It’s been some time since we last heard of a case of succulent theft, but Neighbor Brian reports that the horticultural bandits have struck his home… again!
We’ve written to you before and were very appreciative when you posted about the succulent thieves who hit the planter in front of our house. Unfortunately, the eight months since the original theft, we’ve have a few more cacti and succulents lifted from our planter. It sucks. It make us angry and, worst of all, suspicious of everyone who walks down our street. The previous thefts seemed at least ‘respectable’ in that only a small plant was lifted, but this latest theft is just ridiculous. Half the f**king planter is gone! I’m pissed and am very close to knocking out the entire planter and replanting everything that is left in our back yard. At least in the back yard, I’ve only got to worry about the family of raccoons living nearby — and they’re just so damn cute!
PHOTO: Neighbor Brian
Bernalwood 
About three weeks ago I went outside my Alabama street house and noticed that 4 succulents had been taken from the well around the tree. The next morning I came out and ALL (except one cactus) of the rest of the plants had been taken! I decided to bring in the flagstones that we had used to raise the bed because I didn’t want those to disappear, too. It does seem like they’re mostly after succulents so we’ll probably plant some other type of plant next time.
Last Friday I shopped at the SF Flower Market around 7am. This is the wholesale market open to the trade. Well, I saw a big rack of succulents that looked hacked off, with random varieties and suspiciously unprofessional. In contrast, there are other vendors that sell succulents (which are very popular to incorporate into floral displays right now) and they are uniform in size, plenty of them and displayed in a clean uniform fashion. Those look legitimately grown and sold. Others do not. Anyone out there know about where these “black market” stolen succulents are being sold? I suspect some are showing up at the SF Flower market.
Poison oak might be handy at a time like this. A twig or two tucked in amongst the succulents.
Our block of 100 Elsie was also hit again this week with three neighbors reporting sad (and large) holes where relatively large succulents were growing. This seems crazy that we can’t get this stopped. I unfortunately agree that we all may simply have to quit planting those lovely plants in our front yards. I’d be interested to know if we could get any response from the Ingleside station on checking out the Flower Market to see if one of the vendors matches the photo that one of our quick thinking neighbors took a number of months ago? Thoughts anyone?
A newly redone house on my block has created new, front-“yard” planters, and and the re-do-ers have planted them with succulents. I couldn’t help think about the succulent thieves and worry for them that their planting investments would be stolen.
Shame on thieves! Shame on them!
If you’ve been hit by the thieves, please be sure to report the crime to Ingleside. You can even do it online. http://www.sf-police.org/index.aspx?page=778
You can also drop by the Ingleside Station and file a report (1 Sgt John V Young Ln in Balboa Park).
I will email the captain about the having SFPD check out the flower market – great tip!
We were hit on Prospect back in late-July. Someone came by and lopped the tops off a few of our succulents in the middle of the night. (http://i.imgur.com/l4UAg.jpg) Very frustrating, and it’s sad to hear that it’s happening to so many other people. We reported it to Ingleside the following day.
I’m just down the hill from Bernal, technically in the Mission, but just last week they stole two planters full of succulents that had been there for about five years. Bastards. I’m getting a permeable side walk garden in a few weeks and I’ll be steering away from succulents as much as I love them.
Brian:
Great Tree Box ! Did you get plans from City ? FUF ? Does this meet DPW City Forestry Dept. requirements ? I have heard that like All Things City Gov. that they can be picky, picky !
Motion sensor cactus-cam. Plant really sharp cacti, then pee on them. The Only defense.
hey neighbors…thanks for all the comments and suggestions. i’m definitely going to fill out a police report and hopefully all these thefts will get on their radar. it seems that most of our thefts have occurred during the day. i’m hoping that eventually someone will get a positive ID on whoever is the main culprit.
@mike – yes, the tree was from FUF. we planted it about a year ago during their annual neighborhood tree planting. they took care of the permit process and had a square cut out of the sidewalk as well. it was a pretty smooth process…we even got to choose the type of tree we wanted.
@ben – i’ve contemplated digging a large bunker under the planter and sidewalk where i can live and stakeout the perps. don’t know how the city would feel about it, though.
Our front garden in Bernal has been repeatedly targeted by thieves over the years. They cut Aeoniums and other succulents, even entering our yard! We found our stolen plants for sale THE SAME DAY at the Flower Mart. The Managers of the mart say that it is not their responsibility to monitor the tenants and showed little interest. If the vendors at the Flower Mart were required to show evidence of sourcing for cut succulents these wholesale thefts would dry up for lack of a place to exchange these plants for cash. Please, please report these thefts to the police. This is the best way to put pressure on the Flower Mart and the vendors.
I just filed the online report.
I’ve had three different planters stolen and an attempted theft of our baby lemon tree in a big planter I put on the sidewalk for everyone to enjoy! They must have gotten tired or interrupted midway through because it was all dug up and the nearby plants thrashed 😦 Big time bummer but I’ve got a prickly guard cactus on duty in front of him now!
Someone stole some of my succulents in front of my house at Precita & Florida yesterday. It is really disturbing… There is a big hole in my planter 😦 I just filed the online report.
I live in Silver Terrace on Robblee Avenue and a large (30″) purple Aeonium succulent was cut and stolen last night or early this morning. I filed an online police report. Very sad, it was beautiful, now I am worried about the rest of my plants!
It turns out we are not alone:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/08/us/washington-dc-gardeners-battle-flower-thief.html