cutting plant stems in public?

if i see a nice rose or any other interesting plant in a public place, and i cut one stem, not the actual rose, so i can grow it at home.

would that get me in trouble with the law?

I doubt the DA would go through the trouble of prosecuting the case if it is against the law and it probably is. Somebody else owns the plant because you know you don't.

One never knows where a life of crime will take them but it isn't often where they want to be.

Bad idea, someone planted it so it wouldnt be fair for you to take a cutting, what if everyone did that?? There would be no flowers in public places for all of us to enjoy.

I agree, not something you ought to be doing. If there's a plant you see that you really like, if you can find out who owns it you could always ask for permission to take a cutting--depending on where the plant is sometimes they might be willing to let you do that, although if these are public spaces you're probably less likely to get permission since they'll figure if they let everyone take clippings then they wouldn't have any plants left. You might have better luck if the plant you're after is in someone's private garden, often if they're a gardener and you tell them how much you love the plant they might send you home with some cuttings, gardeners are very nice sharing people!

Don't ask, don't tell. It's hard to believe you asked this on a public forum. What kind of responses did you expect? Situational ethics certainly apply to this matter.

youngman,

Since you live in the LA area, check with the County of Los Angeles about the rose garden in Exposition Park. They used to have public demonstrations of rose pruning and the cuttings were offered free to those attending. I think it was in January or February. Check with the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Descanso Gardens as other possibilities for free cuttings when they are pruning.

Karen

Become a member of Dave's Garden and go to the Plant Trading forum. You could get all kinds of wonderful plants and flowers either for postage or trade. Much cheaper than getting caught and possibly fined for taking flowers from public areas. I agree with all of the above--leave the public flowers for public enjoyment.

I know when I lived in my last home, no fenced yard, I planted hundreds of daff bulbs and each spring just as I was about to enjoy this wonderful show, people would stop their cars or even pretend they were walking their dogs, then start to pick all the flowers to take home, as much as I am a sharing gardener, this really did get very upsetting as by the end of the week, there was hardly a flower to be seen. When I went outside and said they were not to be picked I got every excuse you could think of for doing this to my flowers, not to mention my expense, I never informed the police about it as I honestly thought at the time the police had more important jobs to be getting on with, but some people really did believe they were the only single person doing this therefor it was not a problem, so always be sure whoever owns the plants can afford to let everyone help themselves, BUT, on saying that, I am no innocent gardener myself, I have lifted the odd seed head myself but would not deliberately cut a plant without asking. I do know here in UK you will be taken to court for this offence and people have been find for doing it, in private OR public gardens areas, I would imagine the embarrassment would be worse than any find. Good Luck. WeeNel.

Stealing the flowers from plants that grow from BULBS is unforgivable. They bloom once a year, and that's it. It SHOULD be a crime. A seed head is another story. If there are a lot of them, they likely should be removed anyway, often to encourage the plant to rebloom. I can even see taking a leaf and part of a stem from a fast-growing, common plant such as coleus, if the plant is large and needs pinching anyway and you don't ruin its symmetry. Everyone has to make his own decision about this topic. Evidently the people who stole your daffodil flowers were comfortable with their thievery. Wonder why they didn't just dig up the bulbs while they were at it? No, they wanted YOU to grow them so they could come along and steal the blooms.

WeeNel, that is just so wrong. The things that some people will do still
shocks me. You should put a bunch of plastic ones out with a sign PICK ME !!!!! I would love to see their faces then.
Christine

As this happened in your last home WeeNel it probably isn't happening now, but for others in that kind of situation here is what I would do if I was lucky enough to catch them at it. I would grab a pad and pencil and go take down the license plate, then I would go up to the people, count how many they had picked and according to what florists are charging tell them they owe you the equivalent money. If they refuse to pay say fine you will turn the license plate number into the police. Not that you would but they won't know that. You would still miss seeing them in your garden but I bet those particular cheap skates won't come back to do it again. (unless to get even they do it in the middle of the night)

That's sad indeed WeeNel. I used to have flowers stolen out of the yard at our other house (in a subdivision). It's really not funny at all for the folks who spend money to buy the seeds/plants, lot's of time and hard work to plant and tend them, and water and fertilizer to keep them nice, only to have some inconsiderate fool come along and help themselves to a nice bunch to take to THEIR home. We had fruit stolen off our trees too. Had to fence our vegetable garden. People who do that are right in the same class as the ones who steal house plants off of folks front porches. They don't stop to consider how they'd feel if someone did that to them! A thief is a thief no matter what they steal.

Thanks everyone for the kind words of comfort and ideas, but it was a long time ago in our previous house, now thankfully, I dont have neighbors for miles, I think 2 miles is the closest and they were really lovely, but have just moved away, we were on friendly terms and both loved gardening, but we only ever phoned or visited if there was someone hanging about or it was winter and asked if any help was needed, never was, but nice to offer or be asked. The folks I had the problem with were ignorant to the fact the Daffs belonged to someone, ME, I got every excuse from, "oh my old Mum just loves Daffs" to wish I had a garden" or "how did these plants get there" but to be honest, I think there are people all over the world who are selfish, even if my daffs were the wild type, it is against the law here in UK to pick ANY plants or flowers from the wild, OR from other gardens, you go to court and face a find, but there are always folks who plead ignorance.
When we were building the home we are now in, we had different tradesmen about the place, one day I arrived early morning with my then 3 chow dogs to find one guy out with a spade digging up plants I had just bought and planted, still had the labels on them and the price ticket, Rhododendrons etc, he made the stupid excuse that he thought because our place was already an old established (overgrown Garden) we would not mind, so I dug him up some wild garlic bulbs and some Mares Tale that once you have it, you will never get rid of it, he was so thankful, every year when I do battle with both those ferocious weeds, I have a good laugh to myself and wonder if he remembers how he managed to get them in his garden, ha, ha, ha, there's always a payback eh. good luck to you all, just remember to be firm but polite, it drives them mad and makes them wish the ground could open up and swallow them, he, he, he. WeeNel.

Oh you're too funny WeeNel!! What a perfect way to always remind him that stealing isn't nice at all.

Yip, he will be so mad for years to come, but I still wonder what his wife thought the following year when he had told her they would have masses of Bluebells and nice little mini Christmas trees, but what came up was white Garlic flowers and smell all your clothes as you walk through it, and the baby Christmas trees that no fairy would want to be associated with for sure,

WeeNel, thats to funny, like you said payback LOL

Yip, if you ask, as Ecrane said, you can have some cuttings, I'll even start them off for you, of split up a clump of some plants, but please dont just help yourself, I'd rather have toothache than find my plants missing. WeeNel.

I must say if I caught someone messing with any of my plants or picking my flowers that I put tons of hours into each week,,like haveing a second full time job,,needless to say THEY WOULD HAVE A BAD DAY!!! Just my thoughts!!

Here's a thought, instead of calling the cops, how about giving them the choice of doing community work (like dig, weed and cut your lawn all summer, make them wear a dress all covered in a flowery pattern with a placard saying I'm a garden thief) OR just shoot the brats and send the flowers to the hospital with a large label addressed to the flower stealer. that should deter others eh. OH the power of a female gardener has just gone to my head, ha, ha, ha, I'm off to bed now to dream up some more suitable punishments for those morons, he, he, he. WeeNel.