So sad. Someone is picking my daffodils :(

[Plantjungle]

Hello,

i just really needed to vent about this somewhere. I’ve told a couple of friends but really I know people have bigger life problems going on so I don’t want to go on about it… But I thought some like-minded gardeners may understand.

i have been gardening in my block’s communal garden. On the weekend I was out mulching some of the beds and I kept seeing that the patches of daffodils had a cut or broken off stem right at the bottom. I had benefit of doubt at first. Maybe they had broken off in the wind. Or gone over and someone had tidied them up?

On Sunday afternoon there was still one patch in perfect bloom, but by the morning they had also been cut and taken.

I’ve put a little wooden stick with ‘please do not pick’ written on it, and stuck it in final patch of daffs that are just in bud.

I’m so sad, and this morning when I left my flat I felt like I wanted to cry, and then I felt rage! And the thing is I’ve started gardening to benefit my mental health. It’s something that I’m passionate about. I also want to cheer the place up for other residents.

I just really needed to write this out and hopefully get a bit of encouragement to carry on…

To each their own, but your rules for children are pretty sad to my mind and not an approach I will be taking with my children. I encourage my children to interact with nature, including picking flowers within appropriate boundaries. Flowers aren’t just something pretty to look at, they are an important part of our ecosystem and I would like to encourage hands on curiosity from my children . Obviously they are not allowed to pick from private gardens or formal public planting schemes, but an informal communal spot is a bit of a grey area. Would you seriously never allow a child to pick a daisy?

I mean, making a daisy chain when they are truly abundant in summer, even I can’t argue that but on the whole, buy them to dissect and investigate. Dont pick them. All these spaces are wee beasties homes they don’t need us adding to their woes.

take nothing and leave nothing but footprints.

If you aren’t doing them already wildlife trust do fantastic holiday courses for children to engage with nature in all sorts of ways. They really are fantastic

You have already said that you tell your child not to and they pick them anyway. I think your rules are pretty sad and it would seem ineffectual to my mind. Communal areas are communal areas not grey areas, so by definition for the enjoyment of all, not just for some DC who can't take instruction.

@FatherFrosty i don’t need to send my children on a ‘course’ to engage with nature. We are fortunate to live in a rural area with an abundance of wildlife and nature, including daffodils by the thousands - maybe if I lived somewhere where flowers were a scarcity I would feel differently? But by the same token I feel sad for children who don’t have their own gardens and might only have access to communal plots - are flowers always look but don’t touch for those children?

and the idea that you would buy flowers to dissect - think of the carbon footprint of buying them from the supermarket vs, picking a flower on a grassy verge! Is that really leaving nothing but footprints?

But enjoyment for all requires an acceptance that different people experience the space in different ways. Communal spaces should be oriented not just for looking, but for touch and small and taste as well.

What utter bullshit. Teach them to pick flowers on your own property, not from community property or in nature where wildlife need them.

Right, let’s campaign against daisy chains and buttercup picking 😂

And nowhere have I said they pick where they explicitly aren’t allowed. Judging by the number of gardeners sharing photos of daffodil’s bouquets, plenty of us are picking our own, which is exactly what my children are doing - the challenge is that as an adult I might manage my cutting a bit differently to balance competing desires for outdoor and indoor display. With children involved they sometimes overpick certain areas, but to my mind that is a normal loss - much the same way wildlife or weather foil my plans for certain plants.

Total nonsense and selfish. You can enjoy something and leave it for other people to enjoy too. No need to pluck it. Get your children sensory experiences in other ways and have them leave the flowers alone.

Or let's campaign against parents not enforcing appropriate boundaries.

Agree to disagree - I personally think it quite selfish that you insist flowers can only be enjoyed ‘your’ way.

feel free to petition the government to declare daisy chains a public offence 😂

We are talking daffodils not tiny daisies. Stop minimising. My way of enjoying daffodils in communal places is leaving them there for all. How radical of me! Maybe you need to realise there are more people in the world to consider than your precious children.

What penalty would you impose for picking a buttercup?

See previous post regarding minimising.

There are literally thousands of daffodils out now where I am - every verge and roadside are heaving with them. There is a reason you can get a whole bunch from Tesco’s for £1 - it isn’t exactly a rarity.