Depends on your area and what people are taking. In some regions people have cycads yanked directly from their yards! They know there's resale value.

Very few people in my area would know what a plumeria was, especially as small seedlings. However, some people from Latin America and Asia likely would.

Small pots are easy pickings too.

Personally I've had small cactus in pots stolen, but fortunately nothing else.

Everything stays in my backyard.

One summer, my DH and I came in from fishing and we left a cooler in front of our garage to head out for the afternoon. Who knew it was full of cold beer? Well .. Someone did! Lol. They had to come right to the house open the cooler and think. " it's my birthday! ". Then off they went to enjoy the cold beer. People will take anything ... Neighbors didn't see anything. Hmmm should have checked the neighbors garbage cans ! ;-). Lmao!

So.... My front yard its plain compared to my backyard. They can take the azaleas if they are thank desperate. Still can't believe they could sense " ice cold beers.. ". Lol.

This cooler took two people to carry... Can you tell I'm still upset? Lol
The nerve...

Laura

Ugh Laura what an annoying thing! Thankfully we haven't had any theft problems. We don't live in a development or have any neighbors so I think that must help, it's pretty hard to just walk along our road without getting hit by a car! Plus we have a business next door with employees there almost 24/7 so it's pretty watched over. I can't believe the nerve of someone to steal a plant. Bugs me just to think about the possibility. I'd like to keep my plants out of sight but that would mean keeping everything in the shade! I love our beautiful shade trees but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have no shade in our backyard. I could have a lot of fun with that! But that would mean too many plumerias! Is there such a thing as that? ;)

Kristopher

Dourbest,

I wouldnt risk it. My plumie patch is behind gates with video cams and apartment tenants watching my plants as it is a small complex and they watch for me as I do not live there. Still I have had 1gal pots of rooting cuttings, 5 gal large 4ft plant in full bloom stolen along with cuttings being stolen off of trees.
Hetty Ford back a while ago supposedly had most of her large trees stolen from her front yard. Paula from the Houston Society had someone steal most of her best rare plumies from her backyard (shortly after she had a yard tour for the PSA).

So I would just keep your seedlings in the back even if your front yard is gated, better safe than sorry.

Well I hope not! I live inside a gated community at the end of a cul de sac so I hope no one will come and dig up my 4 plumerias I planted in the front.

I guess time will tell.

I plunged one out front last year but it was just a plain white NOID. I wouldnt risk putting anything special out where public can have easy access. Around here though most people have no idea what a plumeria actually looks like. They know what they are when you say the flowers are used in Lei's, I might be more OK with putting a name plant out front if I had a double of it.

mike

I live in a home that was converted into apartments. There's no storage, so I kept my fertilizer, planter pots, and hand tools in a 30 gallon lidded trash can. One morning I went out to water, -and someone had taken my heavy-duty garden hose...!! I was upset, but not nearly as upset as I was about a week later, when they came back for seconds, and took my can of gardening supplies. My younger daughter had not one, bet three bicycles stolen, and to get the last one, they had to use bolt -cutters to get through the heavy duty chain she used...she was heart broken as the bike was a speciall type of (classic) bike a friend had given her as a gift..
I live in an economically depressed area, any thing of value that isn't nailed down is fair game, and chances are you could find it for sale at the next local swapmeet....
I don't think the local thieves would know any thing about plumeria, or their value....or they'd disappear, too

Desmanecyra... that's horrible! I would be upset too! :(

I guess it all depends on the area. Around here most people do know what plumerias are. Perhaps that's because many went to Hawaii before since we are so close to it? But thus far people just stopped by and said "You have a piece of paradise right here in front of your home". So it's pretty clear they know. And right now my plants are only pushing some small leaves. I'm sure more people still stop by once I get some flowers. The rest of my precious are in the backyard behind gates. So I think I should be fine for now.

Plus it would be hard to try to pass my neighbor holding my plumerias. Unless they steal in the night.

Once upon a time I had a falseralia plant stolen off my porch. I'm pretty sure that some young teenager thought it was marijuana.

Too funny Mona. Imagine them trying to smoke it. Haha!

Well, I certainly wish I have not had the theft I have had to endure. What makes it worse is, they do it at the wrong time of year and then here sits the open branch where they tore it horribly and then it rots in the moisture/rain/fog etc. So, I have now put only CRUMMY ones out front and all my good and sought after ones are in the inner court yard and then out on our warm deck (which I wish was a lot bigger). All I know is, what goes around , comes around... :-) roxanne

I had a 6' plumie ripped right out of the ground. I planted it in a small island by the street with some prized bromeliads and other things. They left the bromies and yanked the plumie. Strange thing is...it took me a couple weeks to figure out what the heck was missing from that spot.

It's is disappointing to hear about these events. A kids bike and someone who was gracious enough to host a yard tour...then getting ripped.

Moonie, I bet they thought you were coolest lady in the neighborhood until they ended up at the hospital.

I have a Lei Flower, DSP, Celadine, and Samoan Fluff in the front yard. All are close to the house and within lighted areas. Tongue in Cheek...Put NRA stickers on the containers. Its proven theft deterrent at least here in Texas.

Laura... I think I owe you and DH some beer money. :)

I saw the ones that had been broken off my trees at the WRONG time of the year crammed in 5 different pots on a persons deck about 8 houses down from us...I have thought of kayaking at night down to the deck and re-claim what was mine. Funny part is...she asked as she put her hands onto my tree the day before if this would make a good cutting and I went into all the reasons as to why the answer was NO...the next morning GONE and you could see the white drippy trail all the way back down the sidewalk to their house. Needless to say, that was 4 years ago and they are both not in the best of health....hhhmmm? roxanne

Lynn,

Even if you live in a gated community there is no guarantee that works for the association, trades people that are allowed in, sanitation employees, delivery people (UPS, FEDEX, DHL, Store deliveries, etc), even unscrupulous neighbors could and would take a plumie if they really wanted it. I think it was Pharaoh (could be wrong) that was in the valley that had posted yrs ago about a delivery person( think UPS) allegedly stealing one of his plumies.
Even a plumie that has been planted for several yrs can be easily yanked out of the ground in minutes without any digging. The issue would be how to haul it home....

Just FYI so that you do not get too comfortable because you live in a gated area. Back a while ago I lived in a gated area of Palos Verdes and a neighbor had 2 Sago palms stolen from her yard while on vacation, the 2 men who stole them used a rented Uhaul to cart away the goods.

The tree trimmer hired to do all the palm trees in our area (every yard has one) Took the 5X5 nice Celadine down to the ground and said a palm frond landed on it so it was gone....he carted it out under his arm and put all the limbs into his truck seat not the shredder...????? roxanne

These sound like my nightmare scenarios. I remember Bill's story, too, about planting a bunch of public plumies and having them all slowly then entirely disappear.

In my neighborhood there are four people (at least) in a 2-block radius that have outdoor plumeria - 3 in-ground, 1 in a pot. They've been there for at least a year, although most aren't looking so hot after this past winter (I've been tempted to knock on a few doors and tell them they need to cut down to green wood ASAP! LOL). I check them out almost every day when I pass by, though, and nothing seems amiss. My husband keeps pushing me to plant one in the front - if I do, it'll be a NOID or common white.

There's another neighbor the next town over who has a HUGE plumeria in their front yard - a full-size tree (and I mean "tree"!!). I've always wondered if they've had any problems.

The best way to unmotivate thieves of all kinds is to be organized and in communications with your neighbors. Nothing preemptively chases off a bad guy like a neighbor with a phone or a camera in his/her hand observing. Each of us should be that neighbor whenever we can.

Rox...wow. I do like your amphibious liberation/rescue mission plan. If I were to do it I would wait until late fall and take only the plant and not containers. :)

kms2 I have watched for 2 years now the slow death of the cuttings they took from my trees when we boat by...you see, they did not know how to do it when getting/stealing at the wrong time of the year....sad part, my trees looked horribly mis - shapened. Life goes on....roxanne

Rox, that's horrible! But they say that familiarity breeds envy, and that can lead to theft. It's often someone who lives near enough to see your plants every day who takes them.

One member here said her next door neighbor came over and dug plants out of her backyard one day, then moved away. She knows because a family member caught the neighbor doing it.

My mom had two big potted plumeria stolen from her front yard, pots and all! She was heartsick about it for years.

Exactly!!!!! Our other house...we saw the lady come with her shovel and dig up 1 of my 250 roses...we saw where she put it in her front yard...my husband went and dug it back up...hahahaha...takes all kinds. roxanne

It's so disappointing that people will steal like that, it's just heartbreaking. And to have the audacity to put them out in plain view of the person they stole from?! WOW. :(

I won't even put a seedling out in front because I feel like it might attract enough attention to make someone go snooping. I know that sounds really paranoid but I'm just not putting it past people.

For a while we were having our yard done and I didn't like that one bit - one of the landscapers asked me if I would sell some, which means he most likely knows what they are. But they also attract attention because there are so many - it gets people thinking they must be special or valuable. (or their greed gets them and they just want!)

This thread had me all worried so I took a drive around my neighbood and what did I find... tons and tons of plumerias in various sizes and shapes in the front yard! I will have to go back w/ my camera next time. But looks like it's pretty common here so I think I'm ok for now. Time will tell I guess.

Lucky You...we are also 1 block from a marina park where public come waking thru on weekends and that does not help matters at all.....the ones I have in the street side are...shall we say...."junk" roxanne

I have a condo in Long Beach on the shore and sometimes I walk the strand when I am there and have seen a HUGE Groove Farm and Aztec gold plumeria growing in the sand by these buildings and it looks as if people have been cutting from them, a lot of pruned spots. Actually someone from here and MPG came on a walk with me and they took pics of the G Farm as it was in full bloom and growing in sand and the 2 stated they were going to come back and get cuttings.... They asked me if they came back later with something to cut the cuttings with if they could park in my secured parking, I told them no as I did not want anyone to see them or follow them back to my bldg.

The past 3 seasons I have had to cut off all my inflos on Lani as someone took 6 huge (4ft long branches 3 summers ago) cuttings off her, the profuse blooming and color tempts people I guess. So now I cut off all the inflos so as not to tempt anyone and let her get tall enough (she was 8ft back then) where it would be hard for people to reach branches to cut.

Noone has ever bothered the plumeria. On the other hand someone stole 20 crimum asiactum `Queen Emma`, some small cactus, seedlings and pulled a brugmansia out of the ground-and left it last week. I was cutting back my cereus cactus, left the cuttings to go get something to eat, walking the dog 2 days later there are my cactus. Neatly chopped up, planted and staked in the neighbors yard. I caught one neighbor and his granddaughter pulling up plants, one lady stopped, got out with her clippers and started merrily chopping away. I asked if I could help her and she just kept on and said no. I went after her with the hedge clippers. Haven`t seen her since.
It takes all types. What the heck is anyone going to do with 20 of those plants? Mine is at least 7` tall and about as wide.
Tally Ho!