Oh Dude, I'm so sorry! With any luck the dastardly fellow will be scratched by the cactus and get an icky infection -- jo

Well, you can hope that the cactus "got him" at some point...do you know anything about the ancient practice of cactus voodoo? I haven't put in a sago palm for the same reason. Why do people do things like that? Sorry about your misfortune.

are you kidding me? that sucks bad man... im sorry, i hope no one steals any more of your plants or steals anyone elses, id hate to lose my two sagos on the front porch

Thanks everyone. Hopefully the cactus did get a few good pokes in while they were rustling it. The palm was so heavy, maybe they hurt theyÂre backs too!

Oh, Dude, what a bummer! I can't believe people do this kind of thing. You just gotta believe what comes around goes around. Is your yard fenced?

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

Thanks again everybody. The thing that bums me out is that my mother in law always told me I was nuts to leave such a great plant in an expensive pot in front of my house, because someone would steal it. But I told her it was so heavy, no one would bother. I learned my lesson the hard way.

because we look at the world with our own values, folks with other values can sometimes slap us with reality. They probably were thinking of selling a speciman and nice pot to someone, flea market? People do those things to aquire money. In the spring they steal the flowers for resale.

The sad thing is that these thefts diminish all of us. Instead of joyfully placing plants where they can be enjoyed by everyone we will hesitate and consider the consequences before we hide our treasures in the back yard. sam

I agree w/ hawaiisam/above. IF you decide to replace those beautiful plants, do like the big vacation resorts do! It may not guarantee the loss of the plant & pot but will for sure make it more difficult for theives.

You enlarge the drain hole at the bottom of the pot to accomodate a sizeable chain (we're talking 1-inch links here) that will be padlocked around a building structure such as a porch pillar/column...

And put a surveillance camera in an appropriate spot (heh heh heh) with a little red blinking light...

That's what I would do : )

This bums me out. It reminds me of the price of old pots and statues in England that run into the hundred and THOUSANDS of dollars. The same thing is happening there.

Sorry to hear about it,

Bucky

Believe me you are not alone! It's not just pots .... I have had rose bushes dug up, as well as a box tree and a maple! Can you believe it? (Also stole my solar light!) May they suffer from a plague of locusts! westgate.

How about a pet rattler as "ground cover"? Just kidding....

Yup - I had a phormium tenax dug right out of my front yard a year or so ago. Came home from work with a hole in the middle of my yard - unbelievable! Now all my "cool plants" are in the backyard with my normal - cookie cutter blah - plants in the front.

At the time I was so ticked I bought a bunch of stinging nettle seeds, but I've never planted them LOL! They're considered an herb, so it's pretty easy to find commercial seeds for them, hehe.