oooh i am such a leaf thief, i take my blower vac and ask if i can clean up the neighbors yard and keep them! My mother in law has alot of oak trees, so this year i went and helped her, then took the bags for my garden. I also pick leaf bags from the curb, which gets some looks but hey! My garden looks better than theirs.
This year im trying winter sowing. I take jugs from the place i work and that always gets questions! Now ill haveto pretend milk jugs in the yard is totally normal!

Lol, bringing shovels of snow into the garage! That's a good one.

Good thing neighbors can't see me. The other day I used my loppers to cut off the ragged stems of 'autumn joy'sedum because the deer had eaten all the dry 'winter interest' flower heads off. 6 huge plants created a lot of stem debris. I had to rake the snow,put on snow shoes and carry the bundled stems into the woods like Santa Claus.

They are all just jealous! My neighbor saw me taking shovelfuls of snow and dumping em on my roses....she is like what are you doing? I just said protecting my shrubs for old man winter and those darn rabbits!

I do have to admit, stealing leaves from trash piles at night is a little odd, lol

Well, yea - but no more odd than the foursome in the big honkin' new Cadillac who drive around the neighborhood on summer evenings looking for goodies in people's curbside piles LOL! Or the van with the huge spotlight that trawls around late at night. These people are probably making a mint at their resale shops or junk/scrap shops...

Hey, I've put some nice stuff out there myself, hoping people would take it - lamp, wicker loveseat just this past season. I no sooner walked back in the house and that lamp was GONE, not even 5 minutes after I put it out!

I do limit my taking of stuff from the curb after dark, though, or when I know the neighbors aren't home!! (and pretty much only leaves, though I did take a nice pumpkin for the porch that someone set out right after Halloween).

My neighbors know I'm nuts. Raking leaves from their yards. Collecting leaves from the curb on garbage night. Lasagna gardens with big mounds of garbage.

They're not even surprised when they walk out in summer and find me in their yards in my jammies collecting their seeds. Or planting my extra wintersown flowers in their yards.

Karen

A few weeks ago I called the neighbor down the street to inform her that her ornamental grasses needed dividing and to offer my services in exchange for the divisions. As my DH and I were out there working, another neighbor biked by, did a double take, and said, "Donna?", to which my husband replied, "Who else?"

....At least no one can say I don't know my neighbors.

By the way, Karen, what a better world it would be if we ALL planted flowers in our neighbor's yards. I once planted impatiens in an elderly neighbor's yard for senior citizens week. You'd have thought I had given her a million dollars. It doesn't take much, you know, and shame on me for not doing it again.