OMG! That's terrible! You poor thing! Although, you say it couldn't have been a gardener, it sounds like they knew exactly what they were taking...being very selective. It's sad, but you hear about things like this. Keep your eyes open in the neighborhood. Can you file a police report? Do you have any neighbors that you think could do this?

Keep your chin up!

HW

We had a rash of plant thefts that lasted for two years, mostly little garden centers and only the best stuff. The thief was finally caught and turned out to be a "well respected" opera singer who claimed to be going through a depression! She was let off with a fine and is now banned from shopping in the local grocery store, and being a small town everyone knows about it. The dying potted plants are strewn about her property, she is obviously too ashamed to tend to them!
You might try checking out local "car boot sales" this weekend, you might spot your plants.
Try not to let this stop you from enjoying your garden, surely the thief wouldn't be stupid enough to return to your property twice. M

I'm so, so sorry about your garden!

I am so sorry. Unfortunately, this is becoming a frequent trend. My rule of thumb is not to put anything of value, either monetary or sentimental, that is visible to the street. How sad is that! :-(

A friend of mine had a huge rosebush dug up over night. Another friend of mine had a bird bath, and bird house stolen and its not uncommon to lose heavy, concrete planters, either. It amazes me that people show up with shovels to dig things out!!

When my girlfriends reported the stolen items, the police told them both virtually the same thing - blame the internet and garage sales. Apparently, stolen merchandise often shows up on e-bay, these days.

Again, I am so sorry that this happened to you, but I hope this doesn't discourage you from gardening.

Marilyn

That is heartbreaking but I hope it does not discourage you from gardening. How about installing motion-sensitive lights?

When you are a gardener, your plants and garden ornaments are far more than "stuff". They really become a piece of who you are, your creative expression, and often with great sentimental attachments as well.

I have read that this is a common problem in England, where there are so many gardeners. I recently visited Hestercombe, a famous garden, and a marvelous urn which they had just replicated and dedicated had been smashed by thieves the night before. When they couldn't remove it, they broke it. Horrible.

Here in New England, we are having increasing problems at cemeteries. Old urns, gates, and plants are being stolen. How vile is it to steal from the grave of someone's beloved family.

Newskye,

I am WITH you. We have not had regular "theft" as in "taking it home to plant it in our own space". What we suffer is simple vandalism that often manifests as theft. We live in a college town two blocks from a local bar. When we moved in in 1998 there were a few occassions each season where folks would be too loud and some times when there might be arguments. Now, it's a NIGHTLY thing. People go by with open containers ranging from cups and bottles to mugs and PITCHERS and 12 PACKS on their way home at around 2 am. They simply tear stuff up on the way by.

We have installed motion lights and that has helped somewhat. The have broken aspen trees off just above the ground. They pulled a small spruce tree up by the roots and threw it in the front seat of a car two houses down. They break pickets and entire sections out of our picket fence. They throw things at our house that they have gathered up an houses they pass before they get to ours. We go out each couple of days with a trash bag and collect the leavings to be properly discarded. The other night a man was attempting to climb our juvenile aspen tree for fun.
What the hell?????

For a while we simply tolerated this. Now, we have changed our tack. Since we are awake anyway (they are so loud we are always roosted from a good night's sleep) we get up and stand in our kitchen and watch them pass. If they do any damage we immediately call the police and follow them on foot until the police arrive. I am not suggesting this solution for everyone...it's not always the safest option as they sometimes get pretty agressive if I am discovered following them. But, most times I can keep quiet while I talk to our dispatchers on the phone updating them on our location. I have ended up with two sets of people arrested at this point. Mission accomplished!

It steams me totally to think that I spend long hard hours and good money to improve my yard and home to have some snot nosed college punk on a bender come by and indescriminately destroy whatever strikes his fancy. Enough is enough! I keep my cell phone, my glasses, my sandals and a 4D cell mag lite flashlight by the bed (it's not just a flashlight...it's a weapon in case I get rushed)! I intend the police department to know about each and every incident. I also intend to contest the establishment's application for renewal of their liquor license the next time they are up for consideration by our city council. Maybe that will get someone's attention!

Good luck to you. Don't let them get you down. Be careful and keep gardening. Screw them!

I'm so sorry to hear of this. It is very hard to grasp that people actually have the nerve to do such things.
I live in a small community and didn't think I had to worry about things like that, but even here things are getting stolen all the time. It's a shame

I hope you don't get too discouraged. Don't let them take away your passion for gardening.

My thoughts are with you

Oh My - that is so very sad - what a dispicable thing to do and that goes to all of the thefts and vandelism mentioned. We had a rash of 'christmas' trees being cut down around the holidays a few years back in the town I use to live in. We had a beautiful blue spruce in our yard and my late husband put a spotlight on it to protect it.

Please don't let it discourage you from enjoying gardening.....

Lynne

I'm so sorry to hear about this, newskye! Where in the UK are you? I couldn't help noticing your screen name - are you in Scotland? It seems hardly possible, as I've stayed there many times and in small villages people still don't bother to lock their doors, which is something that never ceases to amaze me these days! Do you have any suspicions on whom/what motive may be behind the theft? You have all my sympathy.

Eduarda

Thanks for all the replies... I'm so disheartened by this.

HW... I filed a police report, but ... well, they never caught the person who stole my CAR a few years ago, or the computer before that :( At least it's on record... And you may be right about it being an actual gardener, although I can hardly believe that anyone who loves plants could be so heartless, or could enjoy having stolen plants in their own garden... wouldn't they feel guilty every single time they looked at them? Maybe not. But there was no vandalism... nothing knocked over or destroyed... my husband's troughs were moved politely aside so the scum could steal the decorative edging behind them. Even my passionvine's little tendrils... not one left on the bamboo support... did the thief actually unwrap them?? It had been climbing about 7 feet up a bamboo screen... but not even one tendril remains.

Eduarda... I'm in Wales... Skye is actually my name :) I've been to Portugal once, Lisbon, and I've been reading about your garden on this site for a while now, although I don't post very often.

ginny12... I have motion dector lights, but I think last nightthey probably just helped the thief to see the edging in the back of the garden, helped them see something else to steal.
"When you are a gardener, your plants and garden ornaments are far more than "stuff"" -- boy is that ever right! I went out every day to ooh and ahh over my passion flowers, I got such joy out of seeing it bloom and climb, and I'm so ... just heartsick... to have it stolen from me.

More to write, but I must go get my kids to bed. I wonder how tonight will go, I'm so worried about my plants even in the ground... my little hibiscuses, my lovely lush clematis, the tiny japanese maple in the front garden, my fuchsia...

Motion sensor sprinklers. They are impact sprinklers that shoot a nice strong jet of water. Heh, heh. They work.

I don't have any problems here, but did where I used to live-- things regularly went missing. but then it was a pretty marginal neighborhood in many ways. One year the tops of three 15 foot pines in my front yard were cut off the week before Christmas!

And the problem goes beyond gardens: plant thieves take rare and valuable protected plants from the wild to sell. Immoral. They disgust me. What little, mean lives these people must live.

Dayle Ann

Years ago when macrame was all the rage, I made many beautiful elaborate macrame items, including plant hangers for my potted plants. I had several of them hanging out on the front porch. I made one with two colors of cord. It had two hoops, one big and one smaller and lots of hanging tassles. It was very big as it held my largest pot of variegated airplane plant. Some guy who knew my (then) husband had wanted to buy it. He offered my husband $75 for it, plant and all, but I would not take it. Then, while I was in California visiting my family, someone "stole" it right off my porch. It was gone when I got back, anyway.
It was hung up high and fastened secularly with wire so the wind could not blow it loose. The thief would had to have known this because they would have needed a ladder and wire cutters to get it down. None of my neighbors saw anything out of the ordinary. I am sure my ex sold it to the guy who had offered to buy it from me before I left. I was just sick over the loss. I never made another one like it. (Wish I had)

You have my heartfelt sympathies.
The only time I have ever had anyone dig up and steal things out of my yard is when I had put my country house up for sale. After I moved out, someone came and dug up just about everything in the yard, including my Earth Day pine trees, fruit trees and strawberry patch. They had to have used a backhoe! They also took the condensor unit to my CH/A. Unreal. But, no one saw a bloody thing...

Garden thieves: What a bunch of turd muffins!
~ Annie

Sadness and anger here, to think people would do such things. I'm sorry this happened to you Newskye. It's just unbelievable.

Patti

Hi Newskye and all,

I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope it's the last of it. For living things like plants to be taken from a gardener's happy home is indeed a painful and sad situation. We feel your pain.

Thank you for sharing about the situation. I really do hope it's the last of it. Do keep us posted.

Take care,
Grant

Oh I am so sorry. I have nothing to say that hasn't already been said- just that I am thinking of you.

BIG BIG GIGANTIC THORNS FROM HELL style rose brambles across the front edge of your garden, 2 feet wide, and 3 feet tall, Flood Lights, and of course, for those areas to difficult to light effectively, neck high trip wires. Have a nice day :) !!!!

I am just shocked!
Maybe it's my small out of town life, but that is just too much! Usually punk kids do the theiving........this isn't
kids! that's just insane to me!
Motion lights first off.....cheapest too!
I'm really mad too!!!

Doggonegardener.......
Good luck to you! we have a bar in our town that sounds just like what you are saying....we read in the paper all the time about the stuff you describe.....small town....everything hit's the paper!...anyway......the neighbors have finally contested the liquor license enough
times...they finally closed it. I hope you can get the same results! I can't even imagine having that going on!
Good luck to you!

Haziemoon

zzephyrdogg... ha, yes, my husband and I sat there last night plotting imaginary tripwires, people-eating triffids, pit-traps, and contemplating what thief-bits would do for the compost pile. It kind of cheered us up a little.

pattioh, grant_in_seattle, threeorangeboys, robinco... thank you for your kind thoughts and support. It helps to tell people who really understand. My nongardening friends just don't see why replacing the plants doesn't totally make it better.

With that said, I'm going to the garden centre tonight to pick up the last Crimson Queen maple they expect to have in stock this year, and then I've got to figure out a way to make it more secure somehow. One thing we noticed was that although the tree had been pulled right out of the raised bed where I'd planted it, there was no spill of soil anywhere around it (the bed sits on concrete). Amazingly neat thief. We've ordered some spear-topped gates forthe back garden... hopefully that will help. Today I'm expecting another ton of topsoil to be delivered... the fun has really gone out of things for me at the moment, and I'm afraid that setting up another raised bed is only going to bring more loss and sadness, but I suppose I'll forge ahead with it today anyway. It kind of feels as if it's not my garden anymore, but I suppose that feeling will pass with time.

This is HORRIBLE! I can't understand how people can give themselves permission to steal and/or destroy what belongs to others.

Our solution seems to be working so far: Because of thick woods in front of our house, nothing of house or garden can be seen from the road so, it seems, temptation is low. We put up a simple stock fence around the perimeter along with an automatic locking gate. And we have three large, territorial dogs...the one with one blue-white and one gold eye seems particularly effective at preventing ingress. Not even the Fed Ex delivery man will step foot on our property.

This kind of stuff SO frustrates me!
What part of "Do unto others as you would have done to you" do folks not understand?! I'm not even a religious person, but that is a very simple creed to live by.
If you wouldn't want someone to steal your stuff, why would you steal someones elses stuff? UGH!
I feel your pain, Skye(pretty name, BTW), as we've had some things stolen/ damaged/ etc. from our yard throughout the 6 years we've lived here. Nothing major, like what you are dealing with, but enough to make me VERY ANGRY.
I know a lot of it is due to teenagers walking to and from school. They see a plant and grab it. I think I am the only one teaching my son respect for other peoples property, including plants! If I catch him even yanking on a tree branch he gets a swat.
Being on a corner lot, I also get all sorts of garbage thrown into my yard.
I truly believe there is an epidemic going on in this country. One of disrespect and a "me me me" attitude. You have parents running around in their own personal bubbles talking on their cell phones, completely oblivious to the world around them. You have the children of these parents running around and doing whatever they want, consequences be damned, if there even are any.
There is a serious lack of discipline and respect being shown by all sects of the population. It is truly sad.
Here's a question...
How many of you on your way to work notice the beautiful sunrise, and are thankful for each day? I look around me and wonder if anyone else even cares.
Forgive me the selfish rant, but I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately.
Fortunately, I don't let it all get to me as much as it may seem. I could never give any of this up, no matter what happens. To let other peoples problems and sad way of living disrupt my own is just not worth it. Too much gardening to do!

Sorry to say there are people all over the world who think they have a right to other peoples belongings. They couldn't care less how long someone has worked or saved to get themselves something SPECIAL. To them it's a FIND, this has happened to us many many times in the 41 years we have collected the TREASERS we have. Even my brothers girfriend told me that since I have so many things I must be rich and wouldn't mind if she helped herself to a few of my yard ornaments. Needless to say I told my brother she is not welcome here. I'm sorry for your loss and wish you many good years of gardening and colecting.

My heart goes out to you. I know exactly how you feel. We installed beautiful garden lanterns that were solar powered along our flagstone. The lanterns were only out for 2 days and were stolen. I was so disgusted and started developing a general distrust of people which is not the way to live. I really believe that karma will come back and get the thieves who stole your beautiful tree. What comes around, goes around. Please don't let it deter you from gardening. I do agree with a previous poster about not putting anything valuable where thieves can steal it. Sad but true.

Gordana

((((Skye)))) It is depressing. It has happened to me before too, although not to the degree it did with you. It just takes the joy right out of gardening at first. But we can't let bullies do that to us. Like others have said, they will get their's in the end. What goes around comes around. I do hope they leave you alone from now on.

Mr. Morton ~ I try to see the beauty on my way to work. It's easier some days than others, with all the 'me, me, me' people on the road it's hard to do. (I've already been hit by two red-light runners.) DH and I were just on vacation and we've tried to bring back the relaxed attitude and are trying to hang on to it. There is joy and beauty in every day if we but stop to enjoy it.

FlowerLady

I'm so sorry to hear about your plant - I, too, had a huge butterfly bush dug out of the ground along with two shasta daisy plants.

Estelle

Oh Skye - it is very disheartening!! I am lucky to live in a really nice, very private neighourhood now. The worst thing that happens is people turning around in my drive sometimes catch the loose-stacked stones. Even the neighbourhood kids love my garden, and wouldn't even take a flower without permission!! Very different from when I lived in the village!!! My Grandmother's lovely old tin watering can was stolen from my door-step. Someone nicked 200' of hose (it was cheap hose, but it was the only hose I had!!!) Some of the local kids used my garden as a bmx challenge course - I fixed that with some well place rocks and sticks. The worst was the night of our Founder's day celebration, when 2 idiots took two of my 6' mahagony tomato stakes, and had a sword fight - in earnest!!! They were trying to kill each other with them. The police at that time couldn't care less, when I called them (days before 911, and recorded calls).

Sigh, sorry for the rant. Down with stupid people!!!!!!

Perhaps a few "Beware of Dog" or "Beware of Gun Toting Gardener" signs posted on your fence might make them think twice or a trip wire with a barking dog recording!

We have not had plants stolen but we have had people in our yard at night or when we were at work. Really frightening.

I did my best to teach my two children to respect other people's property. Today I have neighbors on one side who must have never taught their children anything! We put up a 6 foot chainlink fence to keep them out of our yard because we had to call the police when two of their sons were in our yard shooting the birds out of our trees!

Good luck with your new plant and catching the thief!

Skye,
I'm so sorry to hear this,and i feel your pain.A couple years ago i made a garden lady for my yard.She sat there all day,everyday for about 6 mos.Then one night i went out to take out the trash and she was gone.We think kids walking by stole her,because neighbors found her chair she sat on across the street,so it must have gotten too heavy for them.Really ticked me off.Here's a picture of her.

{{gwi:547861}}

Kathi

lindakimy... "And we have three large, territorial dogs.." I can see how that would be a deterrent, at least for indoors. I, on the other hand, have a basset hound. Not much of a deterrent there at all (although his bark makes him sound huge, for all his 18 inches of height!).

Estelle... that is really bad, that they actually dug your plant out of the ground itself, for goodness sake! I worry about that a lot now. There are so many plants that would come up in one minute if they brought along a shovel.

west texas peg.... if I ever caught my boys doing a thing like that I don't know what I would do, but I don't think they'd leave the house unescorted for a very long time. I too had to put up a 6 foot fence to try to keep the neighbor boy out of my garden... but last week I found him perched up on the top of it. He broke one of my rose bushes off right at the ground this month because he will not stay out of my garden. I called the police on him when I caught him dabbing paint on the side of my house, and when he and his friends stood under my living room window to pee on the house. I don't think he stole my plants though... they were heavy and he's only about 9, but I don't understand why he won't stay out of my garden, it's maddening.

Skye, I am so sorry this happened to you.

Of course, if you got a large scary dog and he bit someone you would be prosecuted to the full extent......isn't that always the way.

I haven't heard of any plant thieves out in the country where we live, but we do have the "mailbox hooligans" that drive by and smash mailboxes.....sometimes even the post that holds them. We had to replace ours....this time with a heavy duty, set-in-concrete one. Who knows if that will defeat them or not.

Don't be too discouraged, just replant and keep on gardening.

Good luck!

Skye-what terrible boys! I have to admit, my 2 boys (7 & 5 now) about 2 years ago snuck over to my neighbors house (a very good friend) and threw eggs all over her back patio! Of course she called me immediately, and I went over with a bucket of hot soapy water and 2 ponges. We sat and drank coffee while 2 very upset little boys scrubbed every single inch of that patio and back wall of the house. They never did it again. To echo MrMorton's sentiments, "Where are the parents?!?"

Oh- and shame on you! You know you can't put meat products on the compost pile! Or, are we assuming they have to be made of "you know what" for what they've done?? ;o)

The spikes on top of the wall sound scary. But, what about the front? I know you feel very violated right now, but don't let those horrid theives chase you out of your garden! Take it back, make it yours, and to heck with them! Too bad you can't set up some kind of electric fence as a low perimer around the front where trespassers could get a good zap. You could tell your neighbor kid to pee on it! LOL! All right, I'm getting too malicious, now. Garden theives seem to bring out the worst in me! ;o)

No one ever comes uninvited into my garden...they know I have "pet" toads, snakes, and spiders that are all named. Kinda freaks them out. Other gardening friends love it, though!

Hey! Just had a thought that hasn't been mentioned on here, yet. They have the motion detectors that sound like a barking dog. That might work! You could also install a "dummy" camera with a blinking red light around the perimeter of your property. Or, if you've got the money, spring for the real thing.

HW

You know we talked about motion-sensor sprinklers before. I found this for the UK!

Here is a link that might be useful: Scarecrow

From Skye's description, it is pretty obvious it was NOT kids. This kind of theft is not indicative of lower class neighborhood vandalism and of bratty neighbor's kids who are being destructive and disrepectful of other people's property and privacy. These guys are professionals who are targeting middle income homes with beautifully landscaped yards and garden ornaments! Gardening is BIG BUSINESS now and Your yard is the New Market!
You need to organize a Neighborhood Watch.
Let me tell you why you don't want to mess with them all by yourself.
I once had a stalker. Parked out front of my place every night, drinking and doping, sometimes with friends and sometimes even came down to the house and peered in windows. They threw the garbage out in my driveway and their cigarettes. It was terrifying to me and my small children. I knew the guy. I called the sheriff's department and reported it each time the guy was out there. The deputies took their sweet time in coming out, and each time the stalker was long gone by the time they arrived. I told them the guy had a police scanner, so he knew when they were coming and would be long gone by the time the sheriff arrived.
After two months of this, I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands. I was going to fix his wagon myself! I nailed roofing tacks into some thin strips of plyboard and lightly buried them in the sand out on the road by my driveway where he parked each night. A week went by and one night my plan worked. I caught him! His tires got really punctured and good! I heard him yell out a few choice words. The sheriff's office sent a car out to investigate. The deputy stopped up on the road and was up there for quite awhile. I saw another deputy show up and leave and then come back. After about an hour, the deputy walked down the long driveway to my house and I saw the stalker's car leaving. The deputy said it wasn't the stalker, after all, just some poor slob with 3 flat tires! He helped him change the tires and then gave him $5 for gas, too. I wanted to punch that stupid deputy. I let him have it though and explained to the jerk that "the "poor slob" with the flat tires was my stalker, and you just helped him escape, you dumb a_ _!"
Lots of help.
The stalker never came back prowling around my place again after that, true, but he got back at me. He stole my beautiful collie and had his brother-in-law shoot and kill my shepador right in front of my kids. The authorities never did a thing about it.
So, what I am saying to you now is watch out! These aren't neighborhood kids. They are professionals who know what they are doing. You could end up losing more than plants.
~ Annie

newskye,

The neighbor boys who were shooting our birds were high school and jr. high school age. Not only were they in our garden but their 9 yr old sister was caught trying to get a padlock off a storage unit for our shredder and other garden equipment.

I know they are the ones who dumped trash in my compost last year, this spring we found computer cords (their dad worked on computers at home before he was arrested on drug charges in March!), toys, candy papers, broken glass and even an eyebrow pencil.

Parents who lack the backbone to discipline their children are the reason there are so many vandals. We live in a small town and I find it amazing the number of people who are driving/walking down our alley like it is a city street at all hours of the day and night and so many of them are young teens or younger. My husband and I believe these people are checking for items to steal/sell or to just vandalize. One of the local policemen said there had been many reports from people who had their walk lights stolen and they were found trashed just a few blocks away. I have a dusk to dawn light at the front of our house and at the back of our house so I can see who is in my yard at night. Our back door neighbor has a dog who lets us know if someone is in the alley, unfortunately I don't hear her if I'm sleeping to soundly. :( I'm out very early in the morning because it is so hot here and even then have had young teens driving down the alley.

Keep up the good work with your boys! That is exactly what I would have done to my son!

Peggy

I read an article in the DesMoines, IA newspaper the other day about a couple who had someone come to their yard on a bicycle. He was stealing tomatoes from their garden. They caught him and chased him as he took off on his bike and they were apparantly calling the police as they ran after him. The theif stopped and stabbed both of them with a knife he was carrying.

Please do not go after a theif yourself. It could be far more serious than some missing plants.

I'm so sorry for your loss and that your heart is sinking right now Skye! Keep on keeping on!

MeMo

Hi all...!

OK- I am soooo seriously disgusted at all these stories. NEVER! Never in my life have i heard of such disrespect and foolishness... God and the stories you all have that are similar...! These grown people who take your plants! These kids that kill birds and pee on your house! WHAT IN GODS NAME! ( those kids are obviously disturbed- ad it is sad you mentione dthe father was on drugs and now gone..! No wonder they pee on houses and shoot birds.)

The stalker story is very very scary! Oh my god! and they killed the dogs!? I think I would have moved. That man is psycho... this is the wrost thing I ever heard!

I live in NJ- a state everyone thinks is city like and dangerous!! haha We live in the type of area where you really dont have to lock any doors ( we do anyway). Never in my wildest dreams do I think anyone would steal my japanese maple tree at the corner of my property. One year some kids drove through and smashed over people's mailboxes. that was the worst thing that ever happened here. Good Lord. I'm staying in NJ where I feel safe!

a tomatoe stealing STABBER! this is unreal!
well at least i know if anyone does these things -NOT to try to deal with it myself. It was good to have read this thread.

I am sooo sorry for all your losses. I was sooo angry when i read about your stolen plants. I wish you new peaceful plantings. I doubt they will come back to your hosue twice.

SIIIIGH

I do believe there are people who are vandals doing it for kicks, but as Annie just pointed out, gardening is big business.

I read such a good article on this very subject. It was a real eye opener. The article stated that if you have lost such things as bird baths, bird feeders, urns, potted plants and such, check out nearby pawn shops. Check out garage sales and flea markets around your area, and check out ebay. You may find YOUR items being re-sold.

These are professionals who cruise around looking for items that they can steal and turn into quick cash.

The article also mentioned the rash of grave robberies. Angel and baby lamb statues are often used to mark the graves of infants, and they are turning up missing! The police are associating these robberies to the popularity of angels and lambs used in gardening decor. This is the lowest of the low, in my opinion.

Marilyn

I am usually just a lurker here (drooling over all your gardens), but I just had to jump in here and say how sorry I am that this happened to you. I have done work on my yard, but NOTHING like you all. Still, if something was stolen, I would be very upset.

I have received numerous booklets and pamphlets from my home insurance company about safety, preparedness, etc. One of the suggestions is to photograph everything in your home every 6 months and keep in a safety storage box. If a fire or something were to occur, you would know what was lost. Why couldn't the same method be applied to gardening? If you took regular photos of your garden, including yard ornaments, you would know what had been disturbed, moved, etc. If there was a way to mark each item, you could also prove it was yours, if it showed up in the pawn shop. Around here we etch our SSNs or last names onto our bikes (under the seat, where thieves don't usually look). When they turn up stolen, we can prove it's our bike. Couldn't you do that with garden ornamentation, also?

It may be a lot of work, but if it stopped a thief from doing this to someone else, I would think it would be worth it. Just a thought...

Ohhhh, how people with no ethical or moral fiber disgust me....

I can unfortunately relate to some of these stories, as I live next to a family I refer to as "The Neighborvandals". There are two parents, although you would never know it (not that they set a good example in the first place, but that's another story). While they were out of town last week, I planted a Warty Barberry in the gap of the fence where the children always run through. :-) I get tired of calling the sheriff, but will always do so (when appropriate, of course) to establish a record. After all of that, I actually feel sorry for the kids. There isn't much hope for them....

Yeah, I've got some of those kids around here who are headed for a life of crime and problems it seems like. I was just out with my dog in the garden and some nasty kid got up in my hedge... "Lady! I'm in your trees! See me, lady?" Then he called me a nasty name. I don't understand what makes so many people so really nasty and awful, and I just despair of everything. All I want to do is be in my garden, bother no one, tend my plants, have a peaceful life, but it's impossible. Some people seem reallly opposed to the idea of anyone being happy in their own place, and they come along and wreck things as much as possible. So in addition to my spear-topped gates I've ordered to deter the thieves, I have to go out tomorrow and tie raspberry canes into my hedge to keep out the horrible little twerps who seem intent on causing me misery. I have sons myself, and they're not nasty, and god help them if I ever find they've behaved so badly toward a neighbor... I'd have them over there doing free yardwork for a month.

Newskye-
Some of my fellow cottage friends will remember this long story..
My grandma Fran had a neighbor who was sneaking up in
her garden to cut her flowers. And it was a older woman!
The men in the family went to talk to her and she stopped.
So my heart goes out to you because I have seen how crazy
it can make a person. My grandmother was hiding in her garage to catch the thief. We got a lot of good suggestions
from the forum and Grandma got a "yip-Yip" small doggie and it helped her get not so mad and was a good alarm.

Gigi