I can't believe someone would do that. I don't understand the thinking of some people now, they obviously don't realize how important our gardens are to us and how much work we put into them. I would be absolutely furious if someone did that to me. Personally I like the idea of your own personal "Maxi Boo Boo"!

Mel

if this happens to me i'll cry. we had our car stereo stolen the other night. our neighbours had their old bench (made of scrap wood) stolen last week. we are planning a lovely cottage garden out front.

what's the point of all the work if someone is going to come along and steal/wreck it?

i need to move into the bush.

hey steven..I lied..it takes 9 volt battery :) I stand corrected.... :) I have had one for about two years now. Also we bought one for my father in law who lives alone and is hard of hearing. He can never hear the doorbell when he takes out his hearing aid..but he can hear that darn thing on its loud setting. :)

Keesha described what I babbled about in my earlier post.
Here's what I know about it:
Harbor Freight item # 93068, Driveway Wireless Alert System by Bunker Hill.

The sending unit takes a single 9-volt battery, is small and mounts on a screw outside the house. That unit is smaller than my hand. A little red light comes on when it senses motion, noticeable in the dark.
The receiving unit inside the house takes 3 AA batteries. We found that the AA batteries were quickly drained, so we use a transformer plugged into the wall. The chime sounds like, "bing, bong."

We use two units to secure drives on each side of the house. If you use more than one unit, check the units for the frequency before buying. There is a little sticker on the back that indicates CH 10, CH 9 and so on. Or you can use the same frequency and both sending units will chime on a single inside unit. We wanted to know which direction the motion was coming from.

The sending unit is sensitive. The other day the north side chimed, we saw no one. I went outside and a little green anole lizard was on the house corner, smiling at me.

Nell

Dont you love it tho Nell, no one can sneak up on you..not even a cat :)

Chiming in late, but, yeah, it's hard to believe the nerve of some people. I hope motion sensors or the like work out for you - I would hate for all of your hard work to be lost!

Something similar happened to my friend's mom. She isn't in the best of health, and one day, she heard some women digging up some of her plants, saying that they belonged to an old lady that couldn't take care of them, anyhow, or something along those lines. And, she wasn't able to chase them or anything, alas. I forget what eventually happened with that one, but I hope they get retribution! (My friend and her sister help her out with her garden - she can still appreciate it!)

How horrible! I would feel completely violated to have them stolen from my yard, I understand your pain.

I suggest a sign on your fence, something along the lines of:
"Dear Neighbors, Someone has been STEALING from my garden. If you see them, please call the police or let me know who they are. Report any suspicious activity. Thanks"

That way you'll have alerted the neighbors, one of whom probably saw something. The thief will be a little less bold knowing that ANYONE could now be looking for him.

Irene, your friend's Mom needs not a motion detector, but a baby monitor, set so that she can speak to a monitor out in her garden:

"Hello, I'm the old lady who is now dialing 911 to have you thieves arrested. Do not move, a firearm is pointed out the window.
Stand where you are; face the street with your hands in the air until police arrive."
In a very few years, that will be me.

Hmmmm, maybe Steven could set up a motion-activated cassette tape. There are all sorts of electronic devices awaiting an imaginative gardener.
Scarlet's dog is a wonderful idea. If the dog isn't possible, a recording of his barking should work wonders. When our dog died, we left the 'Beware' sign up, it is still a deterrent to strangers who won't get out of the car and we never say he's gone.

As to the electric fence suggestion, I once went on-call to see a patient. When I turned into the driveway, there was a low electic fence about six inches off the ground. I called from the car to ask what to do, and they said, "Drive over it." There are spring devices that let the fence down. They kept chihuahuas inside that little fence.

I like the big dog idea....however; do not get a digging dog. Mine weighs 80lbs and he digs everywhere! Not a good dogs for gardens.

Nell, I like that monitor speech. I have said for years that I was going to buy a hand gun and strap it on when I checked cattle and let it be known that I was a crazy old lady who wore a gun and knew how to use it! I am quite serious about this. I don't even like to see people crossing the fields without permission.

So far we haven't been bothered, but then, we are always here and everyone know that.

Steven, get mean!!!!

Just had another thought. How about doing a row of mixed flowers and posting a sign saying these are for picking; maybe even a tomato plant for the thieves. Would that shame them?

Gldno brings up a good point about digging dogs. Max is only a pup. He was 5 months in that pic and is now 7 months. He is in training as we speak, not to dig in gardens. He is coming along real well. It is a trade off though. I lost a couple plants at the beginning of the year to Max when I first started training him...I rather lose them to Max then someone off the street coming onto my property. The thought of some stranger walking around my house creeps me out! It is a feeling of being violated.

You had saucers? Heck, we all had to eat from the same wooden bowl, with our fingers. And that's after walking up hill, both ways, in the snow to get the bowl from grandma's house. ; )

Seriously, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. Lot's of good advice here so I'm sure you'll think of something. Personally, I'd make sure the solution involved pain. ; )

Msscarlet, Max is a beauty! Doggy smooches to him and a big hug, too!

Diana

When I lived in the village, I had an antique watering can stolen, and about 150' of hose. Both annoyed, but the watering can most of all cause it camed from my Grandmother. Sweet Annie, I with you. I am out in the country now, but still with neighbours nearby, and we keep an eye on each others houses, especially if vehicles slow down to look at what we have out.

Hey, didn't we have a great long thread a couple of years ago about someone's mother being burgled for flowers?? I think it turned out to be another elderly neighbour lady.....

Everyone "in these parts" knows that I have a sword and a rifle and know how to use both. I'm a dead shot. These days I mostly tote my pellet rifle, but it will kill a snake...even the two leg-ged kind if you know where to shoot.
I have two huge dogs and two mean geese so haven't had any predators.

I've told this story before, but I had a friend who had two wolf-dogs. They were twice the size of a large German Shepherd. He had some very expensive cars he was renovating for an out-of-the-country customer. He had to be gone for the week, so locked the wolves in his garage with plenty of food and water. When he returned, he found the back door broken in and there was blood every where, shredded clothing, no wolves, but the cars were still there. He called the police. A blood trail led over the back yard fence. They found more clothing and bits of flesh, but never found the two men, that I am aware. One of the wolf-dogs was recovered. The other never came back. The police believe the wolves killed and may have eaten the two car thieves. Maybe they did and maybe they didn't, but I am sure the word got out. No one EVER tried to break into my friend's home or garage again. By the way, the wolves were otherwise as sweet as can be.

Isn't it awful the lengths we have to go to in order to protect ourselves and defend our homes from such ilk?

BTW. The shaming method won't work. You are dealing with fearless people who have no shame - no scruples or someone who feels desperate. It could very likely be a jealous neighbor and/or a bigoted puke.

~ sweetannie4u

When I was in second grade, I had a teacher with whom I had a personality conflict. She did not like me. I was a shy kid who did not make friends easily, but I ended up walking to school with a ne'er-do-well young man who had been held back a grade. He told me that we could get on the teacher's good side if we started bringing her flowers. I should have known better, but I was somewhat desperate to be accepted by her. See, he explained to me that when people plant flowers in the front of their houses, especially in the tree lawn, it's because they don't mind admirers picking just a few flowers for their own enjoyment.

Well, we did this now and again for a few weeks...not every day, just enough to make the teacher happy. She would ask us if we had permission to bring the flowers, and with the young man's explanation, it was simple enough to convince myself that we did.

Finally, one day, it happened. The owner of one of the gardens we tried to pinch from caught us in the act and, apparently, called the school, because we got reamed out in front of the whole class for it. This teacher, she was not very sensitive. Second grade is the only grade I remember feeling like throwing up just because I had to go to school. I learned not to pick other people's flowers, though.

I like the idea of a shotgun, but there are other options...like trip wires and eight foot pits and patches of poison ivy and roses! But no, I really know how you feel. Our city was said to be one of the safest places in the country to raise a family, well not so anymore. The neigbors on either side of me, and across the street, have had their cars broken into in the past few weeks. One even had his car stolen out of his garage! But thankfully we have been lucky.
A few years ago there was some prankster who came and actually unscrewed the hinges off of our little shed, in broad daylight while I was home, TWICE! They didnt take anything, but just leaned the door right against the shed and left the screws. Then a couple of years ago someone literally ripped up two of my zuchinni plants from my open veggie bed! I quickly put a little fence up around it. But nothing has yet happend other than that, fingers crossed.
Hope everything works out better for you Steven.
CMK

Or...

It could have been a little boy trying to cheer up his sad mother who lost her job, her car and their house.

It could have been some teen pranksters.

Since you don't know who did that or why, it is hard to know the course of action. It might not ever happen again.

My last entry...I promise! :)

I just read this thread and I am so saddened that people would do this. There seems to be a lack of personal responsibility and its getting worse. I would kill my kids if they ever did anything like that.

Jeeze, everyone's horror stories are awful! Around here people will steal potted plants and porch furniture to sell in yard sales/flea markets for quick cash. I don't think I've had any/many flowers stolen, but since roses tend to attack the unarmored, maybe that's why they've been spared (so far)?

How about a little sign like at the parks: Take Only Pictures?

That's awful and I'm so sorry Steven. I like the shotgun idea. Or, the sign that says "This property protected by Smith & Wesson". The driveway sensor is a great idea, but is that how they are coming in? Are they climbing a fence or walking through a neighbors yard?

I have to admit, I'm feeling a little guilty right now. My sisters and I do what we call drive-bys. We pick an afternoon or a night when all of us are free and we ride through the countryside looking for interesting plants/bushes. We only stop at places that are abandoned/overgrown; old homesteads that the families have just let go to ruin. Most of the places are owned by out-of-towners now and we never see them. Some nights we come home empty handed, some nights we don't. Some nights it's just an excuse to get out of the house and leave DH with the kids for some girl time ;) We have never stolen anything from someones home, vegetable garden or flower bed and we never would. I just can't stand to see a beautiful plant overgrown with weeds and not being cared for. Am I a thief?...it didn't seem like there was anything wrong with it until I read all the horror stories above.

Consider this: All 'abandoned' properties have an owner and the name and address is on the tax record in town.
Truly abandoned properties are auctioned by the county for non-payment of taxes.
One really should ask permission before going on someone's property.

There is an 'abandoned home site' up the highway out of sight of my house with nothing but an old pumphouse remaining
-- we let the county burn the old house as a training exercise.
Beautiful heirloom gladioli bloom in and around the fence, now for the enjoyment of everyone who passes by.
I hope nobody stops by and digs those glad bulbs because 'they've been let go.'

A driveway sensor does not have to point toward the driveway. It can point in the direction of the flowers or wherever you want to detect motion.

Nell

We all live on dirt roads, all the roads we visit are more like lanes instead of roads. Nobody lives on these roads. We know the owner of a couple of properties, a friend of our Daddy's, but other than that we have never seen anyone at any of the other properties. Most all the land around here is being bought up by tree farms. There is an old place out my dirt road that was bought last year. They pushed the old house in and burnt it and planted the whole farm in pines. There were beautiful daffodils, irises, lilacs, and a wild pink rose growing around the place. Now, they are all gone except for some of the rose that still grows down the ditchline (it's beautiful by the way and we haven't touched it). But, now everytime I drive out the road all I get to see are fields full of little brown and green pines. Our closest 4 neighbors are out of towners. We never see them. They come in, buy the property and either strip the land, fill it full of pines and disappear. So, we kind of figure it's better for us to take the flowers before they get plowed under or round-upped. So far, we have only gotten some sweet william in all different colors, two mountain laurel, and some kind of cute yellow bush. I have a rental property where the renters are ruining the flower beds so most of my flowers this year are being transplanted from there. The guy decided the best thing to do with a bed full of ready-to-bloom sweet william was to weed-eat them off. In a clearly marked bed, no less!!
If we did happen upon glads like your talking about, I wouldn't take them all but I would have to take one or two. :)
We did hit the jackpot about a month ago at a house in our tiny town. It's a huge, nice house with expensive and badly overgrown landscaping. The owner lives in FL, and the house has been empty except for a week here and there for about 7 years. He told his caretaker to clean it up, thin it out, and make it look good again. His caretaker's wife is my sisters best friend so they enlisted us to help with the weeding, thinning...and in return we could take what plants we wanted except for the rhodies and a few others. I got a ton of columbines, some mini mauve daylilies, half of a bleeding heart and some lambs ear. We went through eachothers flower beds right after that and now we have offered to do similar work for the older ladies in the town, for a start of this or some seeds off of that. We think we may be on to something ;)
We really aren't doing anything with a mean spirit or to do harm to anyone.

uggh! Someone just walked with three of my four Limelight hydrangeas, which were waiting to be planted. I had moved them to a little sunny spot a few weeks ago. Just last evening I said to myself, looking out the window and seeing them more visible towards the road, in pots with the labels still on, hmmm, you know, those things are going to walk sitting out there on the lawn like that. Twelve hours later, I look out -- and they're gone! I guess they could only get three of the four into their vehicle. Or maybe they only wanted the three tagged ones to sell them! They were $32-$36 a piece, but I got them on sale. I just can't believe people will do these things. Many years ago, 3/4 of a ton of fieldstone just walked away (requiring a truck). I so wish I had been looking out to see this happen and know who took them. Maybe they even came back around at night for them. I wonder if there are people who drive around just looking for these types of bargains, to sell or put in their own yards. I bet they are so happy and proud of themselves when they find them, too. It's such an awful feeling and thing to do. Who would do such a thing? What are they thinking? It's just terrible.

Steven...just checking in to see if you have lost any more flowers? Or did you decide on/find a "deterrent"?

So sorry of hear of everyone's losses. So far we have been lucky. I don't want to jinx it but we have not had anything taken in 7 years and I often leave things sitting out as well as the "things" I put in my gardens for interest.
Marylu

Awww, Squirrel, that is awful! Do you have a fenced backyard where you could keep things?

I've gardened at 5 different homes over the years and never had anything taken and I am terrible about putting things out of sight. The home we now live in is off the beaten path so someone would have to really go out of there way to come up here and take something. Plus I have a neighbor on the acreage before you get up to my house that always knows what's going on. Sometimes that's a good thing. ; )

Diana

I am always amazed at the gall of some people. A dear friend of mine saved her change until she could purchase a beautiful white wicker swing to hang on her front porch. It really gave her front porch that "WOW" factor.

During the night--while she and her husband slept just on the other side of the wall--someone took the swing. She was heartbroken when she reported it the next day to the police. An officer told her that he had seen a pickup truck during the night with a white wicker swing in the back but he had no idea it was stolen at the time. It's so sad the way some people just have the attitude "You have it. I want it. So I'll take it."

-Sharon

No, AngelCub, no fence. I've been thinking that all day. At one time, there was a fence around our community but it was ripped out by the hoa rather than to repair or replace it. It definitely served a number of purposes.

Oh, that is heartbreaking about the swing. That's how I feel -- it really irks me how someone can see something and, pluck, just take it for themselves -- 'oh, I want that.' Go work for it like the rest of us. I wanted to put a big 'thief' sign out there but they, obviously, don't care. I just can't believe someone just took them : (

I don't live in a bad neighborhood, but remembering, even in my mother's very nice area, years back there was a problem with thieves in the night who would actually dig up shrubs, haul off statuary, etc. Probably get back on the highway and hit the next town. So, it can happen just anywhere. I'm thinking, with these, it was probably a local and since they only took the ones with the plant tags, that they might be selling them. Well, at least I don't have to worry about where to put them anymore! (impulse buying : ) And, hopefully, they will go to a good or better home and delight someone else.

We've had the kids here come around and pick the Spring flowers, too -- only to dump them on the ground later and move on to something else. I was hoping they were at least giving them to their teacher or mother. At least they're just kids, though, and don't really know any better. They were very confused when I tried to explain to them.

Timing is everything. We discovered who the culprit was just the morning. I took the dogs out for their morning tinkle about 8:00 a.m. While I was out, I did my morning garden inspection and all looked fine. Around 11:00, I happened to look out and noticed that some of my flowers had been plucked once again. I went racing outside and saw a little girl holding a fistful of blooms getting into a beat up station wagon with her mother behind the wheel. As I stood their, completely stunned, she drove away waiving at me. I've never seen this car or the woman in my neighborhood before. The only thing I can figure is that her daughter really loves flowers, and this is her ignorant, misguided way of providing a bit of joy for her daughter. That, I can forgive. I hope I see her again and can lay some ground rules with her. I'll be happy to share some flowers with this little girl. Maybe I can be a good influence and teach some manners at the same time.

Steven

lol, that is totally odd.

Reminds me of the time the church audio equipment was stolen by people who thrust a tiny boy through a small window to run around and unlock the door so they could walk in.

Do you think this little girl is headed for a life of crime, encouraged by her mother? "Take what you want, sweetie, and wave to the nice man." Next time she may thumb her nose at you.

Nell

I had to laugh at this thread. It's terribly frustrating to spend hours and dollars to improve and beautify your space and have someone, anyone, damage or steal from it. We suffer by living two blocks from a local bar. My husband and I have OFTEN fantasized about elaborate and painful or humiliating methods to identify and deter those that would break off our trees, steal our hoses or sprinklers or birdfeeders, or break our picket fence in their drunken idiocy. We wanted to fill motion detecting sprinkler heads with bright blue koolaid powder so the offenders would be blue the following week. We wanted to set sprinklers to douse them, summer or winter. We wanted electric fence (illegal in most municipalities). My personal favorite idea is a trap door sidewalk that is sound activated...make noise and be a jerk at 3 in the am and get dropped swiftly into a tiger trap, complete with sharpened sticks. Oh the torture I can imagine for these people that break my trees. I am with you!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steven, how old was the little girl. Was she old enough to read a sign that says "NO STEALING" or perhaps her mother is? Put a sign on your fence in huge letters. I had to put no trespassing signs on my fences. It has worked well and the neighbors will tell me if someone has been around. They also speak to the people who tresspass and warn them of their single right of entry (which is law here) and forwarn them that next time they are subject to prosecution.
Pardon me for saying it, but Mamma is a moron.

GGG

I hope that seeing you standing there is enough to stop them coming.

You might start with a large gentle sign that says something like,
"Flowers are for Looking,
Not for Picking"

-- if that isn't effective, escalate in steps to
harsher words.

The little girl might be deterred by a motion detector that activates a loud noise, including a man yelling, "Stop, Thief" and holding a video cam getting the tag number.

I would not reward theft with setting up rules to continue to take flowers, which will likely be ignored. I would give her a handful of seeds and instructions to grow her own. Mom should stop buying candy and spend her money on flowers from the supermarket if she's too lazy to plant.

Nell

I agree the child should not be given any leniency because of her apparent poverty. I went out of my way to help a welfare family a few years ago. They often came to my home for a meal, I bought them groceries, etc. I guess the mother, or one of her kids, figured me for a real sucker. One of them stole an expensive pair of earrings, which I had left on my bathroom counter.

I believed I misplaced the earrings, and searched for them repeatedly. Finally I had to admit to myself that my earrings had been stolen. I didn't make accusations, but I became unfriendly. The woman realized her free ride was over and that was the end of that.

Lorna

Here in one of the towns a few miles over from me they have had to go thru the town and remove what statuary they can.Reason being,in one weeks time someone came thru and stole 3 bronze statues.They think it's thieves selling them to the recycling centers for cash.So now they're talking about getting something passed that will prosecute the recycling co's as well if they accept that sort of stuff/and or making them ask for picture id and take down license plate #'s as well.Darn shame what is happening these days.

Also i saw in the paper yesterday where they caught these 3 guys cutting down the power poles to steal the transformers for the copper in them.

Where will it all end??
Kathi

It's getting the same way here Kathi. Our local radio station has started giving out warnings from the power company about the dangers of taking copper from electric lines. I think several men have been killed doing that.
Where I live now used to be a graveyard for discarded/unused construction equipment. I've been cleaning it up little by little and was talking about taking a dump truck load to a recycling center as I've heard they are paying top dollar for steel/metal these days. My mom was telling me something the other day about having to have proof of id and give your tag number, phone number, address, etc before they will buy your "junk" now. I know several older retired men from town that are going around the dirt roads and buying junk cars and stuff as cheap as they can and then hauling them to the recycling center. It's supplemental income for them and I'm thrilled. The dirt roads have never looked so good, no junk over the banks; piles of car parts and junk cars in peoples yards are disappearing. I just hope they don't put a stop to it all together, these guys have really done a service to this part of the county.

I find it infuriating for people to steal my flowers or plants. A couple years ago I had two red peonies (truly beautiful red) in bloom by the parking area. Someone ripped the stems off to the ground stealing the flowers, and the plants subsequently died (probably got uprooted in the yanking somewhat). If I'd caught them I think I'd have called the police for theft and vandalism.

Years ago some teenage girl was stealing roses from my plants by the street (one of the few sunny places I had), she was breaking whole branches off the bushes, so of course, that's extremely damaging. It happened several times in a row, and I finally caught her, and ended up having to chase her down with my truck. I told her to stop, but of course, being a teenaged brat she felt she had to have the last word, and still managed to steal some more.

One of our customers told us that someone in her same condo complex came and dug up all her roses and planted them in his area! You'd think the HOA would kick his sorry behind out of there in a heartbeat for stealing, but they apparently didn't.

There's just something about stealing that make me furious. The self-righteous idea that someone is entitled to something that another person has worked hard to have, and just takes it. I always have visions of doing something violent to them in retaliation. For some people, I think that might be the object lesson that gets the principle through their thick blocky heads!

--Ron

Another first-timer here (long-time lurker). I identify with the feeling of being violated after having someone help themselves to something from one's yard...a few years ago I moved to my smaller home in a nearby city and brought along a load of rocks from a part of a retaining wall I had built years before on my old property. The stones had been painstakingly selected and purchased a trunkload at a time with the help of my then young children; having my now adult children haul some of those same rocks for me when I moved meant a lot to me. One weekend afternoon shortly after completing my rock-wall garden project, I wasn't feeling well and was taking a nap when awakened by a really loud BANG which I regret I ignored: I soon discovered that some pathetic individual had stolen not only all the capstones but many of the main retaining rocks, including a gigantic key cornerstone. I was shocked that it cost me well over $100. to fix my wall, and my old rocks were nicer (and special!) Squirrelheaven, I can only imagine what your 3/4 ton of rocks that were stolen would be worth!! Ouch!! Unbelievable nerve to pull your truck up to or onto someone's yard and dismantle/remove another's property! Years ago I had several expensive fruit trees and some other plants stolen that had been recently delivered by the nursery - also taken was my commercial wheelbarrow I left out next to the plants... Steve - I like the idea of a temporary sign such as "DO NOT STEAL FLOWERS" rather than "do not pick" - to emphasize to the mother and child exactly what their behavior involves...Penny (who angrily slopped cement under the replaced stones)

I can't believe it was actually a person who ended up stealing the flowers! I read the first post and thought, ya that's happened to me before - darn deer! But they don't know any better and we do live pretty close to the mountain so I don't get so mad about the deer. People, however, what is that mom thinking?

Here's something along the same lines:

My mother has been in her house for 32 years, and she is an avid gardener. There are trees in her front yard that she and my late father planted there 30+ years ago, including a beautiful golden cedar. While she was out of town this spring, her next door neighbour and her idiotic boyfriend took it upon themselves to remove all of the lower branches on the side facing them, right at the trunk, severely compromising the structure of the tree. They proceeded to erect a bench in the 'nook' they created. Apparently, she was surprised when my mother told her to remove her bench from her property and she didnt understand why my mother would care that she removed branches that weren't facing my mother's yard.

Some people are just incredibly ignorant.

I had planted many beautiful plants around my office a few years ago--many expensive perennials and some unusual shrubs, many of which were stolen in three successive years. I had some inexpensive annuals, and these were not taken--my thief was very discriminating. This broke my heart and depressed me for weeks following that. I could not believe people would actually steal plants! I have had my bike stolen, a very expensive tuxedo taken out of my son's car, cameras stolen out of our trunks, bookbags taken at school, but never plants. Who does that?? Every gardener I ever knew was a good soul with a generous spirit. Bad people do not like plants!!! It took me a long time to get over that one, and I hated the feeling of profound disappointment I had in people in general, but it did get better. My heart goes out to anyone who has gone through this. Plants are a little bit like our offspring--hard to let go of sometimes.

My neighbor came and helped herself to a bunch of my rocks out of my rock garden my friend who lives by me seen her do it then she tried to come back again for more. I was at work my friend stopped her the second time. Really who does that. I'm so mad about it.

Now they're stealing rocks? Good grief what next. Rereading this old thread has made me nostalgic, so many don't post here any more. It used to be a really active forum. I'm one of the guilty ones, getting old and decrepit but I do pop in and read once in awhile :).

Annette

I had a helconia stolen from my back yard pot and all a few years back. How they found my helconia i have no idea its not seen from the street and since i am related to both my neighbors i know it wasn't them.

The place i work had a small rose garden on the side of the building someone came in the night and dug up all the unusual roses and left the common ones.

And i once worked with someone that when she and her family came back from a weekend vacation the small tree in the front yard had been dug up. The family found it newly planted in the lady across the street backyard. They dug it back up and took it home.

Pea from my experience when someone takes something not easily seen, you can bet your bottom dollar they've either seen it themselves or they've overheard you talking about it or, someone has told them you have it. Absolute scumbags.

Annette

Last week I had a landscaper with a pickup come by and start loading up gravel I’d purchased for new walkways.

When I asked him what the hell he was doing he said he was only going to take a little. I pointed out he was stealing material I paid for. He said, oh I thought it belonged to the city. When I pointed out that it was still stealing he called me the dreaded C word. Demanded to see my receipt and saying it’s probably not even yours. I pointed out that it certainly wasn’t his in any case and made him put it back. He did so, all the while shouting at me in the street about what a *unt I was! Unbelievable. I wonder how much he charges customers for the stuff he steals from others. If you live in Vancouver do not hire Johnny’s Landscaping!!!!

I hope you report him to the better business bureau, this kind of scum ball would probably steal from his clients as well if given half a chance.

I was worried about retaliation since he knows where I live. One of his other reviews talks about how he ran a red light and nearly hit a man and his son. Nice guy!

How infuriating. I'm glad you caught him. He really went overboard with the c* word. He knew he was stealing. Very sad.

That would INFURIATE me, heck no!!! I would put some signs definitely :(