And maybe tie a tag with your name in each remaining tree to identify them if more do go missing and you see some new suspicious trees down the road...
You should check out r/gardening over the next couple months - with community garden plots and especially when pumpkins are ripe. Everyone is asking "what animal took this" and it is typically a large mammal that has thumbs to open gates
There was actually a case earlier this year in Ireland where a woman was caught stealing hanging baskets. She was found because some sort of tracker was placed in the baskets. (They had been stolen the year before so the trackers were a good idea I thought).
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-41309617.html
G\*\*d\*\*\*\*t. Take your upvote.
Makes you wonder how a person who likes gardening that much can also be a thieving bastard. It just seems incompatible.
A nursery near me had someone stealing plants, they used AirTags to find him:
https://abc7.com/amp/apple-airtags-thief-rogers-gardens-suspect-arrested/14124244/
This is hysterical and a great idea!
Imagine it’s a landscaping company!!!!
I grew up in a very well off town on Long Island. Private police force always around. Always patrolling very little crime almost none.
So there was a house on a busy road with a huge sign “reward for stolen landscaping”
“Violators will be prosecuted”
Nobody had things like that in our town and I’m surprised they didn’t fine him (they might have) had it up as long as I can remember. Everyone laughed at the guy.
But you know, I’m an adult with a family and a small landscaping business.
I would be sooooo pisssssed if I woke up and my azaleas were gone. Like heartbroken and furious. A lovers anger.
So I get it and the AirTags
Depending on how much and what type of traffic passes on that road, and if the traffic is mostly local or even thru traffic between major cities, will change whether the thief was local or not.
Just like doorstep package thieves, a lot are *not* local and you’re not going to be able to just find the stolen plants in a neighbors yard or something.
Might have been a landscaper who regularly passes by who installed them into a clients yard in a suburb miles away.
For real. It's pretty cutthroat where I live, Everytime I see something nice on someones porch my first thought is "wonder how long that's gonna last". Back in San Francisco I walked my dog around the block everyday and found at least 20 sets of luggage and bags/backpacks that had been stolen from cars, rummaged through, and just left in an alley. Always felt really good to find contact info in them and try to return the remainder of items to the rightful owners. Saved two families from other countries by returning their passports
You were a saint for doing that. I had my wallet stolen in my city’s downtown area once. My car was hit-and-run and some dipshit took advantage of the chaos and stole my wallet while I was distracted. Someone came along a day later through social media to return my ID and various cards to me, that they had found scattered in a nearby alley. Saved me a huge headache of trying to replace my ID.
Before cell phones and social media, I stumbled upon a purselet outside a bank. The street was empty. So I picked it up.
There was a drivers license, assorted credit cards, and an ATM receipt dated 10 minutes before and cash for that amount, but nothing else that could lead me to contact the owner.
Next business day, I took it to the post office, mailed it to address on the drivers license. Used cash from the purse to pay for it, but included the change and post office receipt in the package. The postal employee initially yelled at me for having an open package, and then for adding more weight (the change) to the package, but when I explained what I was doing she softened her tone and let me send everything.
Little over a week later, I received a nice handwritten letter thanking me for returning everything.
It's been years, but I keep the letter as a reminder to do the right thing (I'm not proud to admit it, but I'm a person who needs such a reminder).
I live in a small town in the Midwest, and we used to constantly have stuff disappear from our porch. We had a basket of gardening tools, and some would always go missing. Other items, too. It stopped as soon as I put up super obvious cameras.
edit: somebody also used to turn on our outdoor spigot before the cameras, and leave it running.
There's a woman in my neighborhood who is notorious on local FB and nextdoor because she has been caught on security cams many times watering random people's front yards and then leaving the hose running. This happened to one house while the residents were out of town so by the time they came back, they had racked up a huge water bill.
My friend's rental car was raided within 20 minutes of parking in a SF parking garage. Police said it was because he left his MacBook "closed and still on" in the trunk. Nothing happened of course.
I'll never forget, back when I was a kid, being in the car, when my sweet Mom pulled up to a new build house and stole a few squares of freshly laid sod. The same woman that made me return a .25 cent sticker I stole from a Hallmark store.
I lived in a town on Long Island that re-did the median with a long planter full of trees and flowers. Within a week they were \*ALL\* stolen. Few months later the town just dumped stone over the mulch. We couldn't have nice things, we got rocks instead.
I had some flowers stolen out of the ground once. Found someone selling them at a dubious flea market in the neighborhood. Likely that was the intention here: steal to sell. I wouldn’t look in other people’s yards, OP, I’d look wherever someone is selling plants. Might not be worth the trouble, though, if they’re shady enough and know where you live. Setup cameras, post signs that the property is surveilled.
Landscapers will sell an install then “shop for plants” too…that is what happened to my parents once. It was a whole organized ring in new subdivisions where the crews were coming back months later. They knew what plants were where cuz they planted em all!
It's usually unscrupulous landscapers stealing the plants to use elsewhere and save money. During COVID, when people were doing lots of home renovations, a lot of plants/flowers/trees were in high demand and short supply. My neighbor had sod put down to fix ~150 sq/ft of yard. It got ripped up and stolen the following evening. A friend had plants he'd had for a couple years pulled up and stolen too.
Put your trail camera up and post their vehicle and/or face all over local social media. You said it was a small town, print flyers and put them all over downtown. Stealing someone’s trees or flowers is about as low as you could get, cops wouldn’t do a thing but total embarrassment, that’s sweet revenge right there
About 10 years ago, someone kept stealing my potted plants off the front porch. So I set up a security camera by the front door. Got a great video of her taking a huge clay pot with dichondra in it, waddling to her car and loading it in the back seat. Cops didn't give a single crap.
Posted that sucker on the town Facebook page. She was immediately recognized by numerous people who called her out publicly. Within the hour, she deleted Facebook. From what I heard, about 3 months later she ended up moving away to run from the shame.
I am on a couple subs that frequently make posts about police inaction, even with clear video evidence. One thing that has been getting popular is to inform the cop that you are "going to address it myself. Don't worry, I'll be safe and bring friends with CCW permits." Tends to get them off their asses.
>One thing that has been getting popular is to inform the cop that you are "going to address it myself. Don't worry, I'll be safe and bring friends with CCW permits." Tends to get them off their asses.
We had a series of car break ins in my neighborhood. I saw a guy breaking into a car and called the cops to report it. The lady said the cops were busy that night and it would be at least 45 minutes before they could get there. I told her "That's fine. I'm going to try to do a citizens arrest and hold him until the cops come. I'll bring my gun but I don't have any handcuffs so I hope he's cooperative. Wish me luck!". The cops were there within 5 minutes and arrested the guy. I didn't even own a gun at that time and was never going to go outside and approach the thief.
No, it goes toward them being able to harass us poors for various driving violations (to get even more of our money) and they only come running when businesses or the rich call on us. We pay their salaries so they can keep us in check, as the ruling class wants, while they ironically pay less in taxes and therefore less of their salary. ‘Murica 🇺🇸
The number of times I get comments from idiots on facebook to "respect my neighbours privacy" is insane.
One guy literally shit outside my front door, and they reported my post to the moderators because you could tell it was Tony in the footage.
[Fuck you Tony.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjMLZIEmBRs)
3 pimply teenagers stole the mirror at the end of our driveway. Including pole. We need it to not hit pedestrians when getting out, otherwise you can't see shit, because of a hedge.
Put a post on our equivalent of nextdoor, including grainy screenshots from the neighbor's security cam. You can't see their faces, but I guess the parents knew exactly who did the deed. They were back the next day with the mirror, looking very sad, an apology and flowers.
We didn't even shame them (very much), but you could tell the parents lit a fire under their asses. Mirror is still there 2 years later.
As someone who had $250-300 of potted plants stolen, can confirm. Cops won’t do anything. Even if yours is part of a string of thefts of lawn, garden, and patio equipment/furniture/decorations worth $1000s.
Damn is stealing plants a thing? What state are you from? Now I'm scared because I love my plants and take care of them everyday. That is such a scum bag thing to do
Yes. It's a thing. I had a very wealthy lady steal my three of my potted plants. I put some effort into my flowers every year. Some of the flowers were from my Uncle's funeral so I was livid. She drove over a culvert I built in a ditch to access the back field and left ruts. She crushed the edge of the culvert and I had to have it all dug up. She paid for everything to avoid me publicly shaming her. I even had her buy lunch for the work crew.
She said it was OK because those guys got a good job out of it. I told her she fucked with my dead Uncle's flowers and that she's a miserable old idiot that hates everyone but herself. Nothing I said phased her. I really let her have it too. I wrote a damn essay and read it to her on her front porch lol. She offered me a Pepsi while I was reading it. One of the oddest experiences of my life but it had a happy ending I guess. I told the guys to go all out on the culvert. I had installed it myself with a big piece of scrap plastic drainage pipe the first time. Now it's metal and bedded properly and fully anchored and can take the weight of a tractor.
Last year, a neighbor of ours spent a weekend planting flowers and shrubs in her front yard. When she got up on Monday morning, she saw that someone had dug and stolen her freshly planted rose bush.
A friend of mine who lives across town had her beautiful hanging flower baskets stolen from her front porch three years in a row. This year, she secured them with locked cables.
Oh you should read about people disguising themselves as Cal-Trans in Southern California and digging up and stealing giant palm trees from the sides of highways! Plant theft is a thing!
Once my parents had a canary island palm tree in their backyard and a friend said they could sell it to a casino for landscaping for $10k. But it was in the backyard and it would take more than that to get it around the house. Seven years later a palm weevil killed it in two weeks.
As a new homeowner, I had sticker shock. Trees & shrubs are so expensive.
I wanted to replace a few dead arborvitae along my backyard. Even a 4-5 ft arborvitae goes for like $200 here. If I wanted taller ones to match the existing ones, like 6-7 ft, that's $300+ each.
I'll leave it for next year. Can't spend that much on shrubs right now.
You’d be surprised. My neighbor put in some new plants for his flower bed and half were gone by the next morning. People are just trashy.
Weirdly I’ve noticed it’s almost always old ladies who steal plants. They even do it at cemeteries
This is why I cringe when I read comments from people saying “if I have extra XYZ, I don’t mind if people take some“ usually plant cuttings, fruits, cut flowers, etc. because it emboldens people.
Unless something is put in a basket at the end of the driveway with a sign that says, *free* on it, it should never be assumed that it’s OK to take it from someone’s yard.
I completely agree. I grew up picking and eating whatever my grandpa grew that season and people will do just that. He’d put the buckets out in the shed and tell people they could bring some home.
One time he came back to empty shed. They’d even stole his buckets. This was our own family members/friends
When I was in middle school we moved into a house that had established fruit trees. Cherry, pear, and apple. After we had lived there for a couple of years some neighbors from down the street (several houses down, we didn’t know them other than seeing them around their yard) rang the doorbell and asked my mom if they could have some pears. My mom said sure, assuming they’d take a bucket full or something. This tree was no less than 14ft tall and was very bushy and full, so the fact that they could take “too many” wasn’t even a thought!
She came home from work and the ENTIRE tree’s fruit had been harvested. Even the ones that weren’t ready. Our neighbor across the street said that she saw them with ladders and buckets and they had like 5-6 people picking the tree.
Like! Who the hell does that?! They had to have had an entire garage full of buckets of pears. It was insane.
>Unless something is put in a basket at the end of the driveway with a sign that says, free on it, it should never be assumed that it’s OK to take it from someone’s yard.
Tell this to the neighbor who thought he'd be helpful and "take out the brush" in our fenced, completely invisible-to-him backyard and took my six-foot wild rose and fifteen-year hibiscus (in Zone 4) to the ground last week.
It's not the same thing but the sheer audacity has me reeling.
I'd be calling the police and get him for trespassing and destruction of property. Post your story over in r/treelaw, and you'll get all sorts of help to point you in the right direction
Eh, it's honestly not worth the trouble. With the exception of the single hibiscus and the rose from a cutting, which were 15-20 years old and deliberate plantings, the other destroyed plants were what you could generously call accidentals. We didn't consider them weeds, but many probably would. There was some tall fleabane. Catnip. He left the big hosta, which would be recognizable to him as belonging in a well-manicured garden.
Like I said, the previous lawn access we allowed him has been verbally rescinded. If that isn't respected, then we'll look at our options.
Every time I put a new plant in my front yard I get worried about it being stolen. Shrubs are so expensive now.
Thankfully so far all I've lost is from people who walk right up close to my front door and take a rose bud or two right off a bush. Caught one young woman right in the act as I puilled into my driveway. Her excuse is that she needed it for some prayer thing, as if that makes it ok.
I actually lose more plants/flowers from people's big dogs trampling through them since I have a garden bed near the sidewalk. My poor Phlox are half flattened, and one of my Veronica (Speedwell) had all it's young blooming spikes broken off. Next year I'm putting in something sturdier like some mini-roses (something like a Drift rose) that have a gazillion blooms so it's ok to lose some and I hope is more likely to get avoided by dogs since it is a more solid looking obstacle.
Same people are the adults who go trick or treating and dump a whole bowl of unattended candy into their bag.
There are some trashy people out there who ruin things for everyone
OP, In response to finding where the trees end up, be careful. The plant could wind up at a customers house and they don’t know the guy they hired is stealing the plants to keep the money. Good to let them know, but don’t arrive with the baseball bats out right away, which would be my inclination.
AirTags are great for a variety of things this would probably work, people put them on their luggage even in cars sometimes people were doing it because theft was so bad.
I worked in a public garden for years. Plants often went missing. Japanese maples, new flower beds. Usually the first week meant replacing plants, esp unique centerpiece stuff
Wow. Really? I’ve been tempted to slip in something to a garden, heritage hand me down daffodils for instance, and I’ve been known to deadhead a rose or three. But I’d never dream of taking something away, besides weeds like crabgrass or thistle.
You were a good patron. To be honest if someone were to pull up a small piece of rudbeckia from a big bed of it I wouldn’t care. But the maples were particularly sad as they were special cultivars my boss had grown for years from saplings
Oh that is sad. I’m Im sure people look at big public gardens as belonging to the government and they don’t see all the folks just like them putting out their baby other to enjoy, only to have it kidnapped.
put up two trail cams watching each other. put up a super obvious camera with the others watching it. the obvious camera doesn't have to be real, its the bait one for them to tamper with so you can get them for an additional charge of destruction of property. the hidden ones will be the cams that actually catch the criminals in the act.
That giant cloud of smoke looks rather suspicious... I'd go have a look in there to see if it was a getaway smoke bomb, you may have just missed the thieves!
We joke, but I'm currently landscaping a new construction home, and I've thought about the possibility of people stealing my newly planted shrubs and trees. I've spent thousands, plus, it's a lot of work. I need to get cameras asap.
It's not desperation at all. There are A LOT of people who think it's OK to steal because they don't think others deserve the things they own. They'll blame it on "the system" and/or the victims not truly earning what they own.
You know, I caught a bit of the end of ‘Devil in a Blue dress’ last night and they scare some guy off trying to dig up someone’s tree in their front yard. I thought, ‘well that’s a weird thing to steal.’ Guess not!
The kind of person who steals arborvitae isn’t likely the kind of person looking to do some landscaping. Look on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace for someone selling them in cheap Home Depot pots.
Even if all they can get is $100, that will keep them in meth or fentanyl for a week.
Source: I used to have a timber farm in East Kentucky.
I had a patch of beautiful elephant leaves at the front of my house. A guy came to my door asking if he could have a few, and when I declined, he said, “Well, my wife wants some and I’m not paying the ridiculous price the damn store wants for them!”
Then the promptly pulled out part of the patch, which he’d already loosened up. I think he only came to the door bc he thought I already saw him. The dude was bat-shit crazy, so I didn’t try to get a plate. I figured he’d come take/destroy the rest of them if I made him more angry.
Feel bad for you OP. IG sucks, bc what do you do? Replace them? The new ones could get taken too.
So my coworker told me this story and I was dying … he worked with a guy from Long Island, along one of the parkways he saw the state planted some nice trees that would have been expensive for the size. He decided to take a few at night in his pickup. He had to make another trip , on his second trip he had 2 on his pickup and was digging the 3rd tree out and a trooper pulls up behind him, asks him what he is doing, the guy told the trooper that he noticed a blank area on the highway and decided he would like to plant his favorite trees so he will forever see it when he drives on this highway. The trooper bought the story and left, the guy left the 3rd tree as a reminder when he drove on that highway lol.
Now you need a drone so you can get back in over people's property and actually look and see who took them or where they went. I feel like it's unlikely they were stolen to sell, but I would also check like Craigslist and the sale sites in your area, and also call any local nurseries and ask if they buy plants, and whether they do or not, I would ask if anyone has called or been in about selling specifically what you are missing. Sorry that happened to you bud nothing feels more miserable and intrusive than property intrusion and theft.
I'm not sure about your area but from my past experience I would be looking directly at the person who's view of your house would be blocked by the trees that are missing. Plenty of people will do alot worse than steal trees just to be nosey.
I sell nursery stock to landscapers and I hate saying it but I hear this story several times a year. Had one customer landscape a newly built Applebees. Entire landscape ripped out over night and thrown in the back of a U-Haul that night. I shipped him the material again the next week and they stole everything again that night. Happened for a third time a couple weeks later. Had the whole thing on security cameras too but as far as I know nothing ever came of it. There are no plants in front of that Applebees to this day lol.
Drive around and look for 5 newly planted ones.
And maybe tie a tag with your name in each remaining tree to identify them if more do go missing and you see some new suspicious trees down the road...
Air tag!
I never thought to air tag shrubbery.
Nobody suspects an illegal shrubbery acquisition
How does one illegally acquire shrubbery at such odd hours of the evening?
With a shovel and a bottle of whiskey.
I’m half way there now I just need a shovel 😂
I’ll bring the shovel if you bring a bottle 👀
SHRUBERYYYYY
I’ve got a shovel. Let’s go hunt shrubberies.
It's daylight shrobbery
"You wouldn't download a shrub"
Omg that psa lives rent free up in this bitch
I don't think you know me well enough to make that statement.
Sounds like a proper way to ask for some weed lol
LOL “Prithee, good sirrah, wouldst thou be in possession of yon sticky-icky?”
Are you saying “ni” to that old woman?
Quickly!
With a herring
Help, now I'm not sure which Monty Python reference to make
"You shall cut down the mightiest Arborvitae in the forest with...a herring!"
You should check out r/gardening over the next couple months - with community garden plots and especially when pumpkins are ripe. Everyone is asking "what animal took this" and it is typically a large mammal that has thumbs to open gates
This was not the MP reference I was expecting. It’s beautiful. 😆
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It’s those pesky knights.
For sure. Guaranteed they will demand another shrubbery.
There was actually a case earlier this year in Ireland where a woman was caught stealing hanging baskets. She was found because some sort of tracker was placed in the baskets. (They had been stolen the year before so the trackers were a good idea I thought). https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-41309617.html
lol! Because what scum steals trees off of someone’s property. I hope they get a flesh eating parasite.
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Holding your plants as as Hostages.
G\*\*d\*\*\*\*t. Take your upvote. Makes you wonder how a person who likes gardening that much can also be a thieving bastard. It just seems incompatible.
A nursery near me had someone stealing plants, they used AirTags to find him: https://abc7.com/amp/apple-airtags-thief-rogers-gardens-suspect-arrested/14124244/
LOL. Of course Roger's Gardens has Airtags on their plants.
This is hysterical and a great idea! Imagine it’s a landscaping company!!!! I grew up in a very well off town on Long Island. Private police force always around. Always patrolling very little crime almost none. So there was a house on a busy road with a huge sign “reward for stolen landscaping” “Violators will be prosecuted” Nobody had things like that in our town and I’m surprised they didn’t fine him (they might have) had it up as long as I can remember. Everyone laughed at the guy. But you know, I’m an adult with a family and a small landscaping business. I would be sooooo pisssssed if I woke up and my azaleas were gone. Like heartbroken and furious. A lovers anger. So I get it and the AirTags
Yes. I spray-painted mine Hunter orange so that if my neighbors ever stole them, I could find them easily.
Lol hide little id tags
Brand them, like cattle
Depending on how much and what type of traffic passes on that road, and if the traffic is mostly local or even thru traffic between major cities, will change whether the thief was local or not. Just like doorstep package thieves, a lot are *not* local and you’re not going to be able to just find the stolen plants in a neighbors yard or something. Might have been a landscaper who regularly passes by who installed them into a clients yard in a suburb miles away.
Yup, you can drive around but I wouldn’t hold out too much hope.
That and go buy a wireless hunting camera 📸
Second this . They will probably plant them in the backyard.
Steal 5 and throw one away. Successful diversion.
That’s fucking bizarre
I’ve had it happen several times. Always entryways just after install.
Helps you realize there are people all over this planet driving around constantly looking for easy shit to steal. Constantly.
For real. It's pretty cutthroat where I live, Everytime I see something nice on someones porch my first thought is "wonder how long that's gonna last". Back in San Francisco I walked my dog around the block everyday and found at least 20 sets of luggage and bags/backpacks that had been stolen from cars, rummaged through, and just left in an alley. Always felt really good to find contact info in them and try to return the remainder of items to the rightful owners. Saved two families from other countries by returning their passports
You were a saint for doing that. I had my wallet stolen in my city’s downtown area once. My car was hit-and-run and some dipshit took advantage of the chaos and stole my wallet while I was distracted. Someone came along a day later through social media to return my ID and various cards to me, that they had found scattered in a nearby alley. Saved me a huge headache of trying to replace my ID.
Damn, people are such scum sometimes
Before cell phones and social media, I stumbled upon a purselet outside a bank. The street was empty. So I picked it up. There was a drivers license, assorted credit cards, and an ATM receipt dated 10 minutes before and cash for that amount, but nothing else that could lead me to contact the owner. Next business day, I took it to the post office, mailed it to address on the drivers license. Used cash from the purse to pay for it, but included the change and post office receipt in the package. The postal employee initially yelled at me for having an open package, and then for adding more weight (the change) to the package, but when I explained what I was doing she softened her tone and let me send everything. Little over a week later, I received a nice handwritten letter thanking me for returning everything. It's been years, but I keep the letter as a reminder to do the right thing (I'm not proud to admit it, but I'm a person who needs such a reminder).
I live in a small town in the Midwest, and we used to constantly have stuff disappear from our porch. We had a basket of gardening tools, and some would always go missing. Other items, too. It stopped as soon as I put up super obvious cameras. edit: somebody also used to turn on our outdoor spigot before the cameras, and leave it running.
The spigot feels personal
There's a woman in my neighborhood who is notorious on local FB and nextdoor because she has been caught on security cams many times watering random people's front yards and then leaving the hose running. This happened to one house while the residents were out of town so by the time they came back, they had racked up a huge water bill.
My friend's rental car was raided within 20 minutes of parking in a SF parking garage. Police said it was because he left his MacBook "closed and still on" in the trunk. Nothing happened of course.
I'll never forget, back when I was a kid, being in the car, when my sweet Mom pulled up to a new build house and stole a few squares of freshly laid sod. The same woman that made me return a .25 cent sticker I stole from a Hallmark store.
Jim Carey in Fun with Dick and Jane vibes
Stealing from a developer is low, stealing from a homeowner needs an ass whoopin
I lived in a town on Long Island that re-did the median with a long planter full of trees and flowers. Within a week they were \*ALL\* stolen. Few months later the town just dumped stone over the mulch. We couldn't have nice things, we got rocks instead.
free rocks you say?
Surprised they didn't steal the rocks too.
My town redid medians with plantings. Now they block sight lines.
I had some flowers stolen out of the ground once. Found someone selling them at a dubious flea market in the neighborhood. Likely that was the intention here: steal to sell. I wouldn’t look in other people’s yards, OP, I’d look wherever someone is selling plants. Might not be worth the trouble, though, if they’re shady enough and know where you live. Setup cameras, post signs that the property is surveilled.
Landscapers will sell an install then “shop for plants” too…that is what happened to my parents once. It was a whole organized ring in new subdivisions where the crews were coming back months later. They knew what plants were where cuz they planted em all!
Wow this is so silly it makes complete sense
It's usually unscrupulous landscapers stealing the plants to use elsewhere and save money. During COVID, when people were doing lots of home renovations, a lot of plants/flowers/trees were in high demand and short supply. My neighbor had sod put down to fix ~150 sq/ft of yard. It got ripped up and stolen the following evening. A friend had plants he'd had for a couple years pulled up and stolen too.
When the song says "try that in a small town" it really skips right over all the fucking weird shit that does go on here.
When my mother in law passed, her gardens were absolutely pillaged by the neighbors. It was insane.
Who would steal 30 bagged lunches?
Put your trail camera up and post their vehicle and/or face all over local social media. You said it was a small town, print flyers and put them all over downtown. Stealing someone’s trees or flowers is about as low as you could get, cops wouldn’t do a thing but total embarrassment, that’s sweet revenge right there
About 10 years ago, someone kept stealing my potted plants off the front porch. So I set up a security camera by the front door. Got a great video of her taking a huge clay pot with dichondra in it, waddling to her car and loading it in the back seat. Cops didn't give a single crap. Posted that sucker on the town Facebook page. She was immediately recognized by numerous people who called her out publicly. Within the hour, she deleted Facebook. From what I heard, about 3 months later she ended up moving away to run from the shame.
I am on a couple subs that frequently make posts about police inaction, even with clear video evidence. One thing that has been getting popular is to inform the cop that you are "going to address it myself. Don't worry, I'll be safe and bring friends with CCW permits." Tends to get them off their asses.
>One thing that has been getting popular is to inform the cop that you are "going to address it myself. Don't worry, I'll be safe and bring friends with CCW permits." Tends to get them off their asses. We had a series of car break ins in my neighborhood. I saw a guy breaking into a car and called the cops to report it. The lady said the cops were busy that night and it would be at least 45 minutes before they could get there. I told her "That's fine. I'm going to try to do a citizens arrest and hold him until the cops come. I'll bring my gun but I don't have any handcuffs so I hope he's cooperative. Wish me luck!". The cops were there within 5 minutes and arrested the guy. I didn't even own a gun at that time and was never going to go outside and approach the thief.
It’s wild to me they wouldn’t do anything about literal theft. Our tax dollars go towards them handling this type of stuff.
Clearly they don’t
No, it goes towards enabling them to sit around playing Candy Crush in a cool uniform.
No, it goes toward them being able to harass us poors for various driving violations (to get even more of our money) and they only come running when businesses or the rich call on us. We pay their salaries so they can keep us in check, as the ruling class wants, while they ironically pay less in taxes and therefore less of their salary. ‘Murica 🇺🇸
I would have a hard time not tracking that lady down and taking something back. Or maybe at least booby trapping some stuff.
Tactical Claymore behind the pot lol
Unfortunately I think you can actually get in trouble for booby trapping, no matter how well-deserved it is
I love it. Public shaming.
The number of times I get comments from idiots on facebook to "respect my neighbours privacy" is insane. One guy literally shit outside my front door, and they reported my post to the moderators because you could tell it was Tony in the footage. [Fuck you Tony.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjMLZIEmBRs)
Man fuck Tony
all the homies hate Tony
Tony is such a piece of shit.
Man fuck Tony
Yeah... Tony's an asshole
Public shaming is highly effective when done right.
3 pimply teenagers stole the mirror at the end of our driveway. Including pole. We need it to not hit pedestrians when getting out, otherwise you can't see shit, because of a hedge. Put a post on our equivalent of nextdoor, including grainy screenshots from the neighbor's security cam. You can't see their faces, but I guess the parents knew exactly who did the deed. They were back the next day with the mirror, looking very sad, an apology and flowers. We didn't even shame them (very much), but you could tell the parents lit a fire under their asses. Mirror is still there 2 years later.
As someone who had $250-300 of potted plants stolen, can confirm. Cops won’t do anything. Even if yours is part of a string of thefts of lawn, garden, and patio equipment/furniture/decorations worth $1000s.
Damn is stealing plants a thing? What state are you from? Now I'm scared because I love my plants and take care of them everyday. That is such a scum bag thing to do
Yes. It's a thing. I had a very wealthy lady steal my three of my potted plants. I put some effort into my flowers every year. Some of the flowers were from my Uncle's funeral so I was livid. She drove over a culvert I built in a ditch to access the back field and left ruts. She crushed the edge of the culvert and I had to have it all dug up. She paid for everything to avoid me publicly shaming her. I even had her buy lunch for the work crew. She said it was OK because those guys got a good job out of it. I told her she fucked with my dead Uncle's flowers and that she's a miserable old idiot that hates everyone but herself. Nothing I said phased her. I really let her have it too. I wrote a damn essay and read it to her on her front porch lol. She offered me a Pepsi while I was reading it. One of the oddest experiences of my life but it had a happy ending I guess. I told the guys to go all out on the culvert. I had installed it myself with a big piece of scrap plastic drainage pipe the first time. Now it's metal and bedded properly and fully anchored and can take the weight of a tractor.
Damn that's some weapons-grade affluenza there.
You should've publicly shamed her after the fact anyway.
Last year, a neighbor of ours spent a weekend planting flowers and shrubs in her front yard. When she got up on Monday morning, she saw that someone had dug and stolen her freshly planted rose bush. A friend of mine who lives across town had her beautiful hanging flower baskets stolen from her front porch three years in a row. This year, she secured them with locked cables.
Oh you should read about people disguising themselves as Cal-Trans in Southern California and digging up and stealing giant palm trees from the sides of highways! Plant theft is a thing! Once my parents had a canary island palm tree in their backyard and a friend said they could sell it to a casino for landscaping for $10k. But it was in the backyard and it would take more than that to get it around the house. Seven years later a palm weevil killed it in two weeks.
Arbs especially are worth a lot of money in the landscaping industry.
As a new homeowner, I had sticker shock. Trees & shrubs are so expensive. I wanted to replace a few dead arborvitae along my backyard. Even a 4-5 ft arborvitae goes for like $200 here. If I wanted taller ones to match the existing ones, like 6-7 ft, that's $300+ each. I'll leave it for next year. Can't spend that much on shrubs right now.
Yeah but what happens if they take the tree with the trail cam on it?
Like other people are saying, just put it behind those clouds
"I really want to do some landscaping but I can't afford to buy any plants." "Hey! I have an idea!"
You’d be surprised. My neighbor put in some new plants for his flower bed and half were gone by the next morning. People are just trashy. Weirdly I’ve noticed it’s almost always old ladies who steal plants. They even do it at cemeteries
This is why I cringe when I read comments from people saying “if I have extra XYZ, I don’t mind if people take some“ usually plant cuttings, fruits, cut flowers, etc. because it emboldens people. Unless something is put in a basket at the end of the driveway with a sign that says, *free* on it, it should never be assumed that it’s OK to take it from someone’s yard.
I completely agree. I grew up picking and eating whatever my grandpa grew that season and people will do just that. He’d put the buckets out in the shed and tell people they could bring some home. One time he came back to empty shed. They’d even stole his buckets. This was our own family members/friends
Well that just floored me. I know people like that. And suddenly they are less family and more acquaintances.
When I was in middle school we moved into a house that had established fruit trees. Cherry, pear, and apple. After we had lived there for a couple of years some neighbors from down the street (several houses down, we didn’t know them other than seeing them around their yard) rang the doorbell and asked my mom if they could have some pears. My mom said sure, assuming they’d take a bucket full or something. This tree was no less than 14ft tall and was very bushy and full, so the fact that they could take “too many” wasn’t even a thought! She came home from work and the ENTIRE tree’s fruit had been harvested. Even the ones that weren’t ready. Our neighbor across the street said that she saw them with ladders and buckets and they had like 5-6 people picking the tree. Like! Who the hell does that?! They had to have had an entire garage full of buckets of pears. It was insane.
>Unless something is put in a basket at the end of the driveway with a sign that says, free on it, it should never be assumed that it’s OK to take it from someone’s yard. Tell this to the neighbor who thought he'd be helpful and "take out the brush" in our fenced, completely invisible-to-him backyard and took my six-foot wild rose and fifteen-year hibiscus (in Zone 4) to the ground last week. It's not the same thing but the sheer audacity has me reeling.
I'd be calling the police and get him for trespassing and destruction of property. Post your story over in r/treelaw, and you'll get all sorts of help to point you in the right direction
Eh, it's honestly not worth the trouble. With the exception of the single hibiscus and the rose from a cutting, which were 15-20 years old and deliberate plantings, the other destroyed plants were what you could generously call accidentals. We didn't consider them weeds, but many probably would. There was some tall fleabane. Catnip. He left the big hosta, which would be recognizable to him as belonging in a well-manicured garden. Like I said, the previous lawn access we allowed him has been verbally rescinded. If that isn't respected, then we'll look at our options.
The only real enemy old ladies have is gravity and time
We’ve had entire planters stolen. Friend’s business can’t keep rose bushes planted out front because they get taken.
Every time I put a new plant in my front yard I get worried about it being stolen. Shrubs are so expensive now. Thankfully so far all I've lost is from people who walk right up close to my front door and take a rose bud or two right off a bush. Caught one young woman right in the act as I puilled into my driveway. Her excuse is that she needed it for some prayer thing, as if that makes it ok. I actually lose more plants/flowers from people's big dogs trampling through them since I have a garden bed near the sidewalk. My poor Phlox are half flattened, and one of my Veronica (Speedwell) had all it's young blooming spikes broken off. Next year I'm putting in something sturdier like some mini-roses (something like a Drift rose) that have a gazillion blooms so it's ok to lose some and I hope is more likely to get avoided by dogs since it is a more solid looking obstacle.
Same people are the adults who go trick or treating and dump a whole bowl of unattended candy into their bag. There are some trashy people out there who ruin things for everyone
well that ain’t arboright
Thuja awfuldenatlis
culprits were emerald green with envy
I don't know, sometimes trees just leaf.
Id be ready to arborfightae
Hide an airtag in with the roots of one of those remaining
OP, In response to finding where the trees end up, be careful. The plant could wind up at a customers house and they don’t know the guy they hired is stealing the plants to keep the money. Good to let them know, but don’t arrive with the baseball bats out right away, which would be my inclination.
Shoot first and ask questions later, got it
Start molotoving the house they’re found at, write that down.
Leave the gun, take the ~~cannoli~~ aborvitae.
Thats a damn good thought - maybe paint green and then wrap in green tape and then put it in the middle inbetween bushes - basically camouflage it
Youd need to do it that way, its not going to work if its burried at all.
AirTags are great for a variety of things this would probably work, people put them on their luggage even in cars sometimes people were doing it because theft was so bad.
Or a claymore
Christ, people will steal anything that's not nailed down. Better use some nails next time
[удалено]
I was thinking about moving one of our trail cams to the area but I'm not sure how inconspicuous I can make it so it's not also stolen or damaged.
Put them in the clouds.
The cameras don’t go in the cloud only the images.
I tried once but the strap wouldn't stay on.
Yeah they might come back for more tho.
I worked in a public garden for years. Plants often went missing. Japanese maples, new flower beds. Usually the first week meant replacing plants, esp unique centerpiece stuff
Wow. Really? I’ve been tempted to slip in something to a garden, heritage hand me down daffodils for instance, and I’ve been known to deadhead a rose or three. But I’d never dream of taking something away, besides weeds like crabgrass or thistle.
You were a good patron. To be honest if someone were to pull up a small piece of rudbeckia from a big bed of it I wouldn’t care. But the maples were particularly sad as they were special cultivars my boss had grown for years from saplings
Oh that is sad. I’m Im sure people look at big public gardens as belonging to the government and they don’t see all the folks just like them putting out their baby other to enjoy, only to have it kidnapped.
put up two trail cams watching each other. put up a super obvious camera with the others watching it. the obvious camera doesn't have to be real, its the bait one for them to tamper with so you can get them for an additional charge of destruction of property. the hidden ones will be the cams that actually catch the criminals in the act.
Sherlock Holmes is that you? Or you just be dealing with thieves regularly?
its just something i read in the homesteading subreddit because people have issues with trespassers all of the time due to living in remote areas.
That giant cloud of smoke looks rather suspicious... I'd go have a look in there to see if it was a getaway smoke bomb, you may have just missed the thieves!
That's where he keeps the new supply of plants now. It's called Cloud Storage.
Dang. That’s horrible.
Who tf steals a tree?
Some people will steal just about anything if they can.
We joke, but I'm currently landscaping a new construction home, and I've thought about the possibility of people stealing my newly planted shrubs and trees. I've spent thousands, plus, it's a lot of work. I need to get cameras asap.
Happens all the time in the city. Camera’s are a must and cheap these days.
Did you upload them to the cloud? Maybe try downloading to their original location.
Wow, now I've seen everything
Wow, just wow, the level of desperation
It's not desperation at all. There are A LOT of people who think it's OK to steal because they don't think others deserve the things they own. They'll blame it on "the system" and/or the victims not truly earning what they own.
You know, I caught a bit of the end of ‘Devil in a Blue dress’ last night and they scare some guy off trying to dig up someone’s tree in their front yard. I thought, ‘well that’s a weird thing to steal.’ Guess not!
If there's one thing that Loony Toons has taught me it's that they're likely hidden behind those conspicuously placed clouds.
The kind of person who steals arborvitae isn’t likely the kind of person looking to do some landscaping. Look on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace for someone selling them in cheap Home Depot pots. Even if all they can get is $100, that will keep them in meth or fentanyl for a week. Source: I used to have a timber farm in East Kentucky.
Fences make good neighbors. Trail cams can help find bad ones.
I bet it was those fucken clouds.
Put a sigh saying "please return my plants, they were grown with my mothers ashes and she may have been a witch" no one wants that bad juju
Judging by those clouds you live in Super Mario Land so maybe some turtles stole your trees
Wrap razor wire around the base of the others
That would suck for the wildlife.
Dam. I thought I had a problem with deer
Get a apple tracker chip and put it in one of the trees if it dissappears GPS will take you right to it
I had a patch of beautiful elephant leaves at the front of my house. A guy came to my door asking if he could have a few, and when I declined, he said, “Well, my wife wants some and I’m not paying the ridiculous price the damn store wants for them!” Then the promptly pulled out part of the patch, which he’d already loosened up. I think he only came to the door bc he thought I already saw him. The dude was bat-shit crazy, so I didn’t try to get a plate. I figured he’d come take/destroy the rest of them if I made him more angry. Feel bad for you OP. IG sucks, bc what do you do? Replace them? The new ones could get taken too.
Who does such a thing
Also your clouds are on the ground
Lol who TF steals a tree!? I'd look for shady landscapers/landscape projects around town and see what you find.
So my coworker told me this story and I was dying … he worked with a guy from Long Island, along one of the parkways he saw the state planted some nice trees that would have been expensive for the size. He decided to take a few at night in his pickup. He had to make another trip , on his second trip he had 2 on his pickup and was digging the 3rd tree out and a trooper pulls up behind him, asks him what he is doing, the guy told the trooper that he noticed a blank area on the highway and decided he would like to plant his favorite trees so he will forever see it when he drives on this highway. The trooper bought the story and left, the guy left the 3rd tree as a reminder when he drove on that highway lol.
That’s just ghetto
Shrobbery!
Mfs…
what is the best way to deter garden gnomes?
Your property has now been elevated to holy ground
Foggy morning, eh?
I would check on new landscapers in your area.
Jokes on them. In the next couple of years they will be the ones with dead bushes covered in cocoons
Lmao I joked about doing something like this. (Abandoned property). Never thought someone would actually do it lol Sorry about your loss
AirTag the remaining trees
Now you need a drone so you can get back in over people's property and actually look and see who took them or where they went. I feel like it's unlikely they were stolen to sell, but I would also check like Craigslist and the sale sites in your area, and also call any local nurseries and ask if they buy plants, and whether they do or not, I would ask if anyone has called or been in about selling specifically what you are missing. Sorry that happened to you bud nothing feels more miserable and intrusive than property intrusion and theft.
Lol new fear unlocked who steals plants???
Watched a lady in her Caddy, get out, and pull up/remove a Hydrangeas from our local Menards. Drove off like nothing happened
I'm not sure about your area but from my past experience I would be looking directly at the person who's view of your house would be blocked by the trees that are missing. Plenty of people will do alot worse than steal trees just to be nosey.
this is some next level petty theft
Deer took ‘em early
Are the knights of Ni! nearby?
Set up in the back in the trees tonight with a BB gun. They will be back tonight.
Those are suspicious clouds.
This gives me Fun with Dick and Jane vibes. Who steals someone’s shrubbery?
Looks like a cloudy day, are you sure they didn't die? /s
Who da fuk steals bushes??
Post up some wild life cams and signs saying trespassers will be shot
I sell nursery stock to landscapers and I hate saying it but I hear this story several times a year. Had one customer landscape a newly built Applebees. Entire landscape ripped out over night and thrown in the back of a U-Haul that night. I shipped him the material again the next week and they stole everything again that night. Happened for a third time a couple weeks later. Had the whole thing on security cameras too but as far as I know nothing ever came of it. There are no plants in front of that Applebees to this day lol.
Shotgun 😉
Are you sure they’re not behind the clouds?
Did you look in the clouds
I immediately thought of Bugs Bunny pulling them downward.
You uhh, you paid in full right?
Tree law is no joke - if you find the culprit you may be able to land a considerable payday
I’m willing to bet those fake looking clouds had something to do with it. Looks fishy
Ni!
If you can, spray fox piss on it. It’s done in the Midwest to prevent people from cutting down public evergreens for their own personal use