It's MY garden !

Oh, turn into her! You have every right. Ignorant parents.

Perhaps you could put a little trellis along the wall? (I know you shouldn't have to)

Children of that age should know better,parents of that age should as well. Don't let them think you are the one in the wrong.

UANBU!
I do get very cross with accompanying adults when they don't help their children to learn how to behave well. Children WILL do naughty things, but it's the job of parents to teach right from wrong.
A few days ago I walked through a local park and told off a boy of about ten who, noted by the four adults he was with, was shaking loose a newly planted tree. The park was very busy and I was one of three people who all called out to him to stop at the same time. I explained to the boy that the tree needed to be firmly rooted and that shaking could kill it by disturbing the roots - in the meantime the four adults with him all pretended they were invisible.

We once had a similar thread to this.I think it all depends on the neighbourhood you live in ninathenana.Sometimes children may regard this as a challenge if you tell them off, and take delight in always pulling off the flower heads and you can't be watching out for them the whole time, nor would you want to be!If you live in an area where the children are pretty well behaved on the whole, then a telling off may work.

Wire your flowers up to the mains, that'll larn 'em!

I think that's known as 'tough love' Anya!

One of my favourite observations Roses , both for my own kids and the GC, is 'well they won't do that again!'

Oh tell him off - and his parents as well. Can't abide ignorant people - they shouldn't be allowed to breed

The same thing used to happen at my childhood home. My mother was not afraid to tell children off for pulling the heads off, or pulling up the flowers. They never did it again, my mother could be quite scary when she needed to be.

Ashtree -

Plant euphorbia, pyracantha and roses! x

Maybe the little brat dear is a future horticulturalist who spends every Friday night avidly watching Gardeners World and was simply helping you out with some judicious dead heading?

Nah! Probably not.

Or nettles.

That was my idea anno Wicked!

roses there are no children in my area. I live on the coast road which is a main route into town from the outlying village. We don't get a lot of pedestrians passing.

If children have parents who don't garden, they can't differentiate between wild and cultivated at all easily, it means nothing to them - and often, to their parents. I had one mother tell me I should be grateful for her son having 'deadheaded' my peonies for me.

I had my own sister tell me off for shouting at my nephew. He pulled up a newly-planted hammamelis that had cost a small fortune, he wanted it to fight a sword battle with another cousin. She said he wouldn't have realised the importance of it, in a garden with so many shrubs and trees. I replied that I didn't want any branches at all being snapped off, surely he would realise that, but then she said that the only trees he saw to touch were those in the forest about ten miles from where they lived.

I think it's unlikely to happen again. But I used to keep an old supersoaker of my son's handy by the window, after the peony incident!

Cheeky so-and-sos! My garden is full to bursting with bluebells and two children were hanging around by my gate last week when I came out of my house. I suspect they would have helped themselves if I'd been out, but the older one said 'we like your flowers' which I assumed was a big hint. I told them they could pick some and they got a few each and ran off to catch up with their mum, who waved her thanks. Don't mind at all if they are polite and it's not mindless damage.

nina That is so wrong in a child of that age. My son and his devoted girl friend (both two at the time) pulled the heads off many of my daffodils. But that was toddlers being toddlers. (I was righteously cross about my pretty flowers being hurt.)

Pyracantha hedges work but the trouble is they are indistructible once they are growing well.

One of my daughters, when about 6, once got into trouble with a neighbour for picking her flowers. I gave her a blooming good telling off, very loud and shouty, plus a smack for good measure (I know, but...!), then was left feeling very guilty, because I then asked her why she`d done it, and she weepily said "I wanted to give them to you".
We lived years ago in a modern terraced house, with a sloping front lawn, and a wall at the bottom which was about 18 inches high. There was one woman who walked her little dog past us, used to lift the dog up onto our lawn to do it`s business, then lift it off again and go on her way. It bothered her not one jot that we asked her not to do it, and banged on the window each time, she still did it.

Hosepipe at the ready and 'Oops! I didn't see you there when I was watering the flowers'

I deliberately planted the most viciously thorned shrubs I could find when we moved here because the local yobs would play football using the front of my house as a goal.

They didn't give a toss about kicking it at the windows or door - until the day I walked out with a carving knife, stabbed the ball and walked back in.

When an irate father turned up ( in full Major uniform) I told him why, he grabbed two of the biggest yobs and literally banged their heads together, made them apologise and I never had any more trouble.

Highly effective if totally a no no nowadays

number that's disgraceful.

What sort of mothers allow their children to do that? In our previous house we had troublesome neighbours. I would regularly have to go out
to tell their children to stop pulling up my plants and throwing them on the path. When I spoke to the parents about it their reply was 'well they said it wasn't them' although I had seen them do it. These little horrors would also sit on the fence in the back garden and take their shoes off and wipe the dirty soles on the washing on my line! Obviously though, they didn't, because they told their parents they didn't.

Numberplease, that's a sad little story, I would have felt very guilty too!