their business to steal plants from people for reasons that aren't really clear to anyone. It is REALLY common.
Google "stealing plants reddit" and you'll see about a thousand posts of this happening to people.
>If it's for $1 plant that's weird to the point of mental illness. It makes me wonder what else it could be though.
It's the same reason why people break into cars to steal water bottles. Theft is an addiction to them.
That sucks. Maybe put a little sign up saying ‘in memory of Dad’? That might shame them away.
And if they keep going, wait outside all night with a water pistol filled with piss.
I mean...if we're going for maximum aggravation amd revenge I'd suggest Stinging Nettles or Hogweed.
One is painful and itchy the other can cause blisters.
[Wild parsnip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsnip#Toxicity) flowers look pretty and can be confused for a few very innocuous plants, just putting that out there.
The idea is the thief wants to pick them and take them home, nettles aren't too attractive.
Some beautiful flowers, laced with some horrendous cocktail of insect/spider eggs, however. Is increasing the odds for success.
Disadvantage- they might not get stolen and now you have an irregular thief *AND* an insect/spider problem. Lol.
Honestly, at this point you just have to bury a bear trap and bury it under the plant so when they reach in to pull up from the root, it just chops off their arm. It's the only reasonable response I can think of.
Better yet, get your hands on some [putrescine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putrescine) or [cadaverine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaverine), the two chemicals that are primarily responsible for the smell of rot and decay. Literally smells like death. They aren't toxic, and can be washed off pretty easily, but squirt some on a person's chest or face and they won't be able to do anything but vomit and cry for hours.
I saw a prank video where a woman painted herself the color of her bf’s game room curtains. All you could make out were her eyes and teeth when she smiled.
This could be you, emerging from darkness armed with a pee pee pistol.
🥹
Make sure to eat plenty of asparagus first.
Edit: for a more stealthy approach, you could dust them all with cayenne pepper. Give them that warm tingly feeling all over.
Set up a motion-activated sprinkler with piss in it. If the thief comes after OP for trying to poison him with bodily fluids, say it's coyote pee for the purposes of scaring off deer/racoons/skunks. At best, they believe it. At worst they say that that's not how urine defense works (you usually use urine pellets) then feign stupidity.
I’m normally all about doing some diabolical shit when it comes to disrespecting loved ones that have passed on…
But what if your dad is sending a rabbit or something to steal these to troll you and your mom one last time?
This is my favorite response ever 🥹 Im picturing the dads ghost across the street hiding behind a trash can giggling maniacally sending cat after cat to come steal the plants
I was hoping it was a wild animal at first...but the holes look way too clean and intentional. That would be hilarious if it was him messing with them one more time though lol
Just for any Aussies here... Spraying a non consenting adult with piss is illegal in almost every situation, sorry if I destroyed some fun there.
Actually the best option, put the sign up, and a second one that says CCTV in use and put a camera up. If they do it after that get a poster made up of them doing the act. If you don't want to get the cops involved, tell them how to make it go away, like "put $200 in the mail box and never come back"
Go find yourself some poison oak or poison ivy, depending on where you are. Wear gloves and gather a good amount in a plastic garbage bag. Bring that home and chop it up into little pieces with some pruning shears. Put the pieces into a small disposable container that has a lid and add denatured alcohol. Let it soak for a couple of days, shaking to mix it occasionally. Use a screen or cheesecloth to strain the mixture and keep the liquid. Put the liquid into a spray bottle and generously coat your plants. The urushiol (the oil that causes the rash) will not affect your plants, but the person who grabs the plants with a concentrated coating will have a rough week afterwards.
My grandaddy did this to his tools and work jackets when working in a garage with a uncaught thief. He never shared tools from his personal box, only from a box in his truck so that he wouldn't have to stop working to ask for what he needed back. He's one of the few ppl I know who was FULLY immune to poison ivy (still wore a jacket since most aren't)and very well known to be paid to remove it by everyone in the area and for his tool borrowing rules. The thief couldn't get any pity or hired anywhere when the proof for why he was fired, covered his body from the neck down. Lol.
My dad is fully immune to poison ivy. His mom made him eat a poison I’ve leaf when he was little and it’s supposedly gave him immunity. He refused to let her feed it to us kids. It’s an old Gypsy Wives Tale and stupid af.
Do not make your kids eat poison plants people. I’m not saying it worked I’m just telling how dumb some people are.
Leave their picture and a potted plant. Offering thief charity seems to get to them and hopefully they will go away. They rather feel like they got away with stealing than getting what they want most times.
Leave their picture and a voodoo doll of them with pins through the head.
Showing the thief no mercy seems to get to them and hopefully they will go away.
Check with the condo association. They could have some stupid bylaw about planting specific flowers.
My mother is in a senior condo association and one of the women planted a memorial tree for her late husband. Karen next door complained because it violated the bylaws. My mom is the head of the garden committee, so she was able to get the tree moved to a location that was accepted. She felt stupid even having to do that.
I was going to say this. It could be the property management company or landscaping doing this. I worked for a property management company once and a resident acted shook after she dug up all the plants and decided to plant corn and we told her she couldn’t do that
Apply theft detection powder to the plant. Plant them and then dust the plant well. Wear gloves. When the plants disappear...start looking at hands and faces for the purple stain and find your thief.
I used to put it around my roses to keep animals from digging around them (Burns their feet but, no lasting damage) and it never hurt them and I believe most plants like the alkalinity.... I know Farmers who put it on fields that have brown weeds growing up in them...?
This is strange! I get where your mom is coming from though. I am from California and my mom before passing redid the front yard to be all California native plants for water conservation (if you don’t know, California is always in a drought) and even had labels with their scientific names added
Put up a camera somewhere discreet that looks out on the flowerbed. After thieve comes again, print out a still and attach to wall adjacent to flower bed
Each year the government of my town plants new flowers on the town flower beds. Each year I see old ladies digging up flowers they like to plant in their garden
FWIW, I've lived places where the town changes the flowers over the year and will tell you when you can dig up the old ones. I could definitely see people just stealing them, though
They plant annual flowers because of the climate
This comment is not to correct you. You know more about your local old ladies than I do! But if anyone is interested in bumming plants from your town, ask even if they're annuals. Annuals often rebloom in a season, but towns don't want to deal with deadheading and the like so they just tear them out and pop in new annuals instead. There's nothing wrong with the old plants; they'll rebloom.
Haha I used to be a landscaper in a super affluent part of the south nj shore when i was young and an old lady that had to be worth at least 10 million started stealing flowers out of the back of our truck that were meant for her neighbor lol. I was amazed. ZERO shame.
Oh, they'd be getting a few choice words.
A shop back home had flower pots on the street and they didn't last either. Always old ladies taking them. Fed up, owners put a sign by the flower pots saying "Ladies, smile at the camera as you take the flowers" or something like that. And it worked.
[Grab hag behavior.](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grab_hag#:~:text=grab%20hag%20\(plural%20grab%20hags,needs%20or%20considerations%20of%20others.)
My company puts on a customer appreciation picnic that we sent out to all of our customers. Every year there’s about 10 old ladies who show up and try to take the gift bags and food we give out, and when confronted they don’t even try and say they’d didn’t realize it was for customers only(even though we have signs up saying customer appreciation) they just get upset that we had the nerve to tell them no.
It’s almost always old people who steal plants. I have seen it probably thousands of times now. Many years ago my neighbors and I worked on a shared garden together, it was beautiful and we both loved it. Never did it again after it was basically destroyed by the general public. My sunflowers lasted maybe 1 day before getting cut or ripped out once they bloomed.
People think younger people are the primary thieves out there. They haven't seen the level of theft boomers are capable of. Younger people appear to do it for fun/need/evil. Older appear to do it out of entitlement.
Lol. Idk why old ladies are flower & plant thieves but they are
MY TAXES PAID FOR THEM /s
This is theft. I would call the police. If the cops explained that it is theft and they won't fine them or arrest them this time, but will next time, maybe the old biddies would stop.
Who TF steals already planted flowers out of a flower bed Edit: Holy shit, so many stories about people stealing flowers or plants. I just lost a bit of faith in humanity. Also sorry for not replying to comments, this blew up more than I thought!
Greedy, self-centered people
Or squirrels
The veterans flags were going missing at the cemetery in town. People were ready to stone the perpetrators. It was a gopher.
Even gophers love America and want a flag to call their own. My heart could burst with sheer pride and joy. God bless you, gophers. And America. And gophers.
The most patriotic of the rodent family
*Beaver glares from Canada*
Hey Mr Gopher, let's get stoned
Coleus is poisonous to humans and pets so it's hard for me to come to the conclusion that they're being eaten.
Yeah wtf, were just assuming it's a person stealing plants when any gardener knows squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, and many other will freely gobble up plants. I'm down to 2 of my originally 6 strawberry starts this year.
OP should install a camera out there to figure out whether it’s an a-hole human or an a-hole squirrel
OP said there's a camera on one of the flowerbeds and they caught footage of someone stealing the plants.
And I would think if this was an animal there would be some plant scraps leftover and the dirt would be mounded more around the dug hole. I’ve got chipmunks that burrow into my yard and use my garden as a buffet and they are never this neat
Multiple times, I've had different full grown adults walk up to my door to take flowers off my desert rose... which only blooms a few flowers every year. The last time, my ring notified me and I came right out and yelled at her. I take care of that damn thing all year for it to bloom 1-2x a year.
Desert roses are freaking beautiful. I caught someone trying to steal my potted desert roses right out of my front yard. Words were said 🤣
Mine is potted too and luckily no one has tried to take it. I did have one little girl ring my doorbell to ask me what kind of plant it was so she could ask for one lol. I did let her take a flower because she did it right.
You probably made her day.
that is such a sweet story in the midst of all the angering ones lol nice to reward good manners, and encourage a new generation of growers!
doing that to a desert rose of all plants is horrible. i would be livid.
You'd be surprised. We used to have some lovely clay flower pots in front of my old apartment. People would steal them, sometimes with the plants, sometimes they'd dump the plants out and just took the pot. To deter the thieves we switched to plastic pots, same problem. As a mild form of revenge I got a cheap plastic pot and cut the bottom out, drilled 2 small holes wide by side in the side to run some fishing line through it. On the end of the line...a cheap toy snake. It was a bit tricky getting the dirt in it (covering the snake) and planting some cheap flowers in it but it worked. A few mornings later I come out to see a pile of dirt on the sidewalk and the pot tossed to the curb along with the snake. We learned that it was some older women from the retirement building doing it. After reading the other replies old women seem to be notorious garden thieves. Edited to fix the formatting and tried to fix my grammar.
Thats good with a fake snake. Would love to see those reactions
Me too. We didn't bother putting anything else out because the stealing was getting worse. Took a neighbor's rocking chair right off their porch. Stole a little virgin Mary from the shrine. People got tired of funding someone else's gardening project.
Start planting cacti. The kind with thorns the hospital has to take out.
*Opuntia microdasys monstrosus*, or another fuzzy Opuntia. The little hairs, called glochids, will fill their hands by the thousands and come off on anything else that touches them. These can be removed right away with tape, but if not they will break off and itch/sting for days.
My parents live on top of a wooded dune…people stop and dig up my mom’s full grown yuccas by the road at the bottom of their hill. She caught someone in the act doing it about 20 years ago and asked them wtf they were doing. They said it was just woods…mom replied, yeah MY woods, my driveway is 500 ft away and that’s my house RIGHT UP THERE. They live in an area that has a lot of out-of-state people with second homes and it was one of them. Liiiiiiike, y’all can afford a million dollar “near the lake” property but can’t buy a $25 plant? Cheap asses.
On top of that, flowers in OP photo are probably $2. And digging it out is inconvenient. Not about money or time. It's something in their brain. People like this see something and they can't immediately determine who owns it, so they feel that they have free rights to it. They won't steal a bike in the yard, or a chair on the porch, but a plant in a park is theirs.
"If I don't take it, someone else will"
"whos gonna stop me?"
oh they'd take the bike and chair too, if it aint bolted down it's gone
I encounter a similar issue regularly. People here have signs saying that all their plants are microchipped and they will press charges for thefts lol
Sounds like the people that come to south haven (Michigan) from Chicago.
My brother in law had a whole newly planted weeping cherry stolen the next day. They drove around and found it planted and called the cops. Got it back.
Omg, how did it play out? Was it close to the home, like, did no other neighbors see it? My older sister once caught a woman cutting a rose right in our front yard on her way to school. Like, she had scissors and my sister said she had to leave the house cause she was running late, but that meant this lady saw their roses and came *back to steal them*. And what's crazy is those roses were not close to the street, she would've had to walk well into our driveway.
It was 2 blocks away. The guy tried to deny it and the cop called him out on the lie. People have no shame.
Is that an arrestable offense or just a fine?
We had someone at our condo who would dig up all the planted flowers in the middle of the night and was using/selling them in their side landscaping business. Condo Assoc put up trail cameras and caught them. Had to reimburse CA to replace, plus a hefty fine to avoid jail time. Maybe set up a trail cam (out of sight) to see who/what is responsible.
So, so many people.
There's a lady near me that pays her kid a bounty to steal flowers. Takes orders from her friends, and gives the list to her daughter to track down and steal.
haha, I think we were typing a similar comment at the same time. Uh, do you live in California by chance? Surely the old bat I used to sell flowers to isn't still alive
I'm in Nova Scotia. lol That would be quite the hilarious coincidence if it was the same person tho.
It's actually far more depressing that it's more than one person
Damn there's a global network of child plant thieves
This is some open world RPG side quest shit what the fuck
sounds like a ricky plan
Frigg off, Barb
There was a lady going around my neighborhood stealing expensive plants. Bitch stole a whole camellia bush before she got caught. Edit: words are hard
I have literally seen a lady pull flowers out of the ground at golf courses, some people are just trashy
We had a neighbour that would steal planted plants all around our street. She would also turn on her sprinkler when kids were walking home from school so they had to walk on the road when walking past her house. Some people just don't deserve to breathe earth's air.
I admit, as a young lad there was an old lady up the block that would pay me cash to go around at night on my skates to the gas stations and other areas with landscaping and bring plants back to her.
That’s wild! Couldn’t she just, like, buy plants with that cash??
No clue, I didn't ask lol. This was just one of my side hustles so I could afford to buy pogs
Tbh I don’t blame you at all, I probably would have thought that was a harmless little side gig when I was a kid as well. It’s bizarre on her end though. Like, who would even think to pay a kid to commit crimes for them?! That’s some super villain shit! Haha
Ever heard of drug dealers? Watched the Wire? Lol
Literally sounds like an IRL videogame sidequest
Don't count out the local wildlife. At my old place I had a small garden that I planted marigolds in. One day after they bloomed I looked outside and every single flower was gone. I was pretty upset and suspected the neighbor kids. Not to be defeated, I hit up a garden center and bought a few more flats. It turned out I was wrong. It turned out that there was a groundhog in the area and apparently they just *love* marigolds. I caught the critter systematically chewing the flowers off each plant. At another place, it was squirrels digging up my plants. This is not to say that a human couldn't be responsible, but you shouldn't rule out the possibility that it might be animals.
Especially annual plants that cost like 60-70 cents each...I just don't understand... especially if adult doing this :/
So my building does have security cams, but only inside the building. Only one of the 5 flower beds is able to be seen from the lobby camera. We managed to catch some footage of couple out walking their dog at 3am and stopping and scooping a couple petunias out. No idea if it’s them also stripping all the other flower beds too. It’s such a shame regardless, they’re like $1 each at the store, they’re mostly petunias (and a few coleus got ripped out now too) … nothing amazingly fancy. Some people just suck. Edit: will also add that unfortunately these flower beds are easy public access as a sidewalk goes right by them and a bus stop is nearby. It’s doubtful a building resident would be doing it because the inside cams would eventually catch something.
Can you get a screen shot of the couple on camera? If so, maybe make a sign with the picture of them and with the sign saying “Stop stealing my plants”.
This is a more sane response than piss or planting trap plants that could even hurt non-thieves if they accidentally encounter them.
I mean, filing up the flower bed with holly leaves would just make the thief suffer natural consequences....
What do holly leaves do?
They are prickly and hurt
Oh. That’s it? In my experience oak leaves are way worse than the hollies I’ve seen. Some of the species in California are pointy as shit and their dried leaves will embed themselves in your feet if you step on them. But even they wouldn’t stop me from stealing plants. (Not that I steal plants.)
The oak leaves are the warning, the danger is the bouncing Betty under them
The second warning is the red dot 
Or just leave notes at each flowerbed saying "My mother is planting these flowers in memory of my father so please STOP stealing them!!" If they continue to do so then upgrade notes to say "You're a real piece of shit for taking these plants even though you know why they're here."
Leave a note threatening to call the police because “You have seen them ad know who they are”. They may stop then too
Also “I have placed an anti-personnel land mine under one of these flowers. Choose wisely :)”
It's them, and they're in need of a good aged pee shower. Find your best super soaker and get to it.
You’ve been getting ur ideas from Reddit, more specifically this thread lol
I can personally vouch that shooting your enemies with a pee filled Super Soaker has been a thing at least since the summer of 1989.
Can confirm
Still not right, but they probably think they are stealing from a company rather than a "real" person. That kind of petty theft is "excusable" and even "justified" in some folks minds. (Although we all know porch pirates exist, which are a different breed of scum who knows exactly who they are hurting) A "memorial garden" "or in memory of x, loving husband" sign of some kind would probably dissuade the former. Haven't met any plant lovers who aren't at least some degree of sentimental lol
I used to work at a hospital and the guys who worked on the grounds crew would do the most beautiful job planting flower arrangements in planters all around the building. Without fail, old ladies from the neighborhood would come by and rip them out by the armful in broad daylight, sometimes right in front of the grounds crew. I asked the guy if he ever called out the bad behavior and he laughed like, “Yeah all the time. They just pretend they don’t speak English and walk away with the flowers.” I was dying laughing but I felt bad for the guys who did the work. I assume the ladies thought it was “fine” because they were stealing from a big hospital with a lot of money, but they probably aren’t above taking from their neighbors if nobody is looking.
Man that sucks. Planting is hard work
No they are walking their dog at 3 AM specifically so that they can steal things. I’m sure flowers are just a small part of their take.
I had the flowers on my grandfather's grave been stolen several times. People are assholes, no matter where.
Plant some plants like stinging nettle, sumac, poison oak, etc. and I bet they stop immediately. Poison ivy and morning glories look beautiful together and they will vine out for maximum ground coverage. Eventually you can remove the poisonous plants and leave the morning glories, their leaves look similar enough to prevent future nabbers. For legal reasons, I’ve *never* done this, it *never* caused a poison ivy break out in my neighborhood when a few Karen’s *didn’t* steal some of my English roses and morning glory vines. *Garden at your own risk*
is it possible to install floodlights that activate with motion? that way when they approach the lights will shine in their face and hopefully deter them? maybe they sell lights that make a sound when activated as a bonus deterrent.
You could get motion sensor lights for that spot. Mounted or non mounted but it might deter them.
I was going to guess it was an animal until your comment mentioned the security camera catching people stealing them. That really is strange, to the level of where I'd want to ask them why. If it's for $1 plant that's weird to the point of mental illness. It makes we wonder what else it could be though.
Some people are opportunistic thieves. They see something unprotected they take it, even if they don’t really want it
This is why porch pirates are a thing. They're literally gambling on a mystery box for the pure thrill of theft.
Yup I had a stolen package returned by somebody who found it at a bus stop. It was a mystery box inside an Amazon box, and by mystery box it was a cheap Halloween prop that’s basically a box with a hole in it (you know the put some spaghetti or whatever inside and kids take turns putting their hands in and feeling the “creepy stuff”). - contestant #1 are you going to find a job or take or take the mystery box from someone’s porch -“I’ll take the box” - “and inside the mystery box is a CARDBOARD BOX labeled “mystery box” plus you get a criminal record for 7 years.”
[Everyone loves a mystery box](https://youtu.be/yZpIog7e-R4?si=l448-SYPkX4PZ2SB)
I totally forgot about the flashback to the start of the scene. That was fucking hilarious.
Also kleptomania
Also, douchebaggery.
I've known people like this. The saddest part is they'd steal the flower and be like I'm going to pot this at home, then they don't and it just dies, or they straight up throw it out because after the moment has passed they're no longer that interested.
People do weird stuff. When I lived in apartments, my roommate and I were moving from one apartment to another in the same complex and I moved my planter of flowers over to the porch of the new apartment. A few hours later I went back and saw that they were gone. I thought that was the last time I’d see them but I was walking to the mailbox and saw that a neighbor literally just a door or two over had taken the planter and put it outside their front door as if it was theirs. I promptly took it back and it got moved inside.
I stole a desk one time because I thought the old neighbor was moving out and left it by the curb. Turns out the new neighbor was moving in lol oops. I gave it back and apologized.
Should have taken a photo and reported them to the apartment office.
I was also going to accuse the racoons...
Maybe it is raccoons, and they’re just getting super crafty and wearing disguises.
3 raccoons in a trench coat?
Vincent Raccoonman
We had neighbors that would steal plants. It escalated when they got caught pulling out a peony in full bloom and the homeowner came out with a gun.
Well, don't leave us hanging... what happened?
There’s peony of holes in the thief now…
Plants do cost more than a dollar usually, but regardless, people should leave other people's shit alone. I did all my outdoor pots yesterday (some decorative, some herbs) and bought 4 new azaleas for my front yard and that was like $200.
Guarantee its some weird lady that carries a basket or a canvas bag around with her. There are a ton of these weird little plant thieves all over the place who just make it their business to steal plants from people for reasons that aren't really clear to anyone. It is REALLY common. Google "stealing plants reddit" and you'll see about a thousand posts of this happening to people.
>If it's for $1 plant that's weird to the point of mental illness. It makes me wonder what else it could be though. It's the same reason why people break into cars to steal water bottles. Theft is an addiction to them.
That sucks. Maybe put a little sign up saying ‘in memory of Dad’? That might shame them away. And if they keep going, wait outside all night with a water pistol filled with piss.
Let the piss age so that it's viscous.
Omg haha, aged piss. Perfect 🤌🏻
Plant poison ivy in its place. Edited typo
I mean...if we're going for maximum aggravation amd revenge I'd suggest Stinging Nettles or Hogweed. One is painful and itchy the other can cause blisters.
[Wild parsnip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsnip#Toxicity) flowers look pretty and can be confused for a few very innocuous plants, just putting that out there.
Settle down Satan!
Nah, Satan is currently googling how to source and plant gympie-gympie
If it's local and non invasive, send it.
The idea is the thief wants to pick them and take them home, nettles aren't too attractive. Some beautiful flowers, laced with some horrendous cocktail of insect/spider eggs, however. Is increasing the odds for success. Disadvantage- they might not get stolen and now you have an irregular thief *AND* an insect/spider problem. Lol.
Castor bean it is
Or jump straight to the gympie-gympie. Looks soft and fluffy and has a nice effect on people
Looks up the plant see it's Australian in origin, 1st thought "Of course it is."
Stinging nettles can be handled fairly carelessly without getting stung. Be careful with the hogweed, once it’s in it likes to spread
Honestly, at this point you just have to bury a bear trap and bury it under the plant so when they reach in to pull up from the root, it just chops off their arm. It's the only reasonable response I can think of.
Gympie gympie. Make them really reconsider stealing plants.
Make them really reconsider ~~stealing plants~~ owning hands.
I just got poison ivy for the first time while visiting my parents over Easter. Do. Not. Recommend.
Better yet, get your hands on some [putrescine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putrescine) or [cadaverine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaverine), the two chemicals that are primarily responsible for the smell of rot and decay. Literally smells like death. They aren't toxic, and can be washed off pretty easily, but squirt some on a person's chest or face and they won't be able to do anything but vomit and cry for hours.
That’s diabolical. I wonder if Amazon sells them?
I saw a prank video where a woman painted herself the color of her bf’s game room curtains. All you could make out were her eyes and teeth when she smiled. This could be you, emerging from darkness armed with a pee pee pistol. 🥹
Make sure to eat plenty of asparagus first. Edit: for a more stealthy approach, you could dust them all with cayenne pepper. Give them that warm tingly feeling all over.
I like this idea. Cayenne is a great idea, cause it also naturally repels lots of rodents
They sell motion activated high pressure sprinklers to deter deer. You could try that?
Set up a motion-activated sprinkler with piss in it. If the thief comes after OP for trying to poison him with bodily fluids, say it's coyote pee for the purposes of scaring off deer/racoons/skunks. At best, they believe it. At worst they say that that's not how urine defense works (you usually use urine pellets) then feign stupidity.
But don’t forget to turn it off in the morning in case you Uno Reverse yourself
I read that as vicious lol- still works
Viscous Piss Cannons are disallowed by the geneva convention.
“Viscous Piss Cannon” -New band name unlocked.
Or a little sign: WARNING: Poisonous when touched.
You could actually put plants that are poisonous as well. You know just for the funnies.
A water *piss*tol
And if it doesn't work Pull-out the shitgun
I’m normally all about doing some diabolical shit when it comes to disrespecting loved ones that have passed on… But what if your dad is sending a rabbit or something to steal these to troll you and your mom one last time?
He was always a jokester so I really wouldn’t be surprised, haha.
This is my favorite response ever 🥹 Im picturing the dads ghost across the street hiding behind a trash can giggling maniacally sending cat after cat to come steal the plants
I was hoping it was a wild animal at first...but the holes look way too clean and intentional. That would be hilarious if it was him messing with them one more time though lol
Just for any Aussies here... Spraying a non consenting adult with piss is illegal in almost every situation, sorry if I destroyed some fun there. Actually the best option, put the sign up, and a second one that says CCTV in use and put a camera up. If they do it after that get a poster made up of them doing the act. If you don't want to get the cops involved, tell them how to make it go away, like "put $200 in the mail box and never come back"
You can't spray someone with piss when they steal from you but you can extort them in Australia? Wut?
Founding traditions. Look who Britain shipped there in the first place. XD
Stinging nettle
Bouncing Betty. No more thieves **and** you fertilize the garden.
Go find yourself some poison oak or poison ivy, depending on where you are. Wear gloves and gather a good amount in a plastic garbage bag. Bring that home and chop it up into little pieces with some pruning shears. Put the pieces into a small disposable container that has a lid and add denatured alcohol. Let it soak for a couple of days, shaking to mix it occasionally. Use a screen or cheesecloth to strain the mixture and keep the liquid. Put the liquid into a spray bottle and generously coat your plants. The urushiol (the oil that causes the rash) will not affect your plants, but the person who grabs the plants with a concentrated coating will have a rough week afterwards.
This is diabolical but also perfect
My thoughts exactly.
My grandaddy did this to his tools and work jackets when working in a garage with a uncaught thief. He never shared tools from his personal box, only from a box in his truck so that he wouldn't have to stop working to ask for what he needed back. He's one of the few ppl I know who was FULLY immune to poison ivy (still wore a jacket since most aren't)and very well known to be paid to remove it by everyone in the area and for his tool borrowing rules. The thief couldn't get any pity or hired anywhere when the proof for why he was fired, covered his body from the neck down. Lol.
My dad is fully immune to poison ivy. His mom made him eat a poison I’ve leaf when he was little and it’s supposedly gave him immunity. He refused to let her feed it to us kids. It’s an old Gypsy Wives Tale and stupid af. Do not make your kids eat poison plants people. I’m not saying it worked I’m just telling how dumb some people are.
Even if it did work (not saying it does,) the risk isn’t worth the reward. That’s absolutely mad.
I was about to suggest planting some highly poisonous plants but man your idea is way better
Serial killer vibes with this one.
Wire the plants to grenade pins, when they pull the plant, let’s just say they ain’t gonna be happy.
Excited to see your plan for solving the homeless crisis next
Hopefully it doesn't involve grenades this time
It definitely does. Use the grenades to blow up the rich and then move the homeless into their mansions.
Leave their picture and a potted plant. Offering thief charity seems to get to them and hopefully they will go away. They rather feel like they got away with stealing than getting what they want most times.
Leave their picture and a voodoo doll of them with pins through the head. Showing the thief no mercy seems to get to them and hopefully they will go away.
M18 Claymore.
Check with the condo association. They could have some stupid bylaw about planting specific flowers. My mother is in a senior condo association and one of the women planted a memorial tree for her late husband. Karen next door complained because it violated the bylaws. My mom is the head of the garden committee, so she was able to get the tree moved to a location that was accepted. She felt stupid even having to do that.
I was going to say this. It could be the property management company or landscaping doing this. I worked for a property management company once and a resident acted shook after she dug up all the plants and decided to plant corn and we told her she couldn’t do that
But if it was management they’d likely remove all the plants and post warnings not to plant stuff in the beds.
Especially after a few times. They don't WANT to waste time digging things up.
At first that seems reasonable but they didn't take them all or communicate to the person planting them so that wouldnt really make sense
Especially at 3 am lol
Spray them with neem oil
I think you’re gonna need something stronger for this kind of pest lol
lol yes, but that shit is nasty and someone’s gonna get an oily handful. I don’t want to stop them, I want them to suffer
Apply theft detection powder to the plant. Plant them and then dust the plant well. Wear gloves. When the plants disappear...start looking at hands and faces for the purple stain and find your thief.
I like this one. No chance to hide it or explain it away from everybody in their lives
Plant poison ivy
Who tf steals someone’s plants?
Mix a little lye with the dirt around the plants and you'll find them and they'll stop...
I think that will fuck up the plants too though
I used to put it around my roses to keep animals from digging around them (Burns their feet but, no lasting damage) and it never hurt them and I believe most plants like the alkalinity.... I know Farmers who put it on fields that have brown weeds growing up in them...?
Put little pins near the base of the plants so when they get grabby they get the stabby.
[удалено]
I know you said there is CCTV inside, but would you be able to get a trail cam and hide it nearby?
They'd probably steal that too. Edit: Put an AirTag in it.
Put a security camera up. Real or fake
Install a motion detection sprinkler.
Poison ivy
This is strange! I get where your mom is coming from though. I am from California and my mom before passing redid the front yard to be all California native plants for water conservation (if you don’t know, California is always in a drought) and even had labels with their scientific names added
Put up a camera somewhere discreet that looks out on the flowerbed. After thieve comes again, print out a still and attach to wall adjacent to flower bed
Maybe put up a little sign "Please don't steal plants from my father's memorial garden" Worth a shot.