The great lavender theft mystery

At my old house I had two life size bronze lion garden statues, twelve feet up on top of the original garage roof supports.

I always worried about them when we went away on holiday, but thought my neighbours would notice if anyone tried to take them. Wrong! When I'd sold the house and was still moving out, they saw a van stop and load my green bin and 'thought I'd arranged it'? Cost me £39 to get a new one.

Pots of plants are regularly stolen from front gardens in the town where I live. We daren't put anything nice in our front garden.

I have so many lovely plants in pots in my front garden. The huge box balls sell for over £50 each in the garden centre - mine have been grown from cuttings and nurtured for over 10 years.
I would be devastated if they were to disappear.
I have never heard of anything going missing in my area. Now I am wondering how to secure them.

Sorry BlueBelle, I always read every post but I think I must have commented before I'd read the last page.
I take back my words.
I often wonder where it all went wrong. When I moved into this house in 1997 I used to be able to go down to the local shops and not even lock my door and think nothing of it.
I remember there used to be cigarette, chewing gum, chocolate machines on shop walls in town.
The village doctors surgery was in a house and we collected the medication in the evening which was in a box on a stand in the back garden for all to open.
Sorry for side tracking but nothings safe these days.
Rant over

No flowers taken but my neighbour has had her catalictic converter taken from her car on the drive twice in the last 2 months. It is a very expensive thing to replace. I park my car right
against the fence now as I have the same make & model car as hers. We do have a motion sensitive security light that comes on if anyone comes
on the drive. It wasn't expensive so maybe try that.

We had a conifer up rooted from our freshly planted hedge at the front of the house. It was found further down the road on someone’s car roof!

They'll take anything if it's not nailed down but if you read my post above even things that are bolted down go walk about

I came home from work once and as I pulled onto the drive I couldn't work out what looked different. It took me a moment to realise our hanging baskets had been stolen. ?

It's maddening when we cant put things in our front gardens.
I live in a village but on the main road going through it and I daren't put any pots or hanging basket in the front garden since they went walkies from some friends gardens.
Garden theft has been happening here for quite a few years.
My brothers friend in the next village had quite a lot of plants dug up and stolen during the night the other year from his back garden.
Plants don't come cheap and the cost of replacing if you dare comes to quite a bit of money.
They'll take anything if it's not nailed down.

A few years ago I bought my neighbours a shrub in a pot for their 50th wedding anniversary, they put it by their front door and after a few weeks it was gone!

effalump that’s not the point as you very well know. Plenty of posters on here have plenty of things to worry about, serious things, upsetting things; but the point here is, this is theft, short and simple, and if you’re on the receiving end of that theft, it’s very upsetting, whatever is stolen. The other poster should not have to go to the expense of replacing her plants and I’d add that she has every right to put them in her front garden if she so wishes without some low life coming along thinking they have more right to them than she has.

A friend saw someone removing rockery stones from a garden opposite. As it was the middle of the day she assumed they were having their garden redesigned. Wrong!

And *wine not eine. Broke my own rule of previewing post

*grr, greeted not fretted

We moved into a block of flats with grass only as grounds. At a residents’ committee meeting, I offered to make a bed and plant up with some flowers, fretted with enthusiasm. Got some nice fuchsias from a local specialist nursery and planted them. They looked lovely, and we all gathered around with a glass of eine to view them. Next morning they were gone, I was so upset. Didn’t replant. Left the new bed empty.

Thanks Bluebelle and everyone for your varied and interesting contribtions. Fear not, effalump I have plenty to worry about at the moment but find that an occasional light-hearted foray onto GN takes my mind off the big stuff.

A relative once spotted her in laws digging up her plants! She opened the window and said “ Can I help you? “ . The in law replied “ Oh, I just thought this plant would look lovely in my garden.” And removed it, without permission, from my relatives garden, while she watched. ???

Uncalled for effalumo it’s called conversation ?

This is not about a garden and it happened a long time back but I still find it incredulous When my daughter started nurse training in London they had had a few thefts so when they got a new tv for the rest room it was bolted into the floor… move. on a few days and Tv completely disappeared bolts and all
Really is the pits isn’t it ?

I filled my wheelbarrow full of lillies that I was moving from the back to the front of my garden. I left it near the front while I went back to get my shovel, came back to find everything gone..grrrrrr

I know someone years ago used to take plants out of the planters around the town centre, put them in pots and then sell them in his front garden, he was an alcoholic and drug addict and had ‘done time’ for thieving and burglary. It was reported, but the council said it wasn’t worth police time!

A new Astro turf cricket pitch was laid at my husbands school. It was taken overnight.

Crikey! I wish that was the only thing in my life to worry about. Buy another two plants and, maybe, put them around the back of your house.

Before we could move into our new build hose a lot of the stones forming the driveway were pinched .

Many years ago I made a Christmas wreath base by binding loads of straw around a wire coat hanger. Every Christmas for about 5 or 6 years, I would dress it with holly and other Winter leaves and berries I foraged and a nice big bow and hang it on my front door, then 1 night it just disappeared.
It had no value at all, but I was so proud of it and I haven't the heart to make another one.
Some people are just hateful!

Magpies? One year I planted marigolds in pots in my back garden. Got up next morning to find every one pulled up and lying on the grass. I have an ornamental bear holding a very small pot. Bit too small for real flowers. So put small stones in it with a rubber artificial succulent plant in centre. Looks lovely, but most mornings I do have to search the garden for the plant.