That really stinks!

I would report the mail delivery. Does your condo/apartment have a main office? Can't they deliver your packages there?

I just had a mailman bring me a package and just heard a BAM! one time on my front door. I walked out and asked him if he had just thrown that box at my door, and he looked shocked that I was even home. Of course, he wouldn't admit it, but I know the difference between something hitting the door and someone knocking on the door.

I've had a lot of plants stolen over the years. Once in North Port, I walked into my back yard to find a Russian woman gathering up pots of plants from my nursery area under the oak tree. I asked her what she was doing, and she said "Oh, you have so much plants. I think you not mind to share with me." I told her I certainly did mind, and if she ever came back into my yard, I would call the police. She seemed genuinely shocked, and said "You not call police! We be friends! Share plants!" I told her I was not interested, and to get out of my yard. She walked off cursing me in Russian.

Problem # 1.

Next time you shout back : mu'dak !!!!,..'khu I !!!!,...piz' da !!!!! The American pronunciation of a few nasty Russian curse words ! Thieving mu'dak's !!!,..can't stand them !
Also, if it keeps up,..maybe a fake security camera,..available for under $5. So sad to hear this.

Problem # 2:

I once worked for the Post Office in Punta Gorda, as a part time delivery man,..driving the truck. I quit after 5 months, then filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, ( EEOC ), but that's another story.
Many times a call in complaint goes to a low level supvsr, or not even that high,..the ones that got immediate results were the ones spoken to the P.O. manager him/herself. You have to ask specifically for the branch manager !

Good luck,...damn piz' da's !!

The main PO here will not answer their phone. I've gone there several times only to be told the supervisor wasn't there. He won't see anyone or talk to anyone.

The mail delivery in north fl does suck.... plant thieves are low lives... un-necessarily so.

I used do field service work in south florida and enjoyed driving around older "hoods to check the "mature" landscape and see what type of plants did well in the area and how they were grown. I have "several times" stopped and knocked on doors to speak to people about a specific plant they grew in their yard. Mostly to gather info and occasionally would ask if they would sell a piece/cutting or trade and many times they would just give a piece. Several people have done the same to me in south Fl. Inquired about my neem trees and then I gave them a few seedlings, or a really nice yellow frangipani and again they would leave with several cuttings or look at my many landscaped orchids...

BTW, this is a great way to meet new "plant people"... so many stories to attach here... next time as am off to work....

Ben, I made most of my best gardening friends in FL by stopping to ask for seeds or cuttings. Everything in my garden right now came from seeds, plants or cuttings given to me, gathered from the roadside or that were here when I got here. I love giving plants and seeds away too, and do it as much as I can. I don't have a ton of room here to grow out cuttings and such like I used to. I used to have so many plants that I once loaded up a friend's small pickup bed with them. When I moved, I made over $500 selling plants and still had to give dozens away.

I sorry to here that someone stole I'm sure if they would have asked you would have given them cuttings.I've never had someone steal a plant but everything else thats not nail down has been.a few years back i got some cameras and found that everyone i knew at the time was stealing. It was very sad and they r not around anymore.

Was out covering plants to protect from freezing and i realized i have missing plants. Someone stole some of my plants. I'm missing a loquet,a mulberry,a fig and a whole starter tray of herbs. I'm so mad I don't have the words for it. A guess i will be putting in a new camera this week.

I want to put in a good word for my mail carrier. She is very sweet, always brings packages to the door and gives a knock. Always has a smile. Sorry some of you got some bad eggs.

I was hesitant to put potted plants out front but so far so good. I have had people knock and ask about or ask for cuttings. I've never met a plant person who doesn't want to share. Two people get to feel good: the giver and the giftee (new word?).

Kids at the bus stop on my corner have really done some damage to my plants! I did call the school I don't know if that helped but things are better it seems. My husband wanted to put up cameras for a price of $900. I told him NO WAY. There must be a cheaper way. So the school board has decided to cut out this bus stop because it is less than a mile from the school. HELLO! I've thought this all along. These kids are in middle school the worst age for sure. Walk buttercups it is good for you. hehe!

Rita: I was into the whole rose thing for a while and heard those rose thief stories...probably knew your FIL.

A few years ago, the Discovery Gardens in Tavares had almost all their orchids stolen. The thieves knew what they were doing because, according one of the extension agents, they only took the orchids that were of value, leaving the cheap, common ones. A real shame as most of those orchids were donations. But it just goes to show that even things that we feel would be very unlikely targets for thieves are still targets. Especially in this state where, as I have since learned, horticultural and agricultural crime is fairly high.

I've live a this house for almost 3 years and haven't had anything stolen. Which has been nice since the last 2 places I've lived if it wasn't bolted down someone would steal it. I talked to some of my neighbors and they said they have been having things disappear out of their front yards and it started when a new family moved in down the block. So i walked down this morning and there are my plants right in their front yard. I've talked to them and was told that their son brought them home. I got my plants back and when he gets home from school they will come down with him.you know if he would have come to the door and asked i would have given him some plants i dont think he knows what type of plants he stole. He parents didn't know what they are.I'm glad i got my plants back but now i have to worry about some kid stealing.

Glenn, I've had that happen too, and it was a kid whose mom loved plants, but couldn't afford them. I'm glad you got them back. Maybe invite him down to help in the garden in exchange for plants from now on. I wonder if your neighbors got their stuff back too.

Once years ago when we were just beginning to plant shade trees in our yard, we had planted a red maple. It had four lateral branches and the central leader. Then one day I came home from work and there were 3. The next day 2. The next day just as I pulled up I saw this boy ripping the last one off on his way home from school. That tree never was right after that. I didn't even bother to yell at him since I figured it was too late. But I felt like snatching it away from him and using it on his behind.

Oh Rita! You are a far better person than I am!

That seems so odd that a kid would have stolen the plants (and not have destroyed them) I half wonder if the mom was using him as a cover story.

Glenn, did they come down with him? It seems strange that they would just have them right out in the front yard if the parents had stolen them.

DG they did come down but not last night this morning about 9:30 the mom ,dad ,step dad and son .the gardener in the family is the dad. He doesn't live with them but does live nearby. The kid is 15 and seams to be getting him self in alot of trouble. We talked for about a hour and the dad wants him to make up for it .maybe he can help with something i don't know. I liked the dad he seamed like a good guy. While they were down here a cop car went by and went to a neighbors house. From what i know so far he went and looked in there back yard. They don't have a fence.and found his kid's missing bikes half taken apart in there back yard and call the cops. They are still down there. This is to much drama for me

Well, bike theft is a crime, so I think your little thief will be going to juvie. Obviously, though, he stole the plants to please his dad, so there may be some good in him.

So the cops did take the kid and the dad walked back down after they left to talk. He said the kid will not be going back to stay with his mom that he will be staying with him when he gets out. The dad want to come over when he is not so stressed and talk more about plants. I told him that was fine and gave him my number. He was going to go talk to the other neighbors about their stuff and is trying to make things right.

Aww, sucks to see families struggle with such problems.

Not knowing the back story I don't know who to feel sorry for, the boy who is acting out or the parents having to deal with the acting out... I will feel bad for the whole family.

Obviously, if the kid was stealing plants for his dad, he loves him, so hopefully, this will work out for him. My younger son got in some trouble around that age, but he grew out of it. Took some time, but he's a fine upstanding techie working at Microsoft now, so there is always hope.

my husband and I donated the 12 poinsettias to the church after we were

married. They were stolen before the sermon the next day.

who steals from a church?

josephine, I had plants stolen off of my husband's grave the day he was buried, and it made me so sad. People have no respect anymore. Someone said it was probably one of the groundskeepers who stole them, because they had seen them doing it before, but the cemetery (of course) denied it. They did replace the plants, however.

There's just no respect for private property anymore. I've had plants taken right out of my beds by passers-by. I awoke on Christmas Eve morning 2014 to find two 12-foot Travelers Palms pulled right out of the ground on either side of my house along with my 150-pound strawberry jar filled with Christmas Cactus stolen right off of my front porch. The nerve of some people!

Bad people are going to do bad things. There is no stopping them. Sadly, those plants were probably stolen by a landscaper who used them in a yard far, far away from you so you couldn't find them.