Jarrell’s specialty plant shop, Potted Elephant, had suffered a fate experienced by a small but growing number of nurseries, shops and botanical gardens in the wake of the booming specialty plant market: unscrupulous collectors and sellers pilfering cuttings (and sometimes, entire plants) without permission in order to resell online and net a profit.
At Potted Elephant, the thief cut tendrils of philodendron, variegated monstera and scindapsus from live plants in his greenhouse – some from Jarrell’s personal collection of rare plants. Jarrell, who had taken attendees on a tour of the greenhouse, happened to notice a cutting missing from a plant, just after the last person had walked out.
He confronted the thief and could not believe his eyes when she opened her bag: “There was just a pile of cuttings in her bag.” Jarrell called Portland police, then had to walk back inside his greenhouse and sit down, in shock.
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