That sucks!!

Last year someone stole my 12in diameter B.recurvata from the front porch, just the plant, guess they weren't interested in the pot it was in.

I've had a few stolen too... Mostly boring home-depot cacti, but some nicer plants too. I used to keep a few plants on the wall in the front yard of my apartment, but I guess that was just too tempting. I've also had a few stolen from my backyard, which is where I keep my expensive and rare plants. That really spooked me, so I decided to put up a fake security camera. Although I'm a little ashamed to resort to such Orwellian tactics, it seems to have worked. It's been about six months since I've had anything stolen.

Unfortunately, it is just one of the risks of our hobby. It takes a certain level of skill, money, and time that many people could never muster, and a few among them will steal to compensate for their inadequacy. Talk to any bonsai grower, and they can relate.

San Gabriel Nursery in the Los Angeles area has some nice bonsai for sale. Some big old ones. For hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. I kid you not, these specimens are chained down, and not with little bitty chains. Chains with 6 inch links. I thought it was overkill. I guess experience has taught them a different perspective though.
As Abe Lincoln once said of a certain politician, "he would steal anything except a red-hot stove." Times haven't changed all that much apparently.

Beware of Mothers with big strollers.They can reach down and fill them with your plants..and keep walking.

On a humorous note, I was talking to someone a few years ago who had one of those decorative horse drawn plows stolen out of his yard.

He was driving home from work one day, when he saw the thing in the lawn of a little old lady a few streets over!

Turns out, she'd been stealing things from people's yards for years, and had finally gotten caught.

My B.recurvata lives in the house.

I was outside one day and a guy stopped and started yanking a bouquet for himself from the neighbor's roses. The neighbor's house is more of a mansion than a house, it is beautiful and the landscaping is meticulous. I asked him to not do that and he said something to the effect that "those stinking rich snobs need to share, I need to give my mom a present." But he stopped when I started dialing my phone and got back in his brand new Mercedes S-Class and squealed off. That was pretty weird. I thought well I guess he doesn't like his Mom that much.

I had several older specimen plants stolen from my front driveway a while back. People that do this are just one step above dog$hit. No wait, I think I like dog$hit better! I went cruising the neighborhood and the local Sunday market looking for my plants and the dog$hit people. No luck. It's surprising how attached you can get to old plants isn't it?

The worst part about these jerks is that they undoubtedly do NOT know how to grow the plants. When I've had this happen, my first thought goes to my poor plant that will likely be dead within a few months. Serves the jerk right, but it's really, really sad to think about after all the TLC I put into growing a plant.

Denise in Omaha

Sorry to hear of your loss. A small nursery near my house no longer leaves large plants by the door at night. A dealer in large cacti in Fort Worth was lucky enough to have someone catch the liscence plate of theives and recovered theirs. :-)
I would be devastated if someone stole mine. My German Shepard, Sir Poopsalot, discourages any such going ons in my yard.
Mike

I always have a fear that this would happen to me. Not sure what I can do about it, though. I live in a pretty rural area, and all of my succulents and bonsai are in my backyard behind a fence - but you never know.

Like reiver, I just hope that my bullmastiff would discourage any such attempts. That's why I hung cute little 'Bullmastiff Crossing' signs on both of my gates. Not threatening, but should make anyone with sense think twice...I hope.

Anyone who's ever seen a bull mastiff will stay away! I met one- I was told to sit still, don't move or look it in it's eyes.

It came out walked right up to me, stared me in the eye and just growled. I was told by it's owner that it was a positive meeting.

Wow.

I do have cactuses out in the backyard, but I can handle them being stolen. I also have a 4' - 5' palm tree growing in the backyard, I would be very sad if that got stolen.

Blutarski, you said that someone stole a tree by digging it up? How big was it? How can that happen without someone noticing or hearing something? Did it happen at night? (I'm getting mildly paranoid now.)

I haven't had plants stolen, but someone did take a beautiful and large piece of petrified wood from my succulent bed. My hubby gave that piece of wood to me for my garden and some a**wipe walked off with it.

For the record - Bullmastiffs more often protect their "people", not their people's stuff. Like Tom, we also hung up those cute "Bullmastiff Crossing" signs on our fence, but they are mostly empty threats as our bullmastiff wouldn't harm anyone who entered our property unless he thought WE were being threatened....he wouldn't care at all if someone walked off with our plants or anything else on the property. His job, as he sees it, is to protect us. Now, if someone walked up and tried to tote one of us off the property....then he'd be just a bit upset and have to do something about it. A bullmastiff charging at you with that determined look in his eye is a scary site to behold. He is loyal to his PACK (owners) and will protect them with his life....doesn't give a hoot about their property, though. I'm sure there are some of that breed who would protect property, but it isn't the norm. English mastiffs DO protect your property...bullmastiffs, not so much.

Sir Poopsalot.....? LOLOLOLOL. Love it, Mike! I'm sure the folks waiting at the vet's office get a kick out of hearing the vet assistant call Sir Poopsalot back for his appt.

Renee

I've had scumbag teens in my neighborhood break into the lower house and take canned fruits and veggies and other preserves, only to smash them on my back deck and yard!!! I've also lost rather nice antlered deer skulls and fox skulls from my yard, due to neighbor kids smashing them to pieces and stealing the antlers (in the case of the deer skulls).

A good relationship with your neighbors is about the best defense....or recompense, at least.

Josh

A couple of my plants got stolen from outside my front door. The thing is, they were positioned so they wouldn't be seen from the street. Someone said the crook might have been a package delivery person.

When I lived in Texas I had a prickly pear and cholla growing out front and my wife came home one day a found some little boys out there beating them with a stick. I guess I worry more about mindless vandalism than thievery. Some kids just can't resist destroying things. I had the same impulse when I was young, but never did any damage to anyone else's property as far as I can recall. Sorry about the loss, Blutarski.

If I found somebody's kid beating my plants with a stick, I don't know if I could resist the temptation to take the stick and beat their little a$$es with it.

we have kids dropping trash in our yard all the time. We're between a park and a pizza place, so you can imagine.

my wife uses her 'teacher voice' to get them to pick it up.