Wow, a trend we have not experienced so far (theft of our tools), although we did have someone who was working in our yard (an employee of a company we contracted with to help with our water garden) who entered our home and stole most of my good ppieces of jewelry. (We found out later he had a history of substance abuse and had relapsed.)

We put our tools away after use – either in our locked garage or in the case of our small totes, inside the house.

Probably the most annoying thing we experience are the people who come into our yard to either smoke (and then throw their cigarette trash in our rose beds), or come to pick berries or pick a bouquet of flowers or even dig themselves some plants, never asking permission, and sometimes destroying plants in the process.

If someone asks us for some flowers for a case or a clump of one of our perennials, we would be flattered and would either cut them a bouquet or pot them up some plants. But I had an entire clump of yarrow totally destroyed by someone who had no clue what they were doing and chopped it to shreds, trying to “dig” up a “small piece”. (You have plenty, you could spare some, she told me.)

Another woman jogging by decided to pick herself a bouquet of peonies. Now, you can’t “pick” peonies! The stems are very woody and need to be cut. She pulled my grandmnother’s peonies up by the roots and when I confronted her, she threw them at me, complaining that they were “muddy” and made her new white sneakers dirty! (Well, yes, we had just watered the beds. Again, if she had stopped and asked, I would have cut her a gorgeous bouquet.

Smokers carelessly disposing of lit cigarettes have lit our yard on fire twice in the past year and nicotine from discarded tobacco has poisoned many of the roses growing near the street.

But despite those unpleasant experiences, the majority of strangers that stop by are truly a pleasure do deal with. We have complete strangers ring the bell, compliment the gardens, and ask the name of a specific perennial or rose, and we have had folks stop and ask for a tour of the formal beds or advice about growing roses. We share our extra perennials and herbs liberally with other gardeners. So far it’s been a mostly pleasant experience, but I’m not naive enough to take foolish chances. We lock everything and hope that we are spared the pain of theft of our favorite tools!

OK Stuart, you got me on my soapbox… I’ll get off now LOL, but not before thanking you for alerting us to this potentially dangerous trend.