HawthorneVillager.com

What a great site! This is my first post (though I wish it was about something nice)...

Has anybody around the Trudeau and Clark area noticed flowers or plants being cut out of their front gardens? On Saturday morning, I went out to check on the garden and all of my columbines had been cut out - at the base - with a knife or scissors. The cuts were fresh, so I assume someone had done it earlier that morning. Like an idiot, I left a tiny note where the flowers used to be telling the person to not cut my flowers (oh, and I also called them a loser - big mistake!!!). I guess that really p!$$ed them off, because yesterday, I found all of my lilies cut out - same thing - fresh, clean cuts with knives or scissors at the base. These weren't even in bloom. One was mangled like they'd tried to pull it right out of the ground. they had to get right in my garden to do most of this, and also around the side of my house.

These aren't expensive flowers, and I have no idea why we're being targeted. All I can assume is they liked the columbines, had a knife with them and decided they had the right to take them. Then the lilies were retaliation for my note. (I've since removed the note).

What REALLY bothers me is that there seems to be nothing I can do about this. If I try to get them to stop, they escalate their vandalism. If I try to catch them - what am I going to do? Confront someone on my front step who might have a knife with them? I'm not sure I can plant my annuals now, knowing there's a nut out there who keeps cutting my plants.

I guess I'm looking for a) anybody who has noticed things being cut cleanly out of their gardens, early in the morning, and b) any advice this board might have.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your help!

Heather & Jason

1. you could call police and ask for increased patrol in the area
2. Put up a camera

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NewtoMilton...I find that funny but if it were my flowers I'd be livid as well.
You need some of that really good finger printing powder that's invisible to the eye yet you can't wash it off your hands for the life of you!

I kept having someone pick my vegetables from my side garden too while I was at work during the day. (thi was last year)

I wish I would have known that I had starving ppl on my street....I would have generously made them a basket rather the them having to resort to stealing. =S


Seriousely though, I would report it to the police.

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"Treat others the way you would want to be treated"

If you have a webcam there is software that you can use that will act as a security camera and will only work if there is movement in the field of view of the lens.

What I would do is set this up in a window facing your garden (or what is left of it) and wait - if the theft reoccurs you can then see the video which will be timestamped and you can hand this to the police.

In my last house I had made up some really pretty planters in rather large containers which had rocks in the bottom. We came from work and they were gone. It was around Mother's Day and we were one of very few occupied homes on our street which was still under construction so we figured someone must have wanted to get their mom an nice gift...rather heavy.
For some reason it seems common for planters and hanging baskets to disappear. My Grandma who was about 80 at the time kept hanging a basket out at her house and someone kept taking it. She did it about 3 times and all 3 times they were swiped. She then stopped. It's sad and disappointing.

Mixing a little poison ivy amongst the flowers may make a nice deterrent....

It might also be mice or moles. I've witnessed a rodent doing what you described to my wife's annuals in our garden.

Hopefully it's rodents and not vandals. However, I like the idea of a motion sensitive surveillance system! I'll have to look into that myself, to monitor a garden railroad I'm working on around my house.

Dean.

We have had 2 moles in our backyard, they are now living in the big field in the sky thanks to my shovel.....

Matt

What miedadesign said about rabbits is very true. When they get to your garden, and you see it afterwords, they do seem to "cut" the stems very cleanly. i.e. almost looks like someone did it with a pair of sissors. I don't know how the rabbits can cut through the flower stems so neatly, but I know from experience it's them.

I had 4 of my tulips eaten a few days ago by rabbits, but I was lucky in that the ones they took were already in bloom for a week already.

Rabbits would be my guess as well. They have thoughtfully pruned my Dwarf Lilac, Rose of Sharon, willow and some other green bushes in my garden.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! We're pretty sure it's not critters - as the second incident involved a broken and shredded plant, as though they were trying to twist it off or out of the ground, no leaves or pieces were ever left, no droppings have been found, no other neighbours have been affected - and nothing has happened since I removed the sign.

Based partially on the encouragement I received on this board, we did call the police to see if any other reports have been made. They came out to take a look and thought it was a person, too. The constable told me that there was some vandalism like this happening in other areas of Milton, but on a much greater scale (broken planters, etc.). I felt completely silly showing a cop my garden. The only reason I called them was because I wanted a record of it - in case it happens to anybody else in the area, or in case more damage occurs. He was great, and understood why I'd be angry.

Anyhow, I feel like a big, overreacting whiner right now, but I'm still glad I did it. I'm going to plant my annuals this weekend and hope for the best.

Thanks everybody!

Heather and Jason

You shouldn't feel "silly". In fact, people should be thanking you - if no one ever notified the authorities of occurences like this, they wouldn't be able to develop a sense of where issues are developing and trends that might be prevalent and ultimately preventable with police intervention. Good for you for not just sitting back and taking the abuse. I hope you catch the culprits, whether they are rabbits, silly teenagers or vandals.