The great lavender theft mystery

My DD2 had the same thing happen to her - they were on holiday, so we think it was well planned and they'd have needed a van to uplift the pot.
Years ago, a neighbour had an allotment and went along to dig up some new potatoes for Sunday lunch, only to find someone had got there before him and taken the lot!

A house on a corner down the road to me was completely re-vamped a few years ago. It looked lovely, and the final flourish was flowering shrubs and small bushes planted all round it, cutting it off from the pavement. The same evening that the planting was finished every plant, shrub and pot was stolen. It would have been a number of people and some sort of van or pickup involved in this, and, of course, the police weren’t interested.

One Boxing Day, we had a large cordyline in a lovely ceramic pot taken from our front garden.
We guessed that someone was given it as a Chr***mas present!

It’s depressing isn’t it ? The trend seems to be ‘if I haven’t got it, I’ll have yours.’

At our local Tesco, they have very large planters which are dedicated individually to staff members who have lost their lives (some from covid). They are by the doors, and a few months ago some vile person (s) came along when the shop was shut and took plants out of the planters, not all of them, (they were obviously picky, and only took the ones they wanted!) the relatives of the staff these were dedicated to were of course very saddened, as were the friends and colleagues at Tesco. Why do people feel they have the right to just take what they see and fancy for their in garden? Some of the human race these days are absolutely horrible and have no conscience at all.

I cemented my pots in the front garden so they are still there but I live in a very rough area and neighbours no long put pots at the front, even some shrubs planted in the soil have gone walkies

Might try incorporating chopped up Giant Hogweed stems into your compost - they wouldn’t come back again.

One place I lived in we cemented a Gargoyle to the wall by the front door. Came home a few days later & someone had managed to get through the cement & taken the Gargoyle! So now will not leave anything in the front garden as it will probably be taken! Too many people now think that they have far more right to our property than we do! They want something so check every garden till they find what they want & take it. My Nan would have said she hoped their fingers fall off!

Did someone perhaps run short when making lavender bags?

I remember reading that a long footpath of old Yorkshire flags was dug up and carted away. As it was during the day locals thought it was council workmen.

Not quite the same thing, but we have a 'Sale Agreed' sign from local estate agents outside our house in the road.

When England won their last match in the Euros, the sign disappeared overnight and was spotted planted in the middle of a nearby roundabout!

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.

A few years ago l planted 5 hanging baskets with red,white and blue flowers for the Queens Jubilee. Overnight they were stolen, baskets as well. Also a wall mounted hose pipe was ripped from the wall. I expect they ended up in a carboot sale. My husband wire's them up now.

Years ago, we had pansies taken from our front garden. They were in large, but lightweight ornamental pots & they had been fully emptied of flowers, compost & rubble. They even left the pots behind, neatly stacked up. We reported it to police, in case there were other such thefts in the area. Didn't expect police to come round & ask questions though, but had to laugh when one of them asked if we would recognise the pansies again!!!

This thread made me poke my head out to check my pot of lavender is still by the front door. It is right below our Ring (video) doorbell in a quite open front garden. I hope this makes it quite safe!

When we moved to our current house we put a lovely big ceramic tub at the side of the front door with a nice dwarf conifer in it. It's a quiet area and we didn't give it a thought. It lasted for about 3 days then it was gone. Never bothered replacing it.

Had you been living in the UK I would say the theft was likely due to France taking the huff at the UK for Brexit and Covid-19 restrictions and stopping UK imports of French lavender. Perhaps there's a shortage where you live

Never had a problem, thankfully

There's a lot of it about. I bought a small phormium for the circular bed in front of the local chapel, thinking that it would be something perennial as winter/summer bedding came and went. Sadly, it was the phormium that went. Overnight.

I have shingle sand a screwed to the sill window box now but my cctv captured someone coming in for a peak the other day, gloves on and for the ready!!!

do you have any cctv around there that you could train on the plant pots? Choose something quite prickly such as berberis or a prickly rosa rugoso to put in centre, or alternatively use gloves and plant something like euphorbia and ivies that irritate the skin. If you wear gloves you will be ok but if they dont they will get caught by it. Meet up with neighbours if you get on and have a go at taking turns for a couple of nights of watching the area from inside and if you have a phone with a photo you might get a picture of the thieves or if they have a car or van you will get that. Good luck

Sorry to hear about your plants Kate54. The only way I’d put plants out front now is if they are faux plants which I did in my previous house expecting them to be gone the next morning but they were still there when I moved out in March because I forgot them! Cement the pots down. If I were you I’d put a cactus in the middle of the pot now hopefully you will then hear the thief go ouch at least!?

Dear Kate54 sorry to hear of your lavender loss. I’m in Greater London so don’t get the type of wildlife you get but are you near a pub? I ask this as it’s clearly someone playing silly beggars! I had 3 super heavy lead window boxes stolen complete with white geraniums and silver grey festuca grasses, I was livid and hurt. It must have been a team of people as I had had 3 fairly sting men install them!

There have been several posts on our local FB page about garden ornaments being stolen. One lady spotted a van parked nearby, and two men lifting some heavy ornaments from a neighbour's garden into the back of the van. It was broad daylight so she didn't think there could be anything bad going on but took a pic of the van anyway. She went out and headed towards the neighbour's to see the men jump in the van and drive off. When her neighbour's got home she told them what had happened. She also posted the pic on FB, and it was spotted in a number of nearby roads. I think the police caught up with them eventually.

We had a stone wheelbarrow planted up. Got up one morning to find it gone. It was very heavy.
We live in a cul de sac so we assume someone was deliberately looking for this type of thing.
Why pay for your own if you can take someone else’s ?