Having an affinity for rare plants has its perks. One, you’ll be the envy of your fellow plant lovers. They’ll talk about your collection of rare and exotic plants. Two, you’ll be the “expert” of something that you can even blog about it and earn a living. Three, your garden will be unlike any. You might even find yourself featured in blogs, TV shows, and the like. But with this fondness for rare plants comes the inevitable: you might also fall victim to thieves and burglars and the occasional nosy neighbor who may think, “it’s just a plant.”
Many people don’t realize that the plant they are “taking” has sentimental value to you. And that value is not tied to someone important giving that rare plant to you as a gift. Instead, it’s the time that you’ve poured into taking care of the plants that makes it more valuable to you. How many people can say that they’ve invested great amounts of time and money in their garden?
That’s why you shouldn’t only know how to take care of the plants. You should also know how to protect them from thieves, unforeseen circumstances, weather disturbances, and extreme climates. They pose a danger to your garden and to these plants that you take care of as if they are your kids.
Have a Secure Place for Them
Most rare plants such as Bat Flower and Blue Night Sky Petunias will also do well indoors. So, make it a point to take them in a shed at night. This way, no passerby can be tempted to take them. But what if you do not have a large enough garden shed to lock them in? You can always use the garage. Instead of filling the space up with bolts, nuts, and old holiday decorations, why not dedicate a portion of the garage for your rare plants?
Just make sure that the garage is secure. If needed, call a garage door repair company to install a new lock or bolt. They will even offer an automated alarm system. Go for it if you have the money. If you do not have a garage or extra space there, then be ready to use your living room for your plants.
Light up the Garden
Don’t forget to install all kinds of lights in the garden—solar-powered ones that stick out from the soil, motion detectors that light when something moves, and path lights that turn on when someone passes by. If you light your garden properly, that will deter burglars, thieves, and other criminals. It might even turn away the occasional nosy neighbor who likes to poke at your plants.
Prepare for Cold Weather
Many plants thrive even during winter but for those that don’t, what are you going to do with them? The most popular answer is to bring them inside. But what if you can’t accommodate that many plants inside your house? Experts will tell you to let some species wither away because they’ll grow back up once the weather returns to normal. Plants are incredibly magical in a way that their bodies know when it is time to “rest” (during winter) and when it is time to thrive again (during spring and summer).
Start a Greenhouse
If you have a large space in your yard, the most obvious answer to the question of how to protect your rare plants from foul weather and unscrupulous individuals is to build a greenhouse. You can lock the greenhouse at night to make sure that no one can steal a single pot from it. The greenhouse is temperature-controlled, which means that these rare plants can thrive regardless of the weather outside.
Be Careful of Whom You Share Info With
You love to post about your exotic plants on social media. That’s okay, but make sure you’re not posting your address, too. While your friends and acquaintances might know where you see these rare plants, it’s no use telling strangers over the internet how they can see these plants. You can’t just easily trust anyone these days, least of all people you haven’t met in person. Who knows what kind of information they are trying to get from you?
Rare plants cost thousands of dollars. For someone like you who took the time and money to care for them, they might even be valued more than their actual cost. So, take time to figure out how to protect and secure them from the weather and from individuals who think they can just take a pot like that.
