Balboa Park Losing Its Green Look : Thefts of Plants on the Rise; Valuable Specimens Taken

In the spring a gardener’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of planting, and that means trouble for Balboa Park, where plant thieves are causing havoc.

The park has been the target of hundreds of plant thefts in recent weeks, costing the city thousands of dollars.

Park officials say they have noticed a pattern of spring thefts but are helpless to stop them and furious over the loss.

“It’s a public park open for 24 hours for the public to see,” said Janine Anderson, maintenance supervisor, “and it keeps the rest of the public from enjoying the plants.”

Balboa Park Manager Marcia McLatchy said thieves who target the park’s gardens have a lasting effect in two ways: “For one, the beauty of the park is affected. Two is the enjoyment of the citizens who come to see the many variety of palms, of roses, of cactus. We’re not able to replace all the plants.”

Many Locations Hit

Palms in the Palm Arboretum, roses in the Rose Garden, cactuses in the Desert Garden and the more common small plants in the Alcaraz Garden have been stolen in the last two months. Anderson said the Desert and Alcaraz gardens have taken the brunt of the thefts.

Michael Burgoon, 39, a grounds maintenance worker primarily responsible for the Palm Arboretum, pointed to an area where someone unearthed a couple of blue palms and where the roots of another protrude.

“The person doing this has a pretty good selection,” Burgoon said. “The person really doesn’t dig the plants out of here. They end up breaking them off. That’s what gets me mad. I’d rather have them steal them . . . than damage them.”

Paul Seiley, 34, a grounds maintenance worker for nine years, walked into the Alcazar Garden where multicolored flowers were blooming in the spring sunshine. He wasn’t happy.

“I can’t remember this much theft occurring at a much concentrated period of time,” Seiley said, peering from under a green pith helmet. “I replant them, and they come back and rip them off.”

Seiley said he recently planted purple pansies and orange Iceland flowers in a round concrete container. Some are blooming nicely but other spots revealed only bare soil.

“This is the way they’re supposed to look,” Seiley said, pointing to untouched plants.

Since November, thieves have taken seven cactuses, including three rare Pachypodium Geayi cactuses that exist primarily on the island of Madagascar. One of them was over five feet high, McLatchy said.

Park maintenance workers said the seven cactuses were worth about $2,000.

A variety of palms, 17 in all, were removed from the large Palm Auditorium. They were valued about $25 each.

Last weekend, four rose bushes, each worth about $13, were stolen from the Rose Garden. Most of the rose bushes are donated to the park.

It is Alcazar Garden, which contains some of the more inexpensive household plants, that has taken the brunt of the plant burglaries. Thieves made off with 40 plants last weekend. Seiley said that on another occasion thieves carefully removed about 40 plants and left the design of a swastika in the Calendula Garden.

Park officials have asked for more security patrols in the areas where the rash of plant thefts have taken place.

“From the very first time, we notified police and asked for additional surveillance,” McLatchy said. “I don’t know what more could be done or what more we could do especially when you have (a) . . . park that’s open 24 hours a day.”

San Diego Police Sgt. Larry Miller said detectives have no suspects or leads.

All police and park officials know is that the thefts generally occur on the weekends sometime between 3:30 p.m. when the maintenance workers leave and when they return to their morning duties to find the plants missing.