Plant thefts continue in Boroondara

Plants, including a bonsai and roses, are continuing to disappear from gardens in Kew and police believe the thefts could be even more widespread — with one witness account revealing an unlikely culprit.

A spate of plant thefts from public parks and private garden beds could point to a larger issue, police say.

More plants have been stolen from gardens in Boroondara with one witness report suggesting opportunistic elderly people could be to blame.

Boroondara Leading Senior Constable Elizabeth Sinclair said two thefts from homeowners’ private yards were reported to police in the past two months, but other offences may have been committed and the crime was largely under reported.

The thefts, while often small, were still a crime, and the culprits could face a fine of up to $24,000 and two years in jail, she said.

A bonsai plant was stolen from a victim’s front step in Gellibrand St, Kew, in late August, while last month two large flower pots containing rose plants were swiped from the front yard of a home in Queens St.

The incidents follow repeated thefts of plants from public parks across the municipality in the past two years, including 20 star jasmines uprooted from garden beds at the Read Gardens in Camberwell.

Salvia flowers were also torn out at Canterbury Gardens, according to Boroondara Council, while $200 worth of plants suspiciously disappeared from the Boroondara Leisure Centre.

Leading Senior-Constable Sinclair said police were unable to establish links between any of the offences, however often the thefts tended to occur under the cover of darkness.

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One witness reported CCTV footage of an elderly lady believed to be aged in her 80s stealing flowers from their yard, and Sen-Constable Sinclair said more often than not the plants were probably replanted in the thief’s yard or sold at a school fair or car boot sale.

“It could be just someone around the corner who’s looked at it and thought ‘I like the look of that’,” Sen-Constable Sinclair said.

Garden ornaments such as water fountains had also fallen prey to sticky fingers, and she suggested homeowners install security cameras to keep watch over their front yards.

She also encouraged victims to report the crimes to police because the intelligence could help them establish the true prevalence of the issue as well as any possible links.