IGC Hit with Theft

Ellen C. Wells

Wayne’s Nursery & Landscape Greenhouses & Garden Center in Stacy, Minnesota, was broken into over Memorial Day weekend. According to local station KARE11, someone (or multiple someones) broke in sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning and made off with nine plants. Making off with so few plants seems odd to me, but one of those nine was a large pink orchid cactus that owner Wayne Haslach used as a stock plant.

Wayne told KARE11 that the plant left pink blooms behind as the thieves carried it from the greenhouse. Where the blooms stopped appearing on the ground is where the getaway vehicle must have been parked. (Very Hansel and Gretel.)

Thievery is nothing new at Wayne’s. The IGC is hit about three times each year, Wayne told the station. But taking a stock plant, well, that’s like stealing future profits. The online response via Facebook has been “unbelievable,” Wayne said. Two folks offered up their own orchid cacti for Wayne’s stock plant needs, which is a really nice sentiment.

Have you been hit by thieves recently? Or do you have systems in place that make potential burglars think twice before acting on their malicious behavior? Drop me a line about it at ewells@ballpublishing.com. GP