home & garden special
Plant Theft
Casualty of City Living or Reportable Crime?
Article and Photos by Heather Schoell
M
flowers from Frager’s under the porch bench was stolen before they had a chance to plant – but that wasn’t the atrocity. Sandra and Ed moved here from Seattle, by way of Connecticut and then Ohio. A flourishing spider plant, a gift from a friend 10 years ago, accompanied them on their moves. The plant had started small but grew large and was well-tended for 10 years. Ed had it hanging from a beam of their covered porch but recently took it down one afternoon while cleaning. The next day they That’s Life in the noticed it was gone. Big City “I don’t know if you’ve Stolen plants are a part ever been burglarized, but of city life. Google the topic, if they don’t mess up your and you’ll read laments from house, you don’t know right Sandra and Ed standing where their spider plant should be. San Francisco, New York away,” says Sandra. “That’s City, Denver, England and how it was with the plant.” so on. Check the local listIn the grand scheme of life, servs, and posts from present day to years ago alert neighbors to plant thieves. she recognizes that it is not the end of the world, but it did have real sentimenSergeant Christopher J. Micciche of the Metro Police Department’s 1st tal value. “It’s like a bracelet from sixth grade. It’s not worth anything, but if District Crime Reduction Team offers this advice: “I would tell every citizen someone takes it, it’s like ‘well, there goes sixth grade,’” says Sandra. Then there to take sensible steps to place all of their property in less-than-easy-to-reach is the feeling of violation that someone would intrude into their private outlocations. If you are placing a plant a good distance from your house but close door living space, a well-kept porch with seating to view their remaining garto a sidewalk or alley, obviously under these circumstances, that may be a bad den. “How rude,” she says, “that someone would just come up here like that.” idea.” And was my neighbor right to have called the police to report stolen plants? “I have frequently heard citizens say that when they are victim of a minor Tips to Avoid Theft Garden thieves will take what they’re going to take, but you can make it a crime, they do not want to tie up the police taking a ‘trivial’ report,” says Miclittle harder for them. ciche. “However, a theft is a theft, and it is certainly reportable to police. More • Plant ornamental flowers closer to the house than the street. than likely, the telephone reporting unit can take the report over the phone.” • Take note of shopping cart-toting individuals in your alley. • Plant thorny or otherwise inhospitable varieties. Now It’s Personal • Avoid planting “pickable” flowers close to the sidewalk (e.g. tulips). Janet, a resident of the 1400 block of Constitution Avenue NE, had $800 • Buy rooted flowers and plants only from licensed vendors. in plants ready for her landscaper to install. Unfortunately, someone in the al- • Light your garden to avoid nighttime plant liberation. ley watched as the plants were unloaded into her backyard, and the following morning, Janet was plant-free. Heather Schoell is a regular contributor to the Hill Rag. She can be reached at Sandra and Ed live on the 300 block of 16th Street NE. Last year a flat of hschoell@verizon.net. ★ y neighbors had two out of three rose bushes stolen after a good rain. At just after 7 a.m., the police knocked on our door to find out if we heard or saw anything, which we had not. The heavy rain had made pulling the bushes out of the ground that much easier, and the thief had swiped the two closest to the gate. It was a shame because they were such pretty yellow roses. In fact, just the afternoon before the theft, two men had stopped to admire them.
88 ★ HillRag | September 2008