One thing to avoid is creating an attractive nuisance where you could be held liable for injuries to children tresspassing on your property. Like not even considering planting castor beans or aconitum - even tho the culprits would be exposed when the ambulance came. Just kidding!

A tangle of rugosa rose bushes or hedge of barberry would make you mad every time you looked at it. Sometimes the better part of valor is turning one defeat into a new garden somewhere else on your property where the kids don't have access. Much less frustrating than seeing your efforts systematically destroyed. Get some boulders and make a rock garden out of the berm; keep it at the ready for when the neighborhood kids grow out of their destructive phase.

This is ON your property, not a hellstrip? And these are small kids whose parents are not taking responsibility for them? Yuck.

These relationship management questions are very difficult when people are unreasonable. Spycam, dog, send the parents an invoice for the damage? You could also write to the parents about poisonous plants in a way that wouldn't leave you liable but would motivate the parents to supervise their children ... (have your lawyer write?) that while you believe all the plants you grow to be safe, you want to ensure they are aware that there are garden plants that are widely sold that are very poisonous, and that might be found in any garden. If it comes to that, children that age left to wander unattended... you could probably call child welfare services!

But landscaping advice, which is all we're really here to discuss, would be that your only really solid solution is a fence that will break them of their belief that your yard is public property. Obviously not just around the bed, but the whole yard. THEN you install the spy cam :-)

If it is a hellstrip (ie quasi-public), then designing indestructible arrangements or at least using only plants of little value is your only route to peace of mind.

KarinL

Move your choice plants closer to the house where you can enjoy them and they are out of danger.

It's unfortunate, but in many cases the finest, most choice plants and gardens are kept out of public view behind walls and buildings, and not only because of careless and thoughtless children, but also because of adults with sticky fingers or destructive tendencies.

I am relieved you have not complained about acts you have not witnessed, after all, the assumptions could be wrong. I've had a problem recently of newly planted succulents being ripped up and left lying with their rootballs exposed. At first I thought it might have been curious children, but after it happened repeatedly I began to suspect skunks. Then one morning, to my surprise, I witnessed a crow pecking at the plants and removing them to inspect the resultant holes for tasty insects. I need a scarecrow!

Same as with deer and rabbits a means must be found to exclude them from the area. Maybe a fairly low fence would be adequate.

How about installing one of those motion sensitive sprayers people use to deter dogs? It would be very effective in the colder months!

That might work as long as you didn't then have the angry parents on your case - or the kids didn't pull out or break the sprinkler.

As long as they can get into the area they can do damage, same as with other small animals.

A few ideas...

Make the area in front of the plants muddy for a while. The moms won't like the kids getting muddy for very long - and you will likely be able the track down the monsters.

Electric fence (need I say more).

Rent a bee colony and put it out there in the name of pollination

Rottweiler (ours keeps people alert, although he wouldn't hurt a fly)

Now I'll be serious...

Stinging nettles. Plant these in with your shrubs. My inlaws had a small one in their yard (they grow naturally here in Oregon) - I pulled it without thinking and it hurt for hours. No one will come near once they have been zapped.

What to plant to deter destructive children?

My father found that planting a foot did a pretty good job to keep his distructive children from messing up a garden. He called the planting area a dupa. It is well explained when looked up in a Polish-English dictionary.

I would not recommend this technique in 21st century America. Design techniques change over time and between cultures.

Unfortunately, you can't control every aspect of a landscape. If controlling the children is beyond your control (which has way more to do with their parents than you) or you can not create a physical barrier to keep them out, the unfortunate thing is that you have to accept that as part of your design criteria and need to be considered in the same way.

We all accept the fact that you should not plant sun loving plants in the shade or cacti in wetlands. The reason is that you are placing them in harms way, although you may want them and they look good. It really is not different to understand that people who use the site, whether invited or not, may be just as harmful to certain plantings.

What do you do? You determine whether you can mitigate the situation (get sun light in, remove the drainage problem, keep kids from menacing) or you find a viable alternative to what you are going to plant there.

1. can you change the kid's behavior?
... through their parents
... by making the area less attractive
... by providing an alternative attraction
2. create a barrier such as a fence.
3. find an alternative type of garden for that area
... not attractive to the kids
... more durable to their presence
4. find an alternative location for the type of garden that you really want to have.
5. move to a property that does not have a front yard that is subject to invasion by children.

If you weren't in zone 6, i would say plant a hedge of caci. Cholla, Opuntia or Pachypodium would do the trick! Going on with the same idea, a hedge of roses could work too.

Being in USDA 6 does not exclude the use of cacti. Many are very hardy, including Opuntia humifusa which is native to eastern North America. What would exclude the use of cacti in this instance is what would result if one of the children was injured - same as any other deterrence involving possible bodily harm.

Here is a link that might be useful: PLANTS Profile for Opuntia humifusa (devil's-tongue) : USDA PLANTS

Maybe you could put a flyer in everyone's mailbox saying that your gardens have been damaged by neighborhood children that are not to be named and would parents mind please reminding their children not to play in your garden? I'm sure you could word it nicely enough that you don't make people defensive, you know, telling them how much you love gardening and that children probably don't understand that they are hurting anything, etc. etc.

Plant Yucccas or other armed plants.
Plants are people, too, ya know!

Maybe you could put a flyer in everyone's mailbox

that is a federal offense. if it did not get mailed thru the USPS, it cannot be put in teh box.

plus, it is a good way to really get the kids to tear things up. even if they cannot get to the bed, they will throw rocks/sticks/etc to tear things up.

the BEST course of action is to watch for them and then take them back to their parents and tell them either control your brats or start picking them up at juvi cause next time you will call teh cops. if you cannot watch teh beds all teh time, put up a video camera to watch for you then take the evidence to the parents first, and then to police if necessary.

Move your choice dwarf conifers and shrubs since they're small. Little more work in the short haul; less aggrevation in the long haul.

Shouldn't have to cave in to the whims of brats but according to HG Wells, "The path of least resistance is the path of the loser".... in this case, the real potential loser is your berm garden.

Okay, I would then ammend my post to putting flyers on doors or car windshields. Or even speaking to them face-to-face (but writing down what you would like to say first).

I think that you will have a better chance of success with a more diplomatic tone. If you get in the parents' faces, they could get defensive and will feel much less like helping you.

Note that original post states

>On a couple ocasions where I did see the children I told their parents, but I have no proof it was the same children committing the recent vandalism. One of the parents does not even want to hear about it

Each idea here has its advantages and disadvantages, and so does the one that crossed my mind. It may very well not be your cup of tea, and it's the sort of thing that you shouldn't have to do. If you are willing, however, it might work.

Here goes...Recruit 2 or 3 kids into your service as "garden mercenaries". Kids love nothing better than protecting territory. To refine the idea further, you might be surprised to discover that destructive kids can be turned into kids who want to help you with your plants and projects.

The down side here is that it takes time to build relationships, and it takes patience to work with kids and turn them into "helpers". My next door neighbors are Grace and Emma, aged 7 and 5. Sometimes their "help" turns a ten minute task into an hour long one, but I've come to enjoy their interest in what I'm up to in my garden. Sure once they "weeded" newly planted transplants, and they've nearly drowned a few containers competing with the hose and watering can. And, these two little girls are among the well-behaved...

I have led youth groups and after school kids programs that included some fairly tough kids. Several times I have been fairly alarmed by the rudeness of a few. It starts to flavor the whole group. One technique that has surprised me more than once in toning down the "bad" behaviors has been to put the kid causing the greatest trouble in charge of helping me move around the building where the meetings were held. Sometimes I really didn't need the extra assistance, but by putting my trust in one of these kids, giving them adult attention (which is what they want), and keeping them in close proximity to me, the difficulty pretty much went away.

My Point would be that there's a tradeoff. As a blind person who gets around safely on my own most of the time, turning some of that over to a youth or child wasn't always what I really wanted to do. The result--better overall group behavior--was worth it.

I'll say it again. This isn't something you should have to do. If you are willing, you might be surprised by the reward of passing on some of your own passion for plants to some of the neighborhood kids. If you can tell a few of them why your dwarf conifers are special, they will remember, appreciate that you've shared something with them, and may turn out to be better at policing than the more punitive options already presented.

Wellspring

There are many homeowners use various types of Yucca plants to burglar proof their property because the treacherous points at the tips of their leaves can easily cause cuts and piercings. Spanish Bayonet Yucca (Yucca aloifolia) and Spanish Dagger Yucca (Yucca treculeana) come to mind, both are are actually hardy to zone 6. Not that I would want that to happen, but one would be extremely stupid to go walking into one of these plants. I think if the kids saw these, they wouldn't even try playing near them. Good luck.

Picture this: child stumbles and falls, pierces eye on end of yucca leaf (or cactus spine).

While in Seattle I have seen an apparently long-established groundcover planting of prickly pears along the front of a wall between it and the public sidewalk. It is amazing to me that this roughly 9'-10' x 3'-4' mat of viciously armed pads spilling out over the pavement has been allowed to remain. I'd think there would have been a nasty incident with someone stepping - or worse - falling on it and that would have been the end of it. Wouldn't even have to be a somewhat infirm elderly person, inexperienced toddler or dog - anyone caught be surprise and losing their balance when encountering it.

I do recommend any of the "safer" suggestions that were posted here first, including trying to be diplomatic with the parents and working it out. That being said, here is a picture of my yucca with it's sharp serrated leaves.
{{gwi:54943}}

That yucca is certainly making a point.

Dozens of them.

I fine yucca specimen, to be sure; could definitely hide a dwarf conifer or two. Even though the OP seems to be MIA, the suggestions to seclude the berm plantings behind living barracades diminishes the enjoyment he/she expected to get from them.

Picket fence around perimeter.

Holly hedge around perimeter.

Large dog on long lead staked in yard.

Motion-sensor sprinklers. The kids will probably spend one afternoon setting them off on purpose, then their parents will tell them to stop. Unless their parents are really trashy and then they might send their kids over on hot days.

Wolf urine--works for deer, why not kids?

We have several cameras around our property, and that seems to do the trick. Around the holidays, we even post small signs around the lawn ornaments stating "Smile, you're on camera".

I love the idea of the Wolf urine, and of soaking the area with water to make the little buggers muddy. Too funny.

Cathy

Someone above suggested Stinging Nettle.

Just got my 09 Seeds of Change catalogue, and one of their new varieties is...
Stinging Nettle!

Here is a link that might be useful: Stinging Nettle seeds @ SOC

Try something passive like deer netting. Practically invisible, and it is a physical barrier and demonstration that you don't want something disturbed.

My dad solved our problem of kids getting into our fruit trees in our side yard by installing an (empty) beehive there. We had another couple of beehives in the actual garden. It worked like a charm.

I realize that won't work for you. Parents who will refuse to manage their children are a problem over which you have no control. Is there a community watch? It sounds like a neighborhood issue.

When I planted a tree at my daughter's school, I was afraid that the hundreds of kids on the playground would pull twigs off the small tree and rip the bark. So I planted some other plants at the base of the tree to distract them. I planted mini-roses not for the thorns, but so the girls could come and pick flowers instead of leaves and twigs off the tree. And I planted a lavender, and a daisy so they could pick those flowers too. This was on a school playing feild with hundreds of kids at recess, so I did have to put three tree stakes around it, and I wrapped three foot tall hog wire around that. The flowers grew right through the 4" hogwire until you couldn't see the fence, and the flowers were picked off right up to the fence line. It's almost like the kids 'mow' or hedgeprune the bushes and leave the tree alone, even though they could easily reach it.

Well I hate to say it but this is a police issue. I would actually set up a motion sensing camera trained into the middle of the bed or somewhere where casual passers by will not activated it. Then whether you capture an image or not, call the police immediately when the next damage occurs, and try to make detailed notes of any previous damage inflicted on your property, including dates, possible times when it occurred, etc.
This is vandalism and is a criminal act, pure and simple. If the parents aren't willing to control their monsters (1st graders marauding the neighborhood unattended?? Good God.), then they will have no choice but to be financially liable for the damages they inflict.

Signed--a mother of young children who would not put up with this.

I am absolutely with nycynthias. Don't passively alter your garden plans because of them. Be proactive, set up a camera and get the police involved. As a mother of young children, as well, I'm appalled by the parents (though, unfortunately, not surprised.) This issue goes further than your garden/your home territory. These kids know this is not okay, but without anyone to reinforce consequences, this will get worse. Maybe not for you, but most certainly for those whom these little lives touch as they grow, get bigger and bolder. These kids need proper attention and help in understanding - please don't pass the buck.

PS - I know this is an older thread, but my advice stands to anyone who's personal space is being violated. It's not okay and it IS okay to be proactive about stopping it.