I am personally so jealous of people who have really green thumbs. I want to be one of those people so badly, but I don’t have the talent or the time. Probably both, most days.
OP’s mother has a beautiful garden, complete with flowers, herbs, vegetables, and cute statues – all of which her mother’s neighbors feel entitled to take on occasion without asking.
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.
So, OP caught them on camera, printed the pictures, and displayed them with hilarious garden puns.
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” ‘Succ-er” ” i peony in my pants” “frond-less” ‘dirt-bag’ ‘in-fertile” and “root boy”
Some in the neighborhood think she went too far in “shaming” people, like a teenager who was just trying to bring flowers to his sick girlfriend.
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.
OP thinks it was funny, and so does her mom, but she’s starting to wonder if she went too far.
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.
Anyway I guess they both know each other and now both these familys are annoyed.
AITA for making a petty sign about people stealing from my mom’s garden? Hoping to get them to stop?
Reddit is just going to revel in this one, I bet.
The top comment says OP is actually being nice, because the neighbors are committing crimes.
After all, the neighbors had a choice.
This commenter says that what OP has done is harmless, comparatively.
They say a mugshot would be a lot more harmful.
How can it be a big deal but also not a big deal at the same time?
This is pure brilliance.
OP should feel nothing but smug in her own hilarious superiority.
If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.