The great lavender theft mystery

When Milton Keynes was relatively new and new build houses would fresh turf laud out in the front garden many times the new house owner would wake up to see the turf had been rolled up and stolen in the middle of the night leaving bare soil!

Alioop
Our local graveyard is where the flower thieves seem to be heading to. A lot of people have been complaining about the amount of plants that have gone missing, no-one could stoop any lower than that

My friend mentioned recently that plants and fresh flowers were disappearing from her local graveyard. She was out for an early morning walk last week and called by the family grave. There were 4 deer munching their way around the graves. She’d left roses just the day before and a deer ran off into the bushes with them hanging from its mouth when she arrived!

Kate 5 how irritating to say the least, what is the matter with these thieves, surely a few lavendar plants wouldnt cost the earth to buy, but its easier to thieve them I suppose, cheeky things.

Our local undertakers had a huge raised bed planted up at the side of their premises. Caught on camera a few nights later, an elderly man & his wife pulled up, opened the boot & pulled a large Cordyline out of the back of the bed (which was about 4/5 feet off the ground & about 5/6 feet front to back). What a shocking thing to do, I really hope they get their comeuppance when they pass on!

I am so sorry to hear this. I havent had this happen to me
( yet) although I have had a small fairy statue/ ornament taken from my front garden. However, this is actually becoming a really big thing where I live. I have seen on the local “Nextdoor” neighbourhood group on line, that lots of people are reporting having trees and bushes stolen in the early hours. Even faux plants and fake lawns just rolled up and taken!!
I think it may be because of lock-down and all the focus on beautiful gardens and nature, people want it instantly. I think its vile I am really considering getting a ring door bell to notify me when some one is in my garden.

I had my number 12 slate stolen from my tree trunk out the front. I was was walking my dog later in the week and spotted my number 12 down the road in the next close. I knocked the door and said I think you have my house number on your tree, the lady said her drunken son had arrived home with it a week ago, she said she was sorry and would send him round to apologise, he never did come round?

We live on a corner plot, and our garden is mostly on show, except for the back patio which is in a high walled fenced space.
Over the years we have had a number of items stolen, including a wooden bench and a trolley hose.
However last Christmas some low life excelled themselves. We have a large shrub outside the front door, bare branches in winter, so I hang pretty baubles to cheer it up. The thief came at 2.30am, stole all the baubles from the tree, a "Merry Christmas" sign, and a reindeer made from tree branches. The last 2 were homemade, and the baubles weren't expensive, but had been gathered over the years.
The thief was captured on our doorbell camera, ( he came prepared with a bag for the baubles!) but was wearing a hoodie, so impossible to identify.
I was so upset, I ripped down all the other decorations outside, before he came back for the rest! I then spent the rest of the holidays being asked by passers-by where our lovely Christmas decorations had gone.
Don't think I'll bother this year x

Two years ago our neighbour had her drive relaid with lovely flower borders around three sides. They were only there one day, she woke up to find every plant gone the following morning. They had also tried to take the railway sleepers that formed the raised borders but had left two of them by the gate, probably too heavy or they were disturbed.

At our last house a neighbour had fifteen beautiful hanging baskets and several large planters stolen from the front of her house. She entered the local 'In Bloom' competition every year so we wondered if it was a rival competitor.

Another neighbour had her front gate stolen, it had been commissioned so was quite unique and had sentimental value. It was seen fitted to a house two streets away. The home owner insisted he had bought it at a boot sale.

Seems to be a 'thing' now. We recently had a speight locally where people reported planters,hanging baskets small trees stolen from front gardens. I dont have any but neighbour has hanging baskets firmly secured with chains and padlock. It saddens me at times this world in which we live.

I naively put a pot of plants at the front of the house and it was stolen. A few years later I thought I'd try again. I chose a much larger pot and filled the base with very heavy bricks etc. Beautiful plant planted. One morning I opened the door to find that a pile of bricks and rubble were on my doorstep and the pot and plant gone.

My front garden, with shrubbery up to my bedroom window so would have a job to steal any of that as it’s so well rooted!!!. My bird bath and bird table and feeders have been there many years and touchwood will stay there, there is a little gate with a bolt to get into so we would hear if anybody was up to anything untoward…

Neighbours here had a wooden bench stolen.When they made a fuss on Facebook it was returned.

I had my Cumbrian slate door number unscrewed from the wall by the front door. Someone must have decided they needed it and came equipped.
I complained to a neighbour and she said she had just had every pot plant stolen out of her porch.
Some people will stop at nothing to get what they want, we had a lorry-load of Dolomite delivered, for creating a patio, a man in the next street sent his teenage sons round with shovels and a wheelbarrow. I had to threaten them with the police, their excuse was that they thought it belonged to a builder, still didn't make it okay.

I did have a very similar experience.I was upset someone would steal my newly planted lavender and other plants from the newly planted pots.I was awake through the night the next night after a big clear of garden that day and watched a family of foxes take various plants away right out the pots!!

Many years ago I made a bench for my parents back garden out of 2 small tree trunks and a plank of wood. I was quite proud of it!

They had it for a couple of years and one morning my mum strolled out with her morning cuppa to sit down and it had vanished. It was very heavy and would need 2 strong folk to carry it off.

Later that day she looked out the front window and there was the bench sitting under the window of the house directly opposite! I was livid but my parents wouldn’t let me challenge them as they were a family of thugs. They were afraid if the bench was reclaimed they’d do something worse the next time.

Outside our workshop - on land that we have to pay for maintenance - is a lovely cherry tree. We don’t mind locals helping themselves but every year someone comes overnight and strips the whole tree - it is at least 20’ high. They must get 40 kilos on a good year. We didn’t get a single one this year.

It's the EU!!
They consider Lavender a chemical that needs to be banned !!!

We planted small hedging plants around our front garden in our last house. Next morning they were all gone, approximately 30 of them.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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!

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