man I wouldnt be bummer, Id be steaming mad! Those are NOT easy to grow!

:

Off your front porch???? You must be SO upset (and I would feel so violated having a thief "almost" in my house)

Were they small or large pots, in a flat or not? Just trying to figure out how the dirty rotten thief managed to easily and quickly lift and run with ten pots without it taking some time/good coordination!

Well, try not to let it get you down and soldier on. Most people in the world are good, a few bad apples. Try to imagine that the thief brought them to his poor sick granny or something...grrrrrrrrrr

They were all in 4-6" plastic pots, there this morning gone when I got back from work :( I was so excited planning on giving them to my sister-in-law, sister, and a very good friend at work tonight and tomorrow. They left the really punny ones, but I'm sad I can't share the way I was planning. Maybe they'll feel guilty and bring them back. I definitely have a much easier time ws them than cold strating them and growing them inside and know I can do them again this winter. I don't want to change what I've done, because you're right I do have to soldier on, but I'm already thinking about maybe tucking them off to the side of my garage, less convenient for me than stepping out my front door, but hopefully less tempting for others. Not to be a total buzz kill, I'm attaching a link to some of my WS and other flower friends, hope you enjoy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wintersown 12/08 and 12/09

I'm really sorry that happened.

I had one container of germinated plants waiting to be planted out, taken from my garden plot.

It was really upsetting!

good luck with your future plantings.

ellenr, out of your garden patch, that blows my mind even more than the front porch. Hmmmm, maybe next time I have a box of WS brochures next to my ws babies. That way they'll know they can have the same great results.

Wow they stole winter-sown plants in small pots? Were they blooming yet? If they were just foliage, how would they know what they were taking...hard to believe someone knowledgeable enough to identify the foliage i.e. a real gardener would do something like that. Or maybe it was just some slug who wanted some plants - too bad they weren't poison ivy! ;)

Lol, I think I like the idea of the slug partying with my delphs. Maybe they'll let me come and bring some beer ;) You pointed out the thing I don't get, you can't mistake delphiniums for something a non gardener would be interested in (like flowering annuals, or I don't know, pot), but a thieving gardner goes against the generosity I always see. Heck if someone liked them that much and asked I could have spared a couple. Even better, they left a 4 pack of blooming impatients that were right next to them. I'm over the shock, got up early this morning and weeded but how bizzare.

The Chicago Tribune had an article last week about theft of plants from private and public gardens. I remember reading years ago that people who had really unique plants in the yards tried to keep it quiet because thieves would come and dig them up. Some people will steal anything not nailed down. I'm very sorry for your loss.

On the bright note though. Doesn't this forum with all its caring, sharing, helpful and encouraging people brighten each day! It does for me.

Hope you have a great day!

Our sprinkler was stolen a couple of days ago, off the end of our hose. It disappeared over night, right out of the yard. Not even a good, new one, either - an old one that only works right half the time. And they left the new hose it was attached to! There's just no accounting for some people's actions. I hope that for all of us who have experienced these things that it's just an anomaly and doesn't happen again!

"A thieving gardener goes against the generosity I always see."
Exactly,
I'm sure any of us would give to someone if they asked.
In my case they were petunias already in bloom, in the container waiting to be planted.
It does blow one's mind doesn't it?
Where I garden - a community garden - I am pretty much at the mercy of anyone, once I had a water can taken, I wd gladly have bought them one, if they needed it so badly!

Yes, fortunately these events are rare.
Most gardeners I believe are the soul of generosity.

What a drag. After all these years I've never understood what makes some people tick. No empathy, I guess. And it's not like it was money or food or something someone desperate could really use. Unbelievable.

Do you need delph seeds? Mine are blooming right now. Not sure what kind they are other than bluish :)

Oh Lisa,
How sad, I planted them last year, this year they bloomed for me,and they are just beautiful, I can see why you would want to give this one as a gift.I am so sorry for you.

We sell our hosta ,every year we sent up at a big Garden Extravaganza,at Klehms Arburetium,last year we had a man steel about $50.00,worth of hosta, insisting he paid, which he did not,I remember what he looks like, so this year,I will be watching for him.

It seems to go deep to your soul when something like this happens,how desperate can some one be,and how can they even enjoy the plant when they look at it,knowing full well they stold it is beyond me.
Wish I had more, I would send them to you.
cAROL

I've had so many things stolen from my yard that I stopped putting anything I treasure in plain view.
I've lost two gazing balls (the bowling ball kind like they make in the gareden junk thread) so they were not light by any means.
I've lost decorative posts that they pulled out of the ground... I almost lost a glass bird bath but they broke it.
I have had to start chaining stuff down. The new gazing ball is on 6' of chain that goes underground and around a rock.... they yanked on the chain once, and then left the ball on top of my tulips.

I was standing in my living room once and two teenage boys and a girl were walking by and i heard her say how much she wanted one of my tulips.... I yelled just as she was bending down to pick one.
She was embarassed and they all ran away, but I was just mad.
My husband busted two younger kids trying to catch my goldfish with a Mason jar...... I wish I would have seen that. They were just lucky they didn't fall in. lol

I live in a GREAT neighborhood, and I'm surrounded by teachers, firemen, and police men who have to live in the city... .so I really don't get it, but I'm fairly certain its all teenagers.

really sorry about your pots though..... maybe they'll at least bring you back the empties

"maybe it was just some slug who wanted some plants"

Ooops, I didn't mean the real slugs that inhabit gardens, I meant a PERSON who is a "slug" - like a lazy slob who can't be bothered to buy or start their own plants.

Knock on wood, the only thing that has been taken from my gardens (that I'm aware of, but I have so many plants I might not even notice something missing :) is when a young couple walking down the street picked some flowers one day. They didn't know I was out there gardening and watching from behind some shrubbery. They picked some Cosmos and Rudbeckia. Unlike Beck, I didn't say anything to them, and wasn't really bothered by it. They probably aren't the only ones who have ever picked some flowers, as I have a border that runs along the street. In my mind picking a few flowers isn't the same as stealing somebody's potted plants or garden equipment.

One of my flower beds rests up against the sidewalk, so I anticipated some mischief... I wouldn't have cared if she stole some of my wild daisies... its just that my tulips are one of the first to bloom and I wait alllll winter for their sunny cups.

I lose about 6 a year to picking-- when its little kids, I find it cute. Once they are old enough to understand, I get upset.
One time I made a deal with the little girl next door. I wouldn't get mad if she promised NEVER to pick my flowers again. She was 4 and still remembers our pinky swear now that she's 7-- and loves to help me weed and absorbs it all like a sponge.

A neighbor once knocked on my door to tell me that my gazing ball was a block away... I found blue glass spread from one end of the street to the other. I think they rolled it like a soccer ball. that was a mess.-- but I got the ball back and repaired it.

Lisa, when I was out side weeding today, I was thinking about you and your stolden flowers.
Would it be to coastly on your part to put an ad in the paper,saying what was stolden, the size and colors of your plants?
Maybe they will show up in some ones garden in your neighborhood, and another neighbor will let you know?
I am so mad for you.
cAROL

Oh... I would be so mad! I give generously and freely all my extra plants. I plant extras every year for friends and relatives too. Just makes me feel good to share with others that might not have planned ahead for their spring/summer gardens. I always plant oodles of extra tomatoes cause they are easily given away. I would be steamed if someone came along and just helped themselves.... especially off my porch!

I had a similar situation happen to me right in my own backyard. I save my aluminum cans for recycle and cash them in on occasion. I had a rubbermaid trash can for just such a purpose. I live on a very busy street. Needless to say it was full of mashed aluminum cans ~ Someone greedy just helped themselves to it. Trash can and all. We found busted boards on the side fence because we keep our yard locked. It does not make me mad they stole the cans, but I sure do miss that trash can!

Now the old saying is going to go something like this...
One for the blackbird, one for the crow,
One for the cutworm, and one to grow. (Oh yeah don't forget the one for the thief!)
- American saying
bgrow_gardens

Oh, I am so very sorry. It really is maddening.
I would be hopping mad if something like that happened to me.

I just love everyone's generous spirit here. I don't have the largest garden but have made room for delphiniums: The orignal two and all of their prodginy. With WS I have really reliable germination. I don't need more, but can't not collect seed cuz, well, it's there, and grow it every year for friends, family, swaps etc.

Terrene, I liked your "slug" reference, but I was still fantisizing about what I could do to the thief and thought "wow, if they really were slugs..."

I know I'm naive (really I am) but I didn't realize that garden stealing was such a problem. The kids in the neighborhood like going thru the gardens with my kids. Luckily my daughter knows what I would definitely not want picked, and always asks if in doubt. Usually she picks off a couple of hyssop leaves just so that people can smell / feel it, and everyone goes home with a small token, sometimes a rooted cutting, or some herbs to try. It's cute, she's developed quite the garden sense and put in her first garden this year. It's a happy place.

cAROL even better than that, I called the cops and reported it. Depending on when it happened, my 13 and 11-1/2 year old would have been home alone(They didn't notice anything) which I found really unsettling. I know they'll never find them, but in case things start escalating in the neighborhood, it's reported. I'm glad no one's been desperate enough to steal other plants, everything has sentimental value: The poppies we get so excited about when they start popping open, we race outside to watch, the ws snapdragons that we seed snatched from a local zoo after an afternoon of fun, the chinese forget-me-nots I got as seed two generations ago form a dear friend, the peonies from my sister-in-law, one of my delphiniums on steroids grown from seed I let my son pick out, the hyssop that seeds everywhere but we just can't get enough of because it smells so darn good, the basil we layer between fresh mozzarella and tomato on a warm summer night.

I am so sorry some one stole your plants. Simple truth, they were yours and someone stole them....that would tick me off big time. I hate that we live in a world where we have to protect the things we grow to make the world a prettier place. There has been a lot of plant stealing in my neck of the woods, has not happened to me...yet. I also find it disturbing this happened while your kids were home, as if we don't have enough to worry about as parents.