In article , "presley"
wrote:

As my oriental lilies went into full bloom this week, I tied them up to the
stakes next to them to hold the heads up, which were starting to bend under
the weight of the blossoms. The very next day, when I went outside to admire
them, I saw that someone had come and clipped every stem off - not broken
off, like a child would do, but with a pruner, so it was clearly
premeditated - probably as they watched me tie the plants up. I was furious,
which I think all the gardeners reading this can understand very well. So
I'm opening up this thread to get suggestions for revenge.....or at least to
allow others to vent if they have had similar experiences.

Dunno how you could get revenge without knowing who dunnit, & dunno if
it'd be any fun to be creating a world for oneself where attempting
revenge was any kind of priority, out there painting some grotesquely
smelling skunky chemical on the stems of the likeliest thefts.

This year some passerby took a bouquet of gigantic white irises as soon as
they were opened, so I got to aprpeciate them for one day; earlier someone
had picked an entire group of fluffy pink & green tulips. This happens
rarely enough i try to take it in stride. But the audacity of thieves can
be startling. Next door at Sue's, a woman driving by in a van with her
children pulled over to the curve, jumped out & ran into the side-yard
with a large pair of scissors, & began practically underlimbing a lilac
tree to get the nicest blooms. Sue ran out of the house & chased her back
to her van, & the thief roared off with a stunned Sue too surprised to
even think about taking down the liscense plate -- & what would police do
anyway, "Officer, she was picking flowers! Track her down & arrest her!"

I've taken to planting by the sidewalk a few things that can stand a
little random picking, & I even plant some things with the neighborhood
kids in mind, as I think kids SHOULD be able to pick flowers, plus if they
can get some easy ones freely on the sidewalk they won't be as tempted to
come into the inner gardens & take lilies or irises or whatever I don't
want picked. Permissible pickings by the sidewalk are like those little
bars of soap in hotels -- everyone wants to steal, & if that need is met
by a little bar of soap, maybe they won't take the towels, bedspread, &
television.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
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"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to
liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot." -Thomas Jefferson