Bum
Information Number Two: This is yet another despicable
and disrespectful trick of faux gardeners around the world who've
convinced themselves that they have a right to anything—including bits of an
expensive or cherished plant—that falls within their distorted purview.
They're shocked at the notion that it's stealing, plain and simple.
Seed-snatchers, blossom-pickers,
and cutting-crooks are among the worst and most disrespectful phony
gardeners imaginable...and are never invited into my gardens a second
time! (Steal from me once...shame on you! Steal from me twice...shame
on me!) And
I urge you to do the same when you catch a horticultural criminal
pinching bits and pieces from your hard-won gardens.
Don't pick flowers, take seeds, or snip or pinch cuttings
unless you've been invited to. Yes, I've seen it in my garden and the gardens of others. Often, offenders will glance around first to
see if they're being observed; then snip! or snatch!, and into a pocket or purse it goes.
When caught in the deed, I send them back to their car. No excuse or argument
for stealing is acceptable.
How very much better and more
civilized to simply ask. I don't know of a single gardener who wouldn't
be pleased—flattered, even—to share what they have with other gardeners...if
only they were offered the courtesy of being asked first.
