I always think it’s interesting what people think is stealing and what folks think they’re entitled to – even when it belongs to someone else. Plants are one of those things that folks don’t seem to mind “clipping” here and there, figuring it will just grow back.
Right?
Well, sometimes that’s true, but when a person has given their time and heart to a garden, I would venture a guess that it’s still better to ask before taking something that doesn’t belong to you.
This woman’s mother is an avid gardener, and has been dealing with the neighbors clipping roses, taking cuttings, stealing garden statues, and other nuisance behavior for quite some time.
My mom is really into gardening and sometimes people have come by and stole potted plants, yard statuettes, and even dug whole plant bulbs with plants out of the ground.
Or cut all the roses off her bushes because they were too cheap to buy from the florist I guess.
Since the dash cam on OP’s car caught the culprits red-handed, she thought calling them out in a funny (or punny) way with a wall of shame would be appropriate.
Anyway my dash cam of my car which I park in the driveway near the garden bed caught most all of them close up and as a way to help my mom not have her plants stolen I printed all their pictures out and made a poster that said
“Oh Hay there! Don’t be a Daffy-dil and steal, or else you might end up doing hard Thyme! We hope Thistle be a lesson to Yew!
And I put the pictures of everyone stealing from the garden around the border. Also gave each person a funny fake name : “mr potato head” “dill-a-tante” “pothead” “prick” ‘Succ-er” ” i peony in my pants” “frond-less” ‘dirt-bag’ ‘in-fertile” and “root boy”
The puns are obviously amazing and her mother approved, but it turned out that some folks in the neighborhood were less than thrilled with being publicly called out (even in an amusing manner).
I thought it was funny and cutesy, like how can you be offended with dumb plant puns… My mom thought it was hilarious and wanted me to hang it up because she was sick of seeing stuff stolen
But I got a couple complains, one neighbor said I needed to take it down because I had a picture of his son a minor who did something dumb yes but was just trying to bring his sick girlfriend flowers. And that is was disproportionate and rude to publicly shame him.
I told him that it wasn’t that big of a deal and he told me that I was being petty. I called his kid a little Birch which pissed him off and honestly might of been petty.
Another guy came to the house and returned a cutting his wife apparently took to propagate thinking it would be no big deal… But yeah it damaged the plant because she cut like a quarter off. And he asked if we’d take down the sign because she was on the board of directors or something from the town and whatever. My mom had answered the door and told him to make like a bee and buzz off.
The neighbors are getting together and talking about how annoyed they are, etc etc, and now OP is wondering whether or not it wasn’t as funny as she thought.
Anyway I guess they both know each other and now both these families are annoyed.
AITA for making a petty sign about people stealing from my mom’s garden?
Hoping to get them to stop?
Reddit is going to have a tough time with this one, because we know how much they love puns!
The top commenter says not only is OP not a jerk, here, but they were actually more kind about the situation than they had to be.
Image Credit: Reddit
I mean, actions have consequences, my friends.
Image Credit: Reddit
Maybe not harmless to their ego, but still.
Image Credit: Reddit
They definitely can’t have it both ways.
Image Credit: Reddit
Seriously, why not just ask?
Image Credit: Reddit
I would never cut something from a person’s yard or garden without asking first, would you?
Would you take kindly to this kind of neighborhood shaming? Do you think it’s inappropriate? If so, let us know why in the comments!
