What is it called when you walk around town taking cuttings

[Beecmcneil]

You don't pay for your seeds or your cuttings, and you just walk around town taking them from plants you like?

[Happy Days]

Here we call it plant rustling. More specifically for roses, it's rose rustling.

[rainbowgardener]

Stealing.

However, I will say I have sometimes collected seeds from flowers in street plantings - you know the big planters they use to "landscape" streets? I figure it is public, paid for with my tax dollars, and just taking the seeds does not harm the plants/ plantings.

I have also dug up common wildflowers like ironweed from roadside edges, but only taking one or two from a stand.

I would never take ANYTHING from anyone's garden/property or from public park lands without specific permission.

[applestar]

Thanks to international participation on this forum, we have learned that in Ecuador, what you asked is perfectly OK. But asking permission from private owners is at least common courtesy, I think.

Sometimes, plants are endangered or protected, too, especially in National Parks, etc. It's also a good idea to wonder what the plants have been sprayed with, and also to KNOW what kind of plants you are touching in case of allergies, toxicity, etc.

[DoubleDogFarm]

I call it gleaning.

Eric

[Beecmcneil]

Theft? Oi. I'd be honored if someone saw my plants and wanted a cutting or seed pod. Oi. Seems we got a Scrooge here. But I guess we're all different. Mostly I've taken from local planters. And I only take what I'm familiar with.
Be happy,
Bee.

[digitS']

Different cultures have different ethical norms. There is acceptable behavior and unacceptable behavior and it is sometimes difficult to know what they are. It is always best to take the most conservative approach and hope that one still isn't seen as a deviant. Or, that forgiveness is freely given.

I once had the task of looking after the home of a friend thru several winter months. She had come from outside the US with her family about 25 years previous. Her husband had died and she wanted to stay with her son for a few months.

With me, on about a weekly basis, I would take the friend's sister. I was the one with the security code but had been only a casual visitor. The sister was there often but didn't drive on icy roads.

Once, I walked down the hall to use the bathroom. There on the counter was a handful of change. "What do you suppose that's there for?" I asked as we left.

"That's for us." I was told . . . .

I'm not driving these 40 miles for a couple quarters! "No, but she doesn't want to be selfish." I didn't laugh or ask her sister about it later. Should have. I'm sure that it would have helped with my cultural understanding.

Steve

[ElizabethB]

Like you I am often tempted by plants either in other folk's yards or in public places. I have often asked homeowners for permission to take cuttings, harvest seeds or collect roots from their gardens. Most folks are glad to share and feel complimented by my interest. I have to confess that I have taken cuttings from hanging baskets in restaurants without permission. Basically just be a good neighbor and ask. Gardeners like to share.

[applestar]

Hmmm.... I 'm still talking in terms of my own garden and not anyone else's, public or private, but.... I don't think it's a matter of being a "Scrooge"

For instance, when I prune, I cut one branch/shoot at a time, according to the way it's growing, the way I want it to grow, and the way the buds are forming. Different plants have different seasons to prune -- some because of blooming seasons, some because of risk of disease introduced from the cut during certain times of the year. For some plants, I sterilize the pruner after each cut.

Same goes for a hanging basket -- I turn and turn and clip here and there until I'm satisfied.

In the mailbox area along the sidewalk, I'm trimming volunteer wild fruit trees in a style called "step-over" -- you see the implication if people cut off what they wanted. In my neighborhood, I wouldn't expect anyone to do that, though animal damage is a possibility.

There is a generally accepted rule of thumb that you shouldn't take more than 1/3 of growth at a time because it could affect the plant's vigor -- not that one person would, but if everybody took one or two cutting....

All that said, if anyone asked me for a cutting of anything, by the time I'm done, I would have told them the best way to start the particular cutting(s) because I wouldn't just give one, best location to plant and grow, how to care for, and anything else I could think of. -- they would have to ask for a sheet of paper and something to write with to take notes as well.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, if someone asked me for seeds or cuttings, I would be complimented and would say yes, except for something rare or struggling.

But that is very different than if I looked out the window and saw some one just taking something, in which case I would go run them off and read them the riot act. (I would sic the dog on them if I had one! )

[Beecmcneil]

Well... Go ahead. Sic your dogs. I got my cat on the leash( yes, he walks on a leash). And he'll always protect me. But you know. I think I'll ask from now on. You make some good points.
Forgive me,
Bee

[cedillamuerta]

Most of the plants I'm interested in around here are considered "weeds", so I've never had trouble with anything other than strange looks when I harvest something. I did take a cutting from a Physalis growing in a nearby neighborhood but I highly doubt they were growing it on purpose (since it was only one plant and it was surrounded by weeds).

[Beecmcneil]

Isn't that also called a tomateo(sp?)?

[Beecmcneil]

I've seen that growing randomly out of a crack in the sidewalk by my apartment . And aren't they poisonous? Or have a lookalike that is poisonous?

[applestar]

Tomatillo ... But not necessarily.

[tomc]

Its best to ask. That said, sometimes you can't get there from here. Not a refusal per-se, but an utter lack of comprehension. By way of example.

The Union Ave. (in Laconia NH) KFC had a hedge of rosa rugosa. For several years running I would go into the chicken store and ask to pick rose hips. Every year I would approach a new assistant manager who would sputter.

"But, but we only sell legs and thighs. We don't have any hips".

I would then order a two piece meal and pick my hips after exiting...

[pow wow]

Two years ago while biking along the river, I noticed ivy geraniums in the hanging baskets the city puts out every spring. So I looked and looked on the internet for seeds for these particular ivys and couldn't find them. That fall just before the city was going to take down the baskets and toss them out, I made my move.
I rode down to the river and when I thought nobody was looking I rode under a basket grabbed a handful of geranium and shoved it in my pocket. The rest is history.

[tomf]

I would call it stealing.
Pow Wow I feel what you did is fine as they were going to toss them, you showed restraint by not taking them before hand.
Applestar you have a good point about wanting control over how you plants are trimmed, also if their clippers have a disease on them they could spread it to your plants. On our road we often give each other plants, and one neighbor has nursery stock and he told me to take what ever I want.
As far as some one trimming my trees and plants, it is the deer and some times elk, and they just do not care, I think they think I put every thing in just for them.
Bee I had a number of cats that we trained to walk on a leash, people sure give a second look when they see it.

[pow wow]

My buddy has a crazy neighbor lady who admits to creeping down the alleys at night, actually going into yards and stealing plants. If I was her neighbor I would put out flyers for the community to be on the watch for her at night.

[Beecmcneil]

Yeah. I do get some strange looks. One night some lady screeched when she saw him and FiNn got scared and puffed up and they just stood there looking at each other, he froze and she kept screeching and backed up into a wall. I picked him up and kept walking. I was like "geeze lady, it's just a cat on a leash..." He's been on a leash since we got him, we were homeless for the first six months we had him, we lived in a 12 passenger van. Now we have to take him everywhere. He has severe separation anxiety, and meows at the door if we leave him behind. He's a good boy.
Bee

[ElizabethB]

My Mother has many "pass along" plants in her yard. One is a peach Canna. Several years ago a woman rang her bell and inquired about her Cannas. The woman was on a committee restoring the gardens at the Shadows plantation in New Iberia, Louisiana. The original landscaping plans called for peach cannas. The committee had been searching for those plants for 2 years. They are strictly heirloom. Mom dug up some corms and now my maternal great grandmother's cannas are on display at the Shadows plantation.

Mom also has caster bean plants growing at the end of her driveway. She keeps seeds because folks stop and inquire about her beautiful plants on a weekly basis. On the other front corner of her lot she has a stuning confederate rose that she keeps seeds from.

When I see something beautiful I never hesitate to ask a homeowner for seeds or cuttings. Most folks are glad to share.

Public property is another issue. If it is a state or federal park then you can not take plants out. If plants are growing in public spaces then go for it. Your tax dollars pay for it. Just be considerate and take only small potions. I am bad - I pinch cuttings from hanging baskets in restaurants and stuff them in my purse.

[Beecmcneil]

Your majesty, does your mother also keep the castor bean seeds to poison people who steal her plants?
Only kidding.
Bee

[rainbowgardener]

I don't steal plants, but I do drive around and "steal" the yard waste bags full of fall leaves that people put out on the curb for pickup, to take home for my compost pile. Drive around under cover of darkness, stop next to some bags, leap out and stuff them in my trunk, and zoom off!

[Beecmcneil]

That's grand

[Charlie MV]

I don't steal plants, but I do drive around and "steal" the yard waste bags full of fall leaves that people put out on the curb for pickup, to take home for my compost pile. Drive around under cover of darkness, stop next to some bags, leap out and stuff them in my trunk, and zoom off!

So it was you who drove off with those 6 bags of Styrofoam peanuts we put out the other day?

[ElizabethB]

Ya know castor bean plants are stunning. Just don't eat them. KKeep the seeds to give away because you will be asked for them.

I may have to consider keeping some and making a tea for encounters with real a**h****. HMMM Good idea.

[Beecmcneil]

Red rum, anyone?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Red rum, anyone?

Tony, I'm scared.

Remember what Mr. Halloran said,

Eric

[Cola82]

I once stopped on the way home from school once when I was 14 to knock on a door of a house I always passed to ask about the big pretty clovers in her garden. She actually sent me home with a pot of oxalis that I treasured for several years.

Two years ago, I was doing political canvassing and that house was on my list, but the people who lived there hadn't been there that long. One of those things about growing up.

Anyway... I'm in the "always ask" category. I know they say it's always easier to ask forgiveness than permission, but I think we're all more enriched by the connections we make with one another than by the things we can take from each other.

[tomf]

I once stopped on the way home from school once when I was 14 to knock on a door of a house I always passed to ask about the big pretty clovers in her garden. She actually sent me home with a pot of oxalis that I treasured for several years.

Two years ago, I was doing political canvassing and that house was on my list, but the people who lived there hadn't been there that long. One of those things about growing up.

Anyway... I'm in the "always ask" category. I know they say it's always easier to ask forgiveness than permission, but I think we're all more enriched by the connections we make with one another than by the things we can take from each other.

It is good to see polite people.

[Green Mantis]

I have gotten seeds off of tall hollyhocks, hanging over someones fence,
in back alleys.

Have also dug up the odd wild plant from the side of rural roads.

But I never take them all. Only one or two.

Also some of these plants are considered weeds, but they sure are pretty.

But would never take anything out of someone's garden, without asking.

Bagged leaves on the sidewalks are fair game though.