Stolen Plants
Came home last night and three of the plants we just planted were dug up and stolen from our front yard. I know there are things you have to put up with living in bed stuy, but come on. It’s not that the plants were expensive $7 to $16 at home depot, but to actually…
Came home last night and three of the plants we just planted were dug up and stolen from our front yard. I know there are things you have to put up with living in bed stuy, but come on. It’s not that the plants were expensive $7 to $16 at home depot, but to actually come into the yard and dig them out…. and refill the holes!!! DAMN
The block (MacDonough) is so pretty and for the longest time my front yard was the ugliest on the block. We are slowly trying to improve things and this is so disheartening. Just Venting.
A neighbor just had a small red maple stolen over night from his front yard….people will take anything.
I also live on McDonough Street and I have had so many plants stolen from my yard and most were large unusual plants that I cherished. There is no way that some critter took these rather large plants. Now I put in plants that I won’t be so devastated if they are taken.
I think we’d all prefer to believe it was critters. Alas, the evidence (even if it just circumstantial) points to smoothed skinned primates with opposable thumbs.
Events like these always produce a bit of a Rorschach test. What’s the explanation? Who’s to blame? Who done you wrong—a vandal or a critter? Why be so sure about the answer when the event wasn’t witnessed? Why cite events from decades ago as “proof†of what’s happening now? Losses happen. I’ve lost plants this spring, too. In the summer or fall, it’s likely I’ll also lose something to the elements. Gardeners always do; rewards and losses are twin gifts of gardening. New gardeners generally attribute the losses to vandalism (or blame nurseries for selling damaged goods). But in northeast urban gardens, plants gone missing are usually the work of squirrels and raccoons, an occasional rabbit, and sometimes dogs and cats. In other areas, losses can run the gamut from gophers to deer. Curiously, this spring I’ve lost begonias from the most mundane planter box I have; a plant which is a dime a dozen throughout the neighborhood. The “exotics” in the very same planter or very close by, and just as easily accessible, are all still in place. Don’t know what’s so delicious about those plants in MY box; always distressed by occasional holes and entirely missing plants (roots and all); not so quick to perceive myself as under attack.
We actually had our holly plant pulled up and then tossed. Now that was upsetting because it was done with menace.
Used to live in a coop in Queens with lovely plantings in the front that were stolen regularly. (Generally mid-size flowering annuals.) Several people have been caught doing the stealing. One is a middle-aged white woman. Don’t know about the others. Apparently they sell them.
Had the same thing happened to me last spring. It was a honeysuckle. I think it`s got to be a van pulls up, to block the view from the neighbors.Everybody on my block has plants in their front yard but me. I am going to just plant ivy and things I can propagate from my back garden so I don`t feel like I`m throwing money in the garbage. I still fantasize about implanting tracking chips into plants, and then the police raiding the nursery they end up in.
Sorry to say this, but: I absolutely believe that someone stole them. When we first moved to our current block in Park Slope 17 years ago – this was a regular occurance. A neighbor even photographed a van driving down the street – guys would move from one house to the next, digging up the plants, throwing them into the van and taking off. Only two years ago we came out to find one rare plant in particular dug out of each of our three pots in the front. The more common plants were left in place, so the theif knew what they were taking. It’s that kind of small stuff that can really get you down. I have seen people whip out scissors and start cutting roses and peonies growing in front of homes. If it’s a critter, you usually see the ripped leaves, dirt, etc, strewn nearby. When it’s a clean dig – it was a human. So sorry 🙁
I just had a sweet potato vine dug up by a squirrel. I didn’t see the critter, but it’s unlikely that a human vandal would have left the uneaten part of the potato it grew from strewn about my parlor floor window ledges.