*#$%+ idiot has cooly clipped them off.

This morning I noticed that my lovely Dendrobium orchid (orange) had been tampered by someone. There were as many as five blooms together - just begun to bloom. The blooms last for 3 months. Now they are all gone boo hoo boo hoooo :{ Someone has entered my premises and done this dastardly act probably early in the morning. Plucking others' flowers (for worship)which usually grow near/on the compound wall is a mad habit here esp. at dawn. But it still bemuses me how and why someone has entered in and plucked the flowers which are NOT used for worship. Everyone is afraid of me and they don't dare touch the plants/flowers. That ~@#$%^&*+ has not touched any other plant and even the Dendrobium (red) which is next to it with 4 blooms. I'm so sad cos it is a slow grower and that was the first time so many came up at the same time.

Are there such ~@#$%^&*+ thieves around the world also? If so, beware.

OH NO!!! oh I'm so sorry!!! of all things, why couldn't they have clipped something ordinary??? They must have known what they were getting and how long the blooms would last.
oh Dinu, I'm so sorry. If you find out who, get them!!!

somehow stealing and worship shouldn't be in the same sentence. That is a rotten thing to do to you Dinu.

Sooo sorry - I think I would move that plant so it wouldn't be so handy. And put an alarm of some kind on the gate!

That's so wrong! I hate that kind of people. I have heard that some people here steal plants from others' gardens but it is pretty uncommon. Also my friends who have grown (legally) the low THC-cannabis that is not suitable for drugs - many people have stolen all their plants during night.

Also it is pretty common that people stole protected and rare wild plants e.g. orchids.

dinu, you have my sympathy. It is a shame to say the least!

I'm SO sorry, Dinu! How aggravating!

I'm sorry Dinu, and to answer your question....yes, we have plant theives here too!! Funny thing is, usually all they have to do is ask, to recieve a start of a plant.

"eyes"

dinu

I'm so sorry to hear of this vandalism.

We have plant theives here as well. They not only take the pots and hanging baskets but have been known to dig up plants from a garden. When I did some pet sitting I saw that some people had resorted to putting large padlocked chains around their pots and secured them to the wall.

Sorry someone nabbed your orchids - that's a terrible shame. I'm with Lisa, I can't believe someone would consider stolen flowers an appropriate and pleasing gift of worship. That's just plain wrong. :(

Maybe it was a birthday gift for someone else!! Or a gift of romance, at any rate, there is no excuse for stealing.

Dinu, I'm sorry too. That must be very frustrating, to be so close to enjoying the fruits of your work, only to have them stolen away like that. I suppose people are the same all over the world - fortunately we live in a quiet neighborhood, and attempts to steal plants would almost assuredly get someone's attention (or at least the dogs'.)

Calalily can probably tell you many horror stories of what people will do to steal a plant - and the many excuses they create to try to rationalize their behavior :(

I can understand stealing food if you're hungry, but there's no excuse for stealing a plant. If you can't afford to buy your own, then you should learn to take pleasure in viewing it in someone else's garden.

And as others have said - if you simply ASK, you're likely to get cuttings/seeds/divisions of almost anything you find in most gardens, assuming the gardener is typically generous...

What a disappointment, Dinu. I hope you have many promising buds next year. I also hope the flowers bring someone joy. Most people don't really enjoy what they have stolen from others, so everyone loses.

Dinu that's a real shame!! Did you leave the house for long - like an away cricket match!! I was in Chicago one Christmas and a particular street had everything chained and concreted in. Robbery is universal!! Good job the thieves didn't dig your plant up!

I'm so moved by your concerns, my dear friends. I now realize that thieves exist in other parts of the world too. Oh, what a situation it is to chain the potted plants! Yes, stealing food if one is really hungry is understandable. But damaging/cutting off one's plants is unpardonable. And they have no manners to just ask. Deliberately plucking off on other's plants is most disgusting and deserves all punishment if they happen to be PEOPLE!

But then what if the culprit is an insect? Here may be an anti-climax. On Saturday night, I happened to go out there near that plant. I saw a caterpillar on one of the stalks! Of course, I packed him off. Now, these black hairy things are common during this season and there are many around the house. But I have never seen them damage such plants before. They are known to eat up young leaves of other tender plants before they become pupae.

Should I now doubt that this wretched fella (and not a two-legged beast) has so neatly chewed up all the blooms during that fateful night?

http://davesgarden.com/showforumphoto.php?imageid=4991
This is the one which is gone, five or six such, all together. I miss them.

This message was edited Monday, Sep 2nd 12:27 AM

Oh, it WAS beautiful, thank goodness you have this lovely picture. Seems like there would have been a few pieces of orange lying around if it was a critter!! But maybe a whole crew of them had a banquet!

Today's quote in the DG newsletter put me in mind of you, Dinu:

"I have gathered a posie of other men’s flowers, and nothing but the thread that binds them is mine own. "

-- John Bartlett, American editor, compiler of quotations (born 6/14/1820)) Of course, Bartlett was speaking of the quotes he amassed during his lifetime, but it still seemed appropriate. ;)

Yes indeed.

Dinu, my sympathy.

I am a volunteer at a local park that has an herb garden, filled with many unusual and beautiful plants. It is continually robbed of plants, seeds, etc. The worst is the vandalism done to the statues in the garden, and most of them are dedicated in memory of people who helped build the garden in the first place. Such desecration, and usually it is passed off by the authorities as "youthful pranks" because the kids were bored. I know how I feel about the plants which aren't even mine, I can't imagine how outraged you must be at having it happen to plants that are yours.

Ll, only true plant-lovers can understand the trauma. Please read my post of 2nd Sep. also above. I hate people who break the leaves of plants while just walking by, for no apparent reason. I scold even my friends when the do that at the office where they keep lovely plants/palms in the doorway/passages.