OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The Dundee Community Garden is full of color, fresh flowers, and produce, but recently, a few empty spots have appeared where plants should be, but someone has been stealing them. One neighbor says it's frustrating, urging others to step in if they see something.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Take a pinch or a handful, this community garden in Dundee has that resource in the front neighbor garden section.
"I think that is really important, and it is nice to be able to tell people there is an area where they can help themselves,” said Mary Green, head of the Dundee Community Garden.
But Green says someone has been taking even more than what is offered.
“I had planted six of these lovely salvia plants, and there is one left. I guess five of them were dug up this spring,” Green said.
A basil and parsley plant were also taken, plus a few other plants.
“This is another bare spot where we had a beautiful liatris growing," Green said.
Green says theft has been an issue for years, even hearing it from other gardens. They added signs just last year in the private plot section to make it clear not to pick there.
“It’s frustrating because I put in hours every week just trying to make this a beautiful, welcoming place for the neighborhood," Green said. "When people dig up the parsley plant or the basil plant, then it is not there for the rest of the neighborhood to help themselves to.”
The garden has been a part of the neighborhood since 2009. Green says she doesn’t know when the theft is happening or who is doing it, reminding the community:
“Please come and enjoy the garden, but just look and don’t take the plants,” Green said.
So it can continue to be a place to grow, connect, share, and even take, just not the whole plant.
Green encourages her neighbors and others in the area to keep an eye on the garden to protect it for years to come.
