A coincidence or something more!

TarvinOnline recently had an email regarding damage to some flowers a resident planted on a verge near her house in Tarvin. Rather unpleasantly she had also received an anonymous note saying that as the verge was publicly owned she should desist!
Imagine my surprise when I opened the June Parish Magazine today to read about crocus bulbs being removed from the Churchyard by persons/animals unknown! How strange that two such separate but similar events should have occurred in our village at the same time. Do have a read of the Parish Magazine article and see what you make of it.

I have put the main parts of the email we received below:

"I moved to Stapleford in 2016 and not long after I moved in I spent one Sunday clearing and planting fifty daffodil bulbs on unattended flower beds outside our house that were full of weeds. This was just for the enjoyment of the whole area and to 'lift' the environment to make it a more pleasant place to live for the whole community. As the flower beds were adjacent to the walls of my house and although I knew they weren't mine I thought it my duty to remove the weeds and make it look tidy.

Anyway, within a week of clearing and tidying I received a unsigned letter from 'a concerned neighbour' asking me not to do anything to the land that was officially public highway and not my land. As you can imagine I felt upset as I had only been trying to make what looked like unloved flowerbeds pretty. The 'concerned neighbour' was worried the highways department would ask me to move them.

When the bulbs were due to come up I noticed every single one had been taken out and those that were left had had the heads chopped off. I then cleared a bit more of the nettles by the entrance of our driveway and planted a rose to climb up the wall -- this was also cut down. Needless to say the beds are still a mess although the mysterious neighbour luckily doesn't mind the poppies planted and that I added to. I must say I haven't continued to plant/tidy as it appears that this person is insistent.

The reason for my letter is because I understand a new neighbour recently in Stapleford also tried to brighten up their grass verge outside their house. They planted small daffodils and primroses along Broomheath Lane which looked lovely. Unfortunately, those plants suffered the same fate as mine with the primroses under the Broomheath Lane sign being removed completely. The neighbour had a note to say don't plant and it's not your land. This neighbour has kindly already planted some new plants to see whether these will also be taken.

So please could the mysterious Stapleford plant thief desist from the removal of plants which are only their to enhance the conservation area and for the enjoyment of all. We are just trying to make the area look nice! "
ED: Well should we be able to do this "free planting" or not? I can think of several public grassy areas in Tarvin where residents have planted bulbs and lovely they look in the Spring. What do you think?