I also had this happen, so has the Huntington. Mine while I was giving a program for free to a garden club group of little old ladies, one took my crystal bowl, what I was using to display a flower I found it in her bag that she was taking home. Plants have been stolen right under the gruards nose at the Huntington, $10,000 of Schick Hybrids, and we had a lift of $30.000 Bonsai plants over the the five foot fence, it had to be an inside job with a truck. The place has guards at night they must leave at the front gate past a guard station. They had to have a large truck for a lift of that size and a crew of at least 4 men. It happens. I am so sorry that it happened to you. Norma

Plan for next time! Think retribution! Plant poison ivy as the ground cover in the pot. Cactus and palms dont require alot of 'trunk maintainance' so to speak, so you shouldn't have to mess around it much (if you do, wear non-porous, disposable gloves, maybe like the ones your mom used to wear when she washed dishes). When they come to snatch the next pot, they will be in for quite a surprise... heard this at another post, and even though I am allergic to PI, I did the same to Ponytail palms in pots( mine also are big plants, upwards of 3-6 feet, in terra cotta pots that top them out in weight around 300 pounds at the big end). I wear gloves to clip back the 'climbing' ends and when I move it or when it needs to be repotted. Sorry about your recent loss. Too bad they don't have 'Amber Alerts' for plants...,pictures on milk cartons? Steph

This is way out there, but definitely doable. Wait a few months and check google map satelite and google street view to see if they have a picture of your house. My father-in-law peeked out his window as the street view car was driving by so you can see him. I don't like detering people. I rather get them punished, so I would hide the camera and send the picture to the police. America is too damn lenient on criminals here. Cut one finger off I say.

I feel your pain. I have had so many things stolen from me. Before I moved here, I raised waterlilies and I grew antique roses from cuttings. I'd start the small waterlilies and the rose cuttings off in quart pots....very easy for someone to just pick up and walk off with. To make it worse, the area I used for my ponds and for raising the roses was around my barn, which was up by the front of my property, and my house was to the back. It was very easy to tell when I wasn't home, and if someone came by, and they felt like just helping themselves...I guess they thought I'd never miss it. One of the worst incidents was when we were working on the house here. I had a guy doing the work that was recommended because he was my best friend's husband's best friend. In the bathroom, we built a platform for the clawfoot tub. There was a big window all across that wall. I had already decided what I wanted to put on the platform, near the tub. One item was a metal boy that stood with his hands held above his head, and was a plant stand. The other item was an old doctor cabinet. It was so cool. Had a beveled glass and the little butterfly hinges hand a matching clasp. It was metal but had a cast iron base and and a cast iron molding on top. I mentioned to him how excited I was to use them. Unknown to me....he had already been in my storage building and stolen them. He went out there to get some windows that we used in the sun porch. Actually, the windows were in a different building nearby, but he went snooping out there. We had already fired him for stealing $8,000 from us and doing crappy work...and he was long gone. I know he got them though because he was the only person who had been out there and where I live now, it is not an easy place to get to. And besides, it isn't like at our other place where we lived in "town". We are on a dead end road here and out in the boondocks. A person wouldn't just be able to walk into here and steal something so easily. But, since he had permission to be here, and I trusted him..........but that ends all trust. From now on, if anyone is here working, I don't care who it is, I will be right here watching. There isn't much that I hate worse than a thief. I hope somehow, some way, you get your things back.