Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My side and backyard gardens is very pretty this time of year. The other day my kids were very alarmed to see a strange woman just walking around and taking pictures.
If she had come to the door and explained she would love to see my garden I would have been happy to let her or even walk around with her but it annoys me no end she just walked up my driveway and onto my property like it was public space. It also frightened my kids and the dogs started barking like crazy. When I caught up with her on the way down the driveway she explained she had gotten lost. Really? You got lost on foot on my dead end street in my backyard with a camera? I was so flustered I couldn't think of a thing to say but I sure could think of lots of things I wished I had said.
I would never even think of doing such a thing. That's why we have garden tours in our communities.
A few years ago I even noticed a man walking around taking cuttings and dropping them in a bag. He was going around at a fast pace and I could not get to him. Isn't that stealing?
It always appalls me how few people understand just what the words "property rights" mean. They seem to think that just because they need a place to camp or see something they want, they can make themselves right at home - never mind who owns it, how hard they've worked to make it the way they want - none of that occurs to trespassers.
Where I used to live, I caught neighborhood children coming onto my property and stealing my flowers (not cutting, pulling up) and fruit from my fruit trees. When I told their parents to keep them off the property, they laughed. When I told the cops, they told me "You have so much, you should share". So I put up a white picket fence and planted 'fairy roses' - that not only climbed the fence but crept along the ground, with lovely thorns like tiny spears, as well as blackberries, all around the fruit trees.
Now I live where nobody - children or adults - trespass. Early one morning there was a knock at my door - a teenager in full camo and carrying a shotgun asked politely if he could hunt the turkeys in my pasture. I said sure - and a few hours later found a very large turkey on my back step. It turned out to be one of the three he'd killed. Yum.
Can't look at beautiful pants and flowers...can't take pictures of them..dare not admire great looking kids for fear of being called a perv...can't say hello to strangers...Why did't you approach the woman and give her a tour- as for the guy who wants cuttings from gardens in the neighborhood...Bad people do not grow plants- Good people love plants...What's wrong with folks these days-they don't think..."He was walking at a rapid pace"- maybe he knew that your hood was full of selfish and paranoid people?
Some people have NO IDEA and in America, often the first reaction to seeing a stranger on your property is to shoot first and ask questions later, so these people are being extremely foolish by trespassing like that.
Maybe a humorous sign...mind you, a lot of these retards probably can't read.
Funny youve never been to the US so where do you base yourgun views on? TV?
Can't look at beautiful pants and flowers...can't take pictures of them..dare not admire great looking kids for fear of being called a perv...can't say hello to strangers...Why did't you approach the woman and give her a tour- as for the guy who wants cuttings from gardens in the neighborhood...Bad people do not grow plants- Good people love plants...What's wrong with folks these days-they don't think..."He was walking at a rapid pace"- maybe he knew that your hood was full of selfish and paranoid people?
Thanks for so swiftly proving my point, Oleg... like you, too many people think that just because they like something or want it, or even want to look at it, no one else's rights to the peaceful enjoyment of their own property, without wondering who is wandering around it for whatever reason, matter. And if you think that your property rights should be sacrosanct or at least respected by others, you get called names like "selfish" and "paranoid".
Unless your wazoo is out there with the owner, weeding, digging holes, fertilizing, planting, mulching, and watering, you have no business in their garden at any time, 'just looking' or not. Assuming that you do is not only rude, it's ignorant. People don't plant their gardens or orchards for others' enjoyment, no matter how beautiful or showy they are.
People don't plant their gardens or orchards for others' enjoyment, no matter how beautiful or showy they are.
I partially do plant my garden for others' enjoyment. And I think may others do the same.
I don't want people coming into my backyard to enjoy my garden (it is fenced and is not easy to access, anyway) without my explicit invitation, but why can't people enjoy looking at my gardens that are MORE than visible from the sidewalk? What's wrong with that?
I take my dog for walks and very much enjoy looking at people's gorgeous gardens as I walk. I don't trespass onto other people's property while looking at their gardens, but I do slow down on the sidewalk and look at the beautiful plants, feeding butterflies, singing and bathing birds, etc. I don't see anything wrong with that. I am on the sidewalk, not on their property.
I don't agree with what happened in the OP-- people coming ONTO others' property to look at others' gardens, but I don't see anything wrong with enjoying from afar.
So much of what has been said here just gives me the creeps because it sounds exactly like the people who blame the victim of rape for wearing the wrong clothes. Or she should just relax and let it happen because that is what happens when you are pretty to look at. The feeling of being violated is what the OP was discussing- instead she gets the old 'you should have enjoyed it' and encouraged it and you are a 'bad person' kind of remarks. What those people did was by all legal definitions wrong. Trespassing is trespassing, whether in the yard or in the home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oleg Bach
Can't look at beautiful pants and flowers...can't take pictures of them..dare not admire great looking kids for fear of being called a perv...can't say hello to strangers...Why did't you approach the woman and give her a tour- as for the guy who wants cuttings from gardens in the neighborhood...Bad people do not grow plants- Good people love plants...What's wrong with folks these days-they don't think..."He was walking at a rapid pace"- maybe he knew that your hood was full of selfish and paranoid people?
A backyard garden is generally a private area, just as a back porch or deck are. It is an invasion of privacy, not preventing someone from looking at beautiful plants, that the OP was discussing. There are plenty of parks and public gardens the woman could have taken her pictures at. As NOKudzu stated if the woman had come to her front door and asked she most likely would have given her a little tour but the woman instead trespassed. If someone spots a lamp they like in your home through a window are you alright with them coming inside your living room to take pictures without asking you first? Once you spot this person in your living room would you really offer to take her to see the rest of your house, too?
Quote:
Originally Posted by SCGranny
Thanks for so swiftly proving my point, Oleg... like you, too many people think that just because they like something or want it, or even want to look at it, no one else's rights to the peaceful enjoyment of their own property, without wondering who is wandering around it for whatever reason, matter. And if you think that your property rights should be sacrosanct or at least respected by others, you get called names like "selfish" and "paranoid".
Unless your wazoo is out there with the owner, weeding, digging holes, fertilizing, planting, mulching, and watering, you have no business in their garden at any time, 'just looking' or not. Assuming that you do is not only rude, it's ignorant. People don't plant their gardens or orchards for others' enjoyment, no matter how beautiful or showy they are.
I agree that your garden is yours to enjoy because you put in the labor. A clearly private area should stay just that, private. I don't agree about not planting for others enjoyment as much. My front garden is visible to most of my neighbors and the rare passerby (we live off the beaten path between farms) and all of them have stopped in at one time or another to admire and ask questions. I've received plants and given away even more but only with people I know and welcome onto my property. I still don't want complete strangers ON my property helping themselves. If they want to stand out on the street and look I have no issues with them and am glad they like the work I have done enough to stop and admire.
Most of the people who have posted to denigrate the OP for feeling the way she did have not posted in the garden threads before and I would be willing to bet have no concept of the hard work that goes into the beautiful ones, let alone the feeling that they are your "outdoor rooms" with the same feeling of violation when someone waltzes inside your home without invitation and takes things. I don't understand the mindset. Why is it alright to walk into a private backyard or to take parts of someone else plants but it is not alright to walk into a home and leave with something like a plate or a couple of CDs?
I've been gardening a long time and can tell you most gardeners will not take anything from a fellow gardener but most will be more than happy to share plants with anyone who shows even a modicum of interest. I've taken cuttings and divided plants for people who have asked, donated seedlings I nurtured for plant sales that raise money and know the OP has done that, too. No Kudzu has done a ton of community service for her area gardeners and general public already and does not need to be labeled as selfish. The plants she has growing cost her money to buy, money to grow and keep healthy. Unusual ones these days are actually covered by patents making it technically illegal to propagate from cuttings like the man who was gathering pieces was doing. That man is a thief who wanted to get away without paying for his plants and that was the reason for walking rapidly, as would any other common thief. He knew he was doing wrong and had been spotted.
Not only is it inappropriate and rude for someone to give themselves a tour with out permission it's also a safety issue. You never know who they are or what they are doing. Thieves are known to do stuff like this and while this particular woman was probably harmless it could have been someone scoping out your property. I've had a few situations where people were getting a little too nosy with the garden checking/door knocking and I always made it very clear that I notice them and their behavior makes me a little uneasy. For all I know they could be trying to find out when I am home or not.
J&Em, SCGranny and to others who agree with my outrage. Thank you for your passionate defense of my position. I really do appreciate it.
I have absolutely no problem with people stopping in front of my house to enjoy the fruits of my work. In fact I've seen them walk slowly by the beds with their hands behind their backs to get a closer look and make notes (I label everything) and I've not said a thing.
But in my backyard? That literally crosses the line. To me my backyard is a private part of my home with or without a fence. Most Americans would understand that. And I know for a fact the man who took the cuttings ended up selling them. That really ticks me off. He has a reputation for this kind of behavior. Thinks he is entitled to swiftly steal and run.
Besides privacy another reason I object is because I have opened my home and gardens to tours for fund raising for my church and the master Gardens program in my area. I have had people come to my gardens the weekend after the sanctioned tour and tell me they were out of town and couldn't attend and really wanted to see the gardens and could they now do so. I Smiled politely and said "Sure, that would be fine. Just make the check out to XZY and I will turn it over to them." They did and I did.
J&Em, SCGranny and to others who agree with my outrage. Thank you for your passionate defense of my position. I really do appreciate it.
I have absolutely no problem with people stopping in front of my house to enjoy the fruits of my work. In fact I've seen them walk slowly by the beds with their hands behind their backs to get a closer look and make notes (I label everything) and I've not said a thing.
But in my backyard? That literally crosses the line. To me my backyard is a private part of my home with or without a fence. Most Americans would understand that. And I know for a fact the man who took the cuttings ended up selling them. That really ticks me off. He has a reputation for this kind of behavior. Thinks he is entitled to swiftly steal and run.
Besides privacy another reason I object is because I have opened my home and gardens to tours for fund raising for my church and the master Gardens program in my area. I have had people come to my gardens the weekend after the sanctioned tour and tell me they were out of town and couldn't attend and really wanted to see the gardens and could they now do so. I Smiled politely and said "Sure, that would be fine. Just make the check out to XZY and I will turn it over to them." They did and I did.
Well said. As your first post says it is you BACKYARD. If you really think about it, it really comes to a violation of ones' personal space. What is your reaction when you are speaking to someone and they are in your face? In principle, it is the same. Your yard....Your space. Back off.
Thanks for so swiftly proving my point, Oleg... like you, too many people think that just because they like something or want it, or even want to look at it, no one else's rights to the peaceful enjoyment of their own property, without wondering who is wandering around it for whatever reason, matter. And if you think that your property rights should be sacrosanct or at least respected by others, you get called names like "selfish" and "paranoid".
Unless your wazoo is out there with the owner, weeding, digging holes, fertilizing, planting, mulching, and watering, you have no business in their garden at any time, 'just looking' or not. Assuming that you do is not only rude, it's ignorant. People don't plant their gardens or orchards for others' enjoyment, no matter how beautiful or showy they are.
Your talking to me like I am white trash or something- I will have you know I have been a gardener all my life- Every season- I grow- I water- I prune- I beautify...I create a little heaven whether it be the family garden back in the day...Or on a roof top down town (not an easy task)---The environment in parts of Toronto is beautiful- couples stroll on nice up scale streets and admire every ones gardens...There is no such thing as NOT peaceful enjoyment of natural beauty.
The point I was making was in the fact that some guy walks by a tree or vine and takes a clipping- of course they should ask..but if I see someone doing that..I would not flip out like they were stealing my first born.
It is hypocritical that a person who loves the natural world and the beauty of natural growth- would hate and distrust human beings-
And yes you are _Paranoid...and YES - selfish- but you live in America - I don't guard my beauty - is share it- as if their eyes are going to steal it?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
And I think may others do the same.
