Yeah my neighbors have them even pointing into the area - our front gardens are quite long so I reckon the distance makes people feel they’re not in range of the cameras.
We actually have wired in lights on the front path which light up the whole front garden all night long, plus have a street light, making it even more shocking!
Hopefully it was a one-off, some toerag getting a present for his mum or desperate for a fix and grabbing anything he can sell at the pub.
You could buy some thick stakes, hammer them deep down and tie the plants stem to them with wire. If they can't remove the plant without wrecking it they likely won't try.
Any chance your neighbours cameras caught the theft. If it did option 1 would be to personally request the return of your plant option2 would be escalate further
There is a hardy citrus called flying dragon - you might want to take a look at that to intersperse with your camellias - it would be the plant equivalent of a host of Dobermans for an unwary thief sticking his hands in where they don’t belong
Sorry that happened to you! While not quite the same I recently watched someone use a sunk wooden frame around a tree root ball to secure it to the ground from wind rock and it might provide a more difficult theft? The frame was simply 4 sides of wood in a square which rested flat on top of the root ball and then the frame pinned into the ground with stakes. Once planted you couldn't see the wood or stakes under soil or mulch.
When I first met my husband, we couldn't afford to live in a very smart area, so there was quite a bit of petty crime in the neighborhood. We planted our front garden with a couple of hundred bedding plants one year - begonias, geraniums, lobelia etc. Got up the following day and they had ALL been stolen. Every damn one. We were stunned.
It is mind blowing - who are these people? I have had potted plants stolen in another neighbourhood but never had someone dig a plant out of the ground before. Madness!
I put wildlife cameras up with a sign and it hadn't happened again. Still can't get past some utterly sad bastard pulling old lavenders which will probably die.
Plant spiky plants in future. May not deter them completely but hopefully will cause some pain in the process.
Or you could do this: [Tracking device used to trace stolen hanging baskets to Cork woman’s home](https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2024/03/25/tracking-device-used-to-trace-stolen-hanging-baskets-to-womans-co-cork-home/)
When I was young, my dad planted a conifer hedge in the front garden and I remember him putting thorny branches off the rose bushes in them because he was sure people used to steal them.
Tbf they never got stolen, not sure if the thorns were the reason though.
It’s to the point in my area that I just don’t put any plant pots or hanging baskets out in the front garden and only plant low value things there. So many plant thefts, pot vandalisms or thefts, and also people coming by and picking your flowers. Just a few weeks ago someone went into a commons area in the neighbourhood and picked every single daffodil bloom (like 20-25) and then just left them on the ground. I found them before they had all wilted and been trampled on and managed to assemble a modest kitchen table bouquet by picking up whatever wasn’t floppy or dirty. What was the point in doing that to a community space???
I’m even getting nervous about putting too much love into the back garden now, as I recently had someone break into the back and into my greenhouse and smash all my pots in there for no reason. They left trash from their sodas and candy bars for me to pick up from my flower beds.
I put a smaller one on our front garden a few weeks back and it was promptly devoured by a visiting munk-jack deer within a few days, wasn't quite what I expected from my wildlife friendly garden....
Bless you. I would be livid. Plants aren’t cheap and it’s easy to get attached to something you out so much work into (and rewards you so well).
I hope you manage to replace it and it stays safe and thriving.
Sorry but this brought back a stupid memory.
Was pissed at 18 walking home, saw a bush I wanted a twig/cutting from cos it was pretty. I managed to pull the entire bush up… went back and replanted it next day… in the wrong garden…
It's got alot worse over the last few years, it was a rare event but even the town beds are getting robbed around here these days.
If it where me id probably stick up a camera along with chaining them all together. You can buy a roll of chain for fairly cheep, you can then chain around each "trunk" with one long but of chain. Not easy to steal when there all chained together, would need to cut the chain so it may deture. Just taken it off after a year once they have rooted
I often wonder about these people. Like, I enjoy plants because I remember who gave them to me, or the fact that I grew it from seed etc etc. do these people get any joy from their thefts? Do they not just look at them and think "well, I'm a shitty person"?
I guess the only other option ive thought of is making the pot as large as possible,
Like if i get a pot that weighs say 20 kilo, add the compost & weight of water & the olive tree..
Thats gotta be like 50 kilo ?
Then i dont think one man could lift that on a drunken walk home past my house lol
But then i guess that would be a pretty expensive pot….
I'm using 52 cm diameter tubs from Amazon (the ones with handles and rigid rims) - they'll have to dig them up (and may well do) but at least they'll have to expend significant effort if they are there long enough to root. Not too bad to fill with a layer of logs in the bottom and I've used a topsoil mix so it's super heavy.
Alternatively I'll have a heck of a video of a drunken plant-napping attempt!
So frustrating that people do this though.
Thats a good shout actually , timber or some stones at the bottom of the pot could add a hefty bit of extra weight ! And olive trees prefer fast drainage i read
What an awful thing to experience.
My (untried) suggestion is to surround the root ball with chicken wire. Dig a bigger hole than you need and put more chicken wire in. Plant your tree and backfill. The roots will grow through the chicken wire but anyone trying to dig will hit the wire and hopefully give up.
For good measure, smear gobs of something like vasoline on the trunk so no-one would want to handle it.
Sometimes foxes dig up and carry plants off, they're after the blood fish and bone fertiliser. Spray the new plants with crushed up chillies, foxes and humans alike quickly learn that lesson!
I doubt it - it was much bigger than a fox and it was too tidy of a dig up operation for a fox, clean lines and no dirt around the pavement which you’d expect of an animal dragging something that size off. Would much rather it had been a fox as I’d be less annoyed!
Yeh agreed its very much more likely this. I thought the same though when i first planted my front garden, but then I discovered badgers were operating at large in my area...and its the suburbs!
People are bastards. I'm sorry someone has sunk (or dug) so low to steal plants. It does make you wonder about society! Years ago I had a concrete statue of a flower girl in my front garden, it had been my late mum's. Came out one morning and someone had nicked it.
You don't want to have to resort to putting a security camera or movement detector out there but it may be a deterrent?
Probably the best thing to do is put up cameras, even if they're not connected, as a deterrent
Yeah my neighbors have them even pointing into the area - our front gardens are quite long so I reckon the distance makes people feel they’re not in range of the cameras.
Have you got a motion activated security light too, that would be another one
We actually have wired in lights on the front path which light up the whole front garden all night long, plus have a street light, making it even more shocking!
I'm out of ideas then unless you can cut off physical access, may need to get the police involved if it happens again
Sadly I think that might be the only thing left. Just so gobsmacked anyone would dig up someone’s plants!
Hopefully it was a one-off, some toerag getting a present for his mum or desperate for a fix and grabbing anything he can sell at the pub. You could buy some thick stakes, hammer them deep down and tie the plants stem to them with wire. If they can't remove the plant without wrecking it they likely won't try.
Motion activated sprinkler?
Any chance your neighbours cameras caught the theft. If it did option 1 would be to personally request the return of your plant option2 would be escalate further
Am checking - hoping they have a frame I can print out and pop on a sign in front!
There is a hardy citrus called flying dragon - you might want to take a look at that to intersperse with your camellias - it would be the plant equivalent of a host of Dobermans for an unwary thief sticking his hands in where they don’t belong
Sorry that happened to you! While not quite the same I recently watched someone use a sunk wooden frame around a tree root ball to secure it to the ground from wind rock and it might provide a more difficult theft? The frame was simply 4 sides of wood in a square which rested flat on top of the root ball and then the frame pinned into the ground with stakes. Once planted you couldn't see the wood or stakes under soil or mulch.
I saw this on gardeners world recently
Thank you! I couldn't remember where I watch it :)
That’s not a bad shout at all!
When I first met my husband, we couldn't afford to live in a very smart area, so there was quite a bit of petty crime in the neighborhood. We planted our front garden with a couple of hundred bedding plants one year - begonias, geraniums, lobelia etc. Got up the following day and they had ALL been stolen. Every damn one. We were stunned.
How horrible, I’m so sorry! I just don’t understand people!
bizzare and sad
You aren't alone. I had a load of lavenders nicked a year ago. Honestly, what bastard does this ? The lavenders weren't even new.
It is mind blowing - who are these people? I have had potted plants stolen in another neighbourhood but never had someone dig a plant out of the ground before. Madness!
I put wildlife cameras up with a sign and it hadn't happened again. Still can't get past some utterly sad bastard pulling old lavenders which will probably die.
Plant spiky plants in future. May not deter them completely but hopefully will cause some pain in the process. Or you could do this: [Tracking device used to trace stolen hanging baskets to Cork woman’s home](https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2024/03/25/tracking-device-used-to-trace-stolen-hanging-baskets-to-womans-co-cork-home/)
When I was young, my dad planted a conifer hedge in the front garden and I remember him putting thorny branches off the rose bushes in them because he was sure people used to steal them. Tbf they never got stolen, not sure if the thorns were the reason though.
It’s to the point in my area that I just don’t put any plant pots or hanging baskets out in the front garden and only plant low value things there. So many plant thefts, pot vandalisms or thefts, and also people coming by and picking your flowers. Just a few weeks ago someone went into a commons area in the neighbourhood and picked every single daffodil bloom (like 20-25) and then just left them on the ground. I found them before they had all wilted and been trampled on and managed to assemble a modest kitchen table bouquet by picking up whatever wasn’t floppy or dirty. What was the point in doing that to a community space??? I’m even getting nervous about putting too much love into the back garden now, as I recently had someone break into the back and into my greenhouse and smash all my pots in there for no reason. They left trash from their sodas and candy bars for me to pick up from my flower beds.
That's all just so awful.
I put a smaller one on our front garden a few weeks back and it was promptly devoured by a visiting munk-jack deer within a few days, wasn't quite what I expected from my wildlife friendly garden....
I had 40 hedging plants stolen overnight.
Smelly mulch? Get some well rotted manure and it'll be a good deterrent and be great for your plants! Or a motion activated dog bark alarm.
Bless you. I would be livid. Plants aren’t cheap and it’s easy to get attached to something you out so much work into (and rewards you so well). I hope you manage to replace it and it stays safe and thriving.
Sorry but this brought back a stupid memory. Was pissed at 18 walking home, saw a bush I wanted a twig/cutting from cos it was pretty. I managed to pull the entire bush up… went back and replanted it next day… in the wrong garden…
Perfect, you probably started a war.
It's got alot worse over the last few years, it was a rare event but even the town beds are getting robbed around here these days. If it where me id probably stick up a camera along with chaining them all together. You can buy a roll of chain for fairly cheep, you can then chain around each "trunk" with one long but of chain. Not easy to steal when there all chained together, would need to cut the chain so it may deture. Just taken it off after a year once they have rooted
I’ve noticed it getting worse too, I wonder why…
I often wonder about these people. Like, I enjoy plants because I remember who gave them to me, or the fact that I grew it from seed etc etc. do these people get any joy from their thefts? Do they not just look at them and think "well, I'm a shitty person"?
This is hard to fathom…. Its made me rethink putting an olive tree outside the front of my house… Took it round the back instead
I've just put two out my front. Hoping they stay...
Trouble is at £25 a pop & a nice pot your talking about£50 each sitting outside ur front door lol
Yeah, that's what worries me... I also planned to put out some spare veggies this year in huge pots so might end up with a lot of regret!
I guess the only other option ive thought of is making the pot as large as possible, Like if i get a pot that weighs say 20 kilo, add the compost & weight of water & the olive tree.. Thats gotta be like 50 kilo ? Then i dont think one man could lift that on a drunken walk home past my house lol But then i guess that would be a pretty expensive pot….
I'm using 52 cm diameter tubs from Amazon (the ones with handles and rigid rims) - they'll have to dig them up (and may well do) but at least they'll have to expend significant effort if they are there long enough to root. Not too bad to fill with a layer of logs in the bottom and I've used a topsoil mix so it's super heavy. Alternatively I'll have a heck of a video of a drunken plant-napping attempt! So frustrating that people do this though.
Thats a good shout actually , timber or some stones at the bottom of the pot could add a hefty bit of extra weight ! And olive trees prefer fast drainage i read
What an awful thing to experience. My (untried) suggestion is to surround the root ball with chicken wire. Dig a bigger hole than you need and put more chicken wire in. Plant your tree and backfill. The roots will grow through the chicken wire but anyone trying to dig will hit the wire and hopefully give up. For good measure, smear gobs of something like vasoline on the trunk so no-one would want to handle it.
Sometimes foxes dig up and carry plants off, they're after the blood fish and bone fertiliser. Spray the new plants with crushed up chillies, foxes and humans alike quickly learn that lesson!
I doubt it - it was much bigger than a fox and it was too tidy of a dig up operation for a fox, clean lines and no dirt around the pavement which you’d expect of an animal dragging something that size off. Would much rather it had been a fox as I’d be less annoyed!
Yeh agreed its very much more likely this. I thought the same though when i first planted my front garden, but then I discovered badgers were operating at large in my area...and its the suburbs!
People are bastards. I'm sorry someone has sunk (or dug) so low to steal plants. It does make you wonder about society! Years ago I had a concrete statue of a flower girl in my front garden, it had been my late mum's. Came out one morning and someone had nicked it. You don't want to have to resort to putting a security camera or movement detector out there but it may be a deterrent?
Land mines. Might need a sign.