Stolen Hibiscus & Brugs!!

It's almost 2:00 am and I can't sleep because I keep tossing anf turning with rage from being robbed this week of most all of my potted plants.

I have 5 brug cuttings from AuntB potted and growing quite nicely, along with a hibiscus from Barry and some other hibiscus from Robert on my front porch, as well as 2 northern pines (?). These were there because I was trying to give them filtered sun and my backyard is completely unshaded.

Well, I came home one day last week to find the 2 northern pines had been STOLEN from my FRONT PORCH!! So I moved the baby Brugs, Hibiscus and such to my back patio, inside my fence. Already enraged, but at least it wasn't anything awesome.

You won't believe this - whoever it was CAME BACK for more (extremely brazen), and actually took my hibiscus and baby Brugs, too!! This time, from my BACK PORCH!!!!!!! I feel so completely violated. I've since placed a lock on our gate but still - ALL the time. money and effort on my babies and they are GONE!!! I just want to cry ... and scream - and cry and scream some more!! I can't believe it, I just can't believe it.

Nothing was marked, so I feel like it was someone who knew about plants but wow, most people that know about plants are very helpful and friendly. But thieves?! I just am in total shock and dismay. My heart is racing and I just am so infuriated at the audacity.

Thankfully, the individual(s) didn't take my newly acquired Nightrunner (whew) because it was looking rather shabby. I've since repotted it and it's taken on a whole new life and is in the backyard which is now locked up. Hopefully the person(s) won't scale the fence and take what very little I have left!!

Has anyone else ever had this happen?!

wow! I just saw your post and you are describing my worst nightmare! I have a bunch of potted plants in my front yard. They are in pots because we will be re landscaping the yard and I didnt want to have to move them several times. I check to make sure they are all there when I get home every night... I am always worried that someone will know what they are and take them.
I also have 3 Japanese Maples in pots that will eventually be planted in the front yard, but they are in the back yard for now, til I can get them in the ground.

I have 2 dogs... so no one would live if they came in the backyard! :o)

It amazes me the audacity of some people.... they see something they want and just take it, like they are entitled to it because they want it. My DH's work truck was broken into last year...3 nights in a row! they know he has to have the tools to work each day, so he had to replace them each day. and they just came back each day and took them again!

We now have survelliance cameras in our front yard...mainly for his work truck, but at least if someone steals the plants I might be able to find out who.

The camera system was really cheap to install (about $150) for 3 cameras... If I were you, I might put up cameras, and then put a potted plant outside to 'set up' the theif and see if you can catch them in the act... If anything you will find out which neighbors cant be trusted.

Sorry for your loss...

AnjL

Oh Amanda, that is a horrible thing to have happen! I'm so sorry to hear about your loss and I can understand how heart-sick you must be. Plants really do become like beloved little pets, don't they? You should report it to the police because you never know what thieves may take next. I hope you have no more troubles.

Oh Amanda, how sad; I feel terrible for you. The plants can be replaced but your peace of mind will take some time I am sure. Have you notified the police? They should be aware that someone brazen is in the neighborhood. Be sure to tell all your neighbors also so everyone can keep a look out for each other. Recently I read about putting up those "protected by...." security signs. Apparently even if you don't subscribe to the service the signs themselves are a deterrent.

AnjL - can you tell me more about the camera system? You can D-mail me if you'd like. My husband actually wants to do that one, ha! Is it real or just fake? If it's real, does it run on a VHS or record to your hard drive??

ardesia - I like your idea, I might try this one.

Danita & ardesia - the thing around here is while our police are very friendly, I don't think they will care too much about plant theft. :( Especially since all I can tell them is the plants were stolen, not that I have any idea by who or anything to give them to go on.

I was so hard to sleep last night - I tossed and turned for a few more hours before going to bed, and I'm wide awake now a few hours later! GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

Just tell them anyhow; especially the part about them going in you yard. They won't spend much time on it but what if others had plants stolen also? If the authorities know of several occurances in the neighborhood they will pay more attention but everyone needs to reports thefts, even petty ones.

That is awful Amanda! I'm so sorry! You're not alone though, I remember someone else posting last year somewhere on here that the same thing had happened to them, in their case too it sounded like someone who knew about plants. Honestly when I read your post the first thing I did was check the date because I thought maybe it was the thread from a while back that had got bumped up to the top, it sounded so similar. I agree, I would definitely call the police, chances are you're not the only one in the area who's had this happen, and if they get a whole bunch of calls on this maybe they'll at least step up the patrols in your area for a while. And the security camera is a good idea too, even if you just put up a fake one with a little sign like "smile, you're on camera!" or something like that ought to discourage people

I once reported a woman cutting branches off of my willow tree. They were just small pieces, but hey, to me, that is stealing. If she had come to the door and asked for them, I would have given her as many as she wanted! Our vehicles were both gone, so she figured we weren't home. I went to the door and asked her if she needed something. She said no and got in her car really fast and drove away. I wrote down the license plate number and called the police. I told them that if she had asked, it would have been a different story. They looked up her plate number and gave her a call. She said she thought no one was home. It's still stealing!

I feel for you, Amanda. I have had plants stolen right off my front porch too. I've also had little figures stolen out of my front flower bed. Two years in a row, when my lilies all bloomed, they were there one day and gone the next. Yes, I still have the bulbs, but I have to wait till next year to see them bloom....and then probably get stolen again. One year we set up a camera in the front window to record what was going on. The only thing we caught was some guy flipping us off. He is no longer in the neighborhood....and my lilies haven't been stolen since. Hmmm.....wonder who the culprit was???

I really think you should report this. These people have come into your backyard. What will they do next?

amanda, i am so sorry. when my brugs get big enough i will send you cuttings

Amanda,
the cameras we have are Swann brand. they are infrared and record at night as well as day. I believe the cost of the cameras were $65 for 2 of them and we bought 4. We also bought an external recorder so we wouldnt have to hook it up to our vcr or computer. The external recorder was about $100 it only holds about 2 days worth of recordings, then records over itself again. It will record 4 cameras at a time tho. we also bought a small tv too, and have the whole system set up in a closet so, if someone is knocking at my front door, I can open the closet, flick on the tv and instantly know who is there (and If i want to answer the door!lol!) It was really easy to hook up, just mounting the cameras to the front of the house and then running cable thru garage and into closet. plugging in and wah lah! done. took us about 2 hours.

We wanted cameras that are low profile.... so we could catch the person who was repeatedly breaking into the work truck. Not sure if it worked though, cause the truck hasnt been broken into since we put the cameras up :o). also, with the low profile ones.... my DH ex-wife doesnt know they are there.... and well lets just say she hates me and likes to key cars and what not.... so :o)

Let me know if you want model #'s etc. we bought all our stuff at fry's electronics
AnjL

You guys are all so very kind. And I think I will take your advice about reporting to the police.

AnjL - I DO want the model numbers. Please send them along as this sounds very reasonable and exactly like what we'd be looking for. We have a Fry's very close nearby (I'm a computer geek so I love it there).

Thanks guys for hearing me vent. It's soooooooooo unnerving.

Amanda,

We have the 'Clover' stand alone 4 channel digital video recorder model cdr4060

and the Swann DIY infared video cameras. (I still had the packaging on this $89.99 for 2 of them) it doesnt say a model number, but on the back of the cameras there is a sticker that says N3960 also the frys sticker on the package has these numbers: 814282004454 and 4905531 so you may be able to go to their website and put their stocking number in ...

also, I know Swann had their own brand of DVR, but it was more expensive so we bought the Clover one. We've had the system for over a year, and no troubles (with the system or theives!) it came with stickers to warn people its there, but I never put those up. However, at night you can see the red infrared lights on the camera, so maybe the theives saw that and decided to leave us alone?! lol.

The whole camera system was really cheap compared to our insurance deductible every time the truck was broken into.... :o) And we get piece of mind :o) lol

AnjL

WOW, thanks AnjL!! I'm going to look it up now! I told my husband all about what you were telling me about the system on the way to church ... he's excited about it! He wants to catch someone trying to do something. Wouldn't that be great if we had some sort of trap set up to where I put out a GREAT plant, visible from the street, and when someone tries to take it there's a weight-sensetive trigger that blasts a foghorn aimed directly at them? And maybe spray some green paint (you know, green=envy) on them at the same time?

I didn't realize those cameras were so affordable, I may think about getting some myself!

roflmao...hmm.. I like the foghorn and green spraypaint idea for my DH's ex Lol! I can just picture her kicking my planter box and having it spray green paint all over her ;oD ! LOL ...
Of Course my step kids wouldnt think it was funny, so I guess that wouldnt work :o( I'll settle for just having a recording of her keying the paint on my car... :o)

Yes, the camera system is very affordable, I was amazed myself. If you get into cameras that are wider range... it gets more expensive. But the cameras we bought are mounted to the front of our house and we can see clearly and recognizably anyone on tape all the way into our neighbors yard across the street :o) so of course our neighbors LOVE the fact that we have the cameras...cause now if anything happens at their house, they could just come running over to ours to see who did it! LOL

It also gets more expensive if you have more than 4 cameras. they have DVR's that can record 8 channels, but it was alot more expensive.

Let me know if you need anymore info on them
AnjL

Amanda.. I can relate and feel your pain. IAfter alot of years I stil have not been able to replace a plant I had that somebody decided to ehlp themselves too.

The worst was when I had all kind sof pots to go to a group of Katrina folks to at leats try and help put some color back in their yard and somebody decied to help them selves to most of them. I cried, got mad, and had to restart them all and put a sign out there that they was stealign from folks who had already lost everythign.

I don't have any of them fancy hibiscus like what you had , but I do have some luna white and a pink luna if you would like to put some plants back on your porch.

I woudl call th epolice too cuz the person who had a whole field of flowers stole last year they found that workers inthe area had stolen and were able to get most of them back.

So sorry this happened ot you.

Amanda - I'm so sorry to hear about the theft! One year I had someone come up onto my front porch and completely wacked off almost half of my thornless rose bush - I was completely enraged! It took my plant 2 years and almost near death to recover - I assumed they must have used something really unsterile to chop my plant. I think I would have seriously hurt someone if I actually saw them doing it!! I would have been completely devastated if they actually dug up & took it (yes I've heard of that happening too) Thank God it's recovered now & last year it really took off.

Anyway when you make your police report - don't focus on the fact that they were plants but be sure to put a dollar amount on the loss - in my state anything over $75 is a felony (plants or otherwise) IF you do discover who it was they will have to face the music of a felony charge!!

And don't forget, the plants have grown and increased in both size and value since you purchased them. Were they in black plastic nursery pots or containers you purchased? Everything adds up.

My sister pmaggs lives in Hammond. Right after she got back from a visit with me so we could go to the hibiscus show in Houston, someone came on her property and took cuttings from almost every one of her hibs and brugs over a 3 night period. Some were cut back so severely that she lost them. Some that survived last summer just didn't have enough to make it over the last winter. My Dad has always said that Satan had made hell half over again to accomodate the thieves and low lifes. I have to say that this would pertain to people like this if for nothing else just the sheer meanness of it.

Polly finally started using very low tech motion sensor alarms that looked like decorations.

Anne

oh no! i know how you feel. a couple of year ago, i arrived back from a week of vacation to find over $500 worth of yard stuff stolen. i was devistated! they too everything from large potted plants, flats of flowers, large box of miracle grow, solar lights, solar windchimes. i was especially upset about a Yellow Gerber daisy that i had grown in a cobalt blue pot. i had gotten it when it was very small and when it was stolen it was huge and beautiful. as weird as it sounds, it was almost more like a pet than a plant. never did figure out who took all my stuff. ever since, i have been expecting more things to be stolen, so far, so good.

tracie

Amanda,
I feel so horrible for you. that happened to me last year, but not on the scale you are talking about. Whoever it was took 4 plants, out of the ground, from my back yard. It was then, that I bought the 20 gallon pots from HD. With the dirt, they weigh close to about 75 to 100 lbs. I know it takes 2 people to lift them, and that is using a dolly!
Cameras are a great idea. I may just do the same thing, once I have some money.
But, I also have a dog....so that helps.

Oh Amanda, I am just feeling sick for you reading about this!!! You must be so upset :-*(

I've been a bit worried about this myself, having moved into a different neighborhood last November. There's not a whole lot of good sun in the back, and there's a huge ungated front and side area that does get sun, so I've moved most of my plants out there. So far, no problem, but I just cannot even believe the shamelessness of some people - it's just disgusting!! I sure hope the police can do something about your loss, or better yet, find the jerks who took your babies.

karen

Hey, Amanda.
I am very sorry to read your sad story. Probably all of us can relate in some way, and it could be worse . . since 30 years ago our daughter was kidnapped from our house when I failed to lock a door. Rape was his intention but thank goodness he failed when chased from his "nest" in a vacant lot by a dog pack. Later this rapist was caught and executed. Anyhow, all of us are potential victims and you will get over it; just take precautions and be thankful it was ONLY plants.
Call and come by when you can and I'll give you hibiscus plants to enjoy this year, okay?
peace,
Barry

How awful Barry, I can't even imagine the terror you all went through. How sweet of you and Susan to share plants with Amanda. Her garden will be beautiful again.

Oh my gosh Barry, how incredibly awful, but how very blessed you were that he wasn't able to go through with his terrible plans. That is absolutely a parent's worst nightmare :-( I just can't even think of what I would do if anything happened to either of my girls...

karen

Karen, I'm a peace loving man who thinks war is never a solution except for maybe stopping Hitler, but I do think I could have strangled this man myself. And of course it took me years to get beyond the guilt of blaming myself for not locking that one garage door that night. And it took our daughter decades to develop what you'd call a "normal" relationship with a man. Thankfully she is now happily married at age 39 (but has only been married one year) and just had a beautiful, healthy baby a year ago, which we believed never would happen.
Let's drop this ugly thread and be glad Amanda will recover quickly.
peace in our hearts,
Barry

..and thanks to the instincts of those dogs. They are good judges of character and probably knew that man was up to no good!

WOW - how awful!

I must say thank you to everyone who has been so kind to offer me some fresh new starts! You guys are so amazing, and your kindness is part of why I am a member on DG! However I must say, I'm really not asking for plants, I don't want to be a burden on anyone. My original intent was to vent and after reading some of your stories, I realize that I may get use to it. And Barry, I am very thankful that plants were all that was taken, you are right. It does concern me about what they may try to take next time, so a monitored security system for our home and/or the camera system that AnjL mentioned are things I'm going to do to ensure my the well-being of my family and hopefully my plants as well. It is a sad world when people do crazy things such as those mentioned in this thread. But there are so many wonderful things in life (such as the dimpled smiles of my 2-year-old little girl, special time with my husband and incredible new exotic hibiscus blooms) that it's hard to stay focused on the bad. Thank you everyone for being so wonderful!

Amanda... as your daughter grows you will find that those cameras really do give added security and peace of mind :o)

We have 7 kids... my three and his 4, all teens... and you'd be amazed at what we have 'discovered' by watching our camera footage :o)
They still cant figure out how we know which boy dropped our DD off after school...and What time she actually arrived (5 min before we got home)

The kids think the 'nosy neighbors' report EVERYTHING to us! LOL!

Ha ha, that's too funny!!