Woman Takes Clippings From Gardener's Yard Without Asking: 'This Is Not OK, Right?'

If you have a garden, you know how much time and effort it takes to grow beautiful blooms. The last thing you want is someone stealing a piece of your hard work right before your eyes—especially without asking.

One gardener shared her encounter with a woman pulling up to her property with gardening gloves and proceeding to steal a clipping right from her yard on Reddit. "I'm new to gardening, but this is not OK, right? It was from an ivy like plant that grows abundantly in my front yard, but don't think that should matter," they wrote. "I went outside and confronted her and she seemed shocked but left right away. I would assume the right thing to do would be to simply knock and ask first?"

The gardener turned to Reddit to see what others thought about the situation.

Redditors flooded the comment section of the post, sharing their thoughts on the proper etiquette regarding taking clippings from someone else's garden. "This is one of those things where I'd be absolutely delighted to give them away if asked and infuriated if I caught someone doing it without permission," one person wrote. The gardener responded: "Exactly!...I think this is why I'm like morally confused. If she would have asked it would have been totally fine."

Other users shared similar experiences they've had with neighbors and strangers stealing clippings from them for propagation. "Same thing happened to us. Someone drove up and had scissors taking clippings of our plants," one person wrote. "We confronted her right away to let her know we were watching and that we would prefer she ask to make sure it doesn’t damage the plant. She seemed shocked like she felt entitled to it. A super weird interaction."

Whether it be a friendly neighbor or a stranger, it is proper gardening etiquette to ask before taking flower clippings from someone else's garden. It might even be illegal if it's a patented plant.