To think that it's not ok to pick the flowers

[GiveMeShade]

I live on a street that has trees dotted along the pavements. There is a tree immediately outside my house. Like some of the other residents on the street, I have planted flowers around the base of the tree. It looks lovely and I think helps to make the road look loved and cared for by the people that live there.

Just now I was tidying in my front living room and saw a woman with a little boy knelt down by the tree in front of my house. The boy started picking some of the flowers and then they started to walk off. I went to the door, said "excuse me, your son has just picked the flowers that I've planted". The woman said she was sorry but she didn't think they belonged to anyone, her son wanted to pick the flowers so she said he could.

I responded that surely she knew that someone would have planted them and asked why was she letting her son pick flowers that someone has taken the time to enjoy. She shrugged and said she lets her son pick flowers and again that she didn't think they were anyone's.

I think this is a really weird attitude. It's a small thing but in planting those flowers I've tried to make this little patch of land look nice, for anyone walking past to enjoy and it pisses me off that this woman is teaching her kid that it's ok to pick the flowers (no doubt to be dropped on the ground and forgotten about 2 minutes later).

BTW, I am well aware that this land doesn't belong to me, but in the same way that people hopefully wouldn't let their kids pick flowers from a park or some other public land where flowers have been planted for everyone's enjoyment, I don't think it's ok to do the same in this situation.

Oh and butter cups! I didn't know they were weeds!

But not all flowers growing at the side of the road (or in the countryside) are planted.
I wouldn't let DC pick flowers in a park, from a garden or from a display but daisies, bluebells, dandelions - yes. I don't know if small flowers at the base of a tree would obviously look like they fell into the former and not the latter.

The trees along the roadside don't belong to you and once you plant flowers around them neither do the flowers.

Yes, but they don't belong to the mother and child either. They belong to everyone. You don't take the birdbath home from the park.

In Peppa Pig (I know, I know) they teach that you never pick flowers from flower beds, only from the grass, ie daisies, dandelions and clover. I think that's a pretty easy distinction for even small children to make.

Wrong, self-entitled & rude to pick other people's or "public" flowers. Same for wildflowers, but without the rude. Egg-collecting anyone? Poaching? Don't worry if it's a rare species, as long as you have your precious egg / orchid / tiger penis / whatever.

Daffodils are poisonous, as are many other flowering plants. Lots of children suck their thumbs, eat without washing their hands etc.

Am astonished at the amount of people who don't think it's wrong to pick flowers from anywhere except their own gardens.

Lots of people don't have their own gardens bee Are we really banning picking daisies from the park? Are making wishes on dandelion clocks a thing of the past? Or are they only reserved for families who can afford a house with a private garden

Surely if you want to cultivate a child's interest in nature, it would be a very good thing to teach them not to pick flowers. It's also good to teach them they're not entitled to things just because they want them!

APlaceOnTheCouch No one is trying to stop children making a daisy chain at the park, but dandelions and daisies are not flowers. They are not cultivated flowers that someone has spent time on for everyone to enjoy, and they are not wild flowers that need to set seed so there are more next year.

Dont pick the flowers. Its rude.

I'm amazed how upset people get about picking flowers guess I have different priorities

Jellybelli put it better than I did!

I think it's possible to have a range of priorities and still avoid being totally selfish in regards to nature and wildlife, actually.

YANBU. I've taught my DDs the saying 'take only memories, leave only footprints'. The exceptions are daisies and buttercups from our lawn or at grandparents' where they can make daisy chains etc. Good for you for saying something OP.

Jelli I don't pick cultivated flowers and neither do my DCs. If you're going to reference me then at least read all my posts.

Egg-collecting anyone? Poaching?

Exactly!

I loathe seeing picked flowers that have then been discarded and left on the street or on woodland paths. What was the point in picking them? They will never have looked as beautiful anywhere as where they were when they were growing.

I'm amazed how upset people get about picking flowers hmm guess I have different priorities

People picking flowers are in the same cateory as those dropping litter, they are vandalising public space. (Although picking flowers is far worse, as the litter problem can be reversed quickly, albeit at public expense.)

Flowers obviously planted in a council park or roundabout, I would not pick.
Flowers growing randomly at the side of the road or base of a tree I would have no problem with a young child picking them. Just put a sign up saying "Do Not Pick The Flowers". Its not a big deal.

YABU to berate the mother, the flowers were not on your property.

What was the point in picking them? They will never have looked as beautiful anywhere as where they were when they were growing.

Lying you've put it much better than I could, I completely agree with what you've said.

Heartened to see how many other people wouldn't pick flowers.

YANBU. The only place people should be picking flowers from is their own garden. Flowers in public spaces, whether wild or cultivated, should be left alone - they're for everyone and it's selfish to take them home for yourself.

Fine for little kids to pick daisies and dandelions or whatever, but that's about it.

We have a nursing home in our village with a communal living room area that looks out over the roadside and a verge which is planted with daffodils and other wildflowers. The residents love looking out at these flowers -the daffs in particular look lovely when they come out. A few years back someone/people picked probably 70% over a few days. Why does their desire to pick flowers trump the enjoyment of others wanting to look at them and leave them where they are growing? It's so bloody selfish.

If it was out in the countryside, off the beaten track and there were a lot of wild flowers then I don't think picking one or two is a problem because there would only be one or two folk around to do the same. In a park, down a street, on a roundabout etc then no because chances are they've been planted specifically with a cost attached. Likewise if they're wild flowers but somewhere that a reasonable number of folk go because they could be decimated.
Daisies and dandelions are an exception because they grow everywhere however hard to try to get rid!

But why should a sign have to be put up to stop people picking? I can't understand why people would think it was totally fine to pick flowers they see at the base of a tree by the side of the road. WHY do you think it's ok for them to be picked? They don't magically just grow another flower on top of the picked stem overnight, you know.

Supermummy as I mentioned up thread, they have very obviously been planted by someone. This pic (if I've attached properly) is not the tree but gives you an idea of what I mean.

This thread reminded me of this cartoon. Some people are just selfish and dont give a toss.

Really selfish, rude and ignorant. No doubt she lets him pick bluebells from woods too.