AITA for making a punny “wall of shame” for people who stole from my mom’s garden?

An individual chose to protect their mother’s garden from plant pilferers by creating a funny “wall of shame.” It displayed images of the offenders, captured by a dashcam, alongside witty captions such as “Mr. Potato Head” and “Dirt-Bag.” Although the mother was amused, some neighbors – especially those whose relatives were pictured – are displeased, arguing that it is excessive and humiliating.

‘ AITA for making a punny “wall of shame” for people who stole from my mom’s garden?’

My mother has a serious passion for gardening, but on occasion, people have trespassed onto her property and taken things like potted plants, lawn ornaments, and even entire bulbs along with the plants. Once someone even cut all the roses from her rose bushes, probably because they didn’t want to spend the money at a flower shop.

Anyway my dash cam of my car which I park in the driveway near the garden bed caught most all of them close up and as a way to help my mom not have her plants stolen I printed all their pictures out and made a poster that said
“Oh Hay there! Don’t be a Daffy-dil and steal, or else you might end up doing hard Thyme! We hope Thistle be a lesson to Yew!

And I put the pictures of everyone stealing from the garden around the border. Also gave each person a funny fake name : “mr potato head” “dill-a-tante” “pothead” “p**ck” ‘Succ-er” ” i peony in my pants” “frond-less” ‘dirt-bag’ ‘in-fertile” and “root boy”. I thought it was funny and cutesy, like how can you be offended with dumb plant puns… My mom thought it was hilarious and wanted me to hang it up because she was sick of seeing stuff stolen.

But I got a couple complains, one neighbor said I needed to take it down because I had a picture of his son a minor who did something dumb yes but was just trying to bring his sick girlfriend flowers. And that is was disproportionate and rude to publicly shame him. I told him that it wasn’t that big of a deal and he told me that I was being petty. I called his kid a little Birch which pissed him off and honestly might of been petty.

TheRealDealHolyfield:

Someone else showed up at our place to give back a clipping that his wife had, without permission, snipped to propagate, thinking it was harmless. But, it did hurt the plant since she lopped off about 25% of it. Then, he wondered if we could remove the sign because she held some position, like on the town’s board, or something. My mom was the one who answered the door and basically told him to get lost.

They probably are acquainted, and now both families are irritated. Would I be wrong to create a childish sign regarding individuals taking from my mother’s garden, with the intention of discouraging them?

Here’s what the community had to contribute:

the_spacemambo −  NTA. These people STOLE. That’s a CRIME. And instead of pressing charges or whatever you have created something TRULY DELIGHTFUL. (I wish I were half as clever as you because I’d come up with a pun of my own.)
Not only are you not an a**hole, you’re also my hero.

HeyAnnieAreYouOK −  NTA. If they don’t like it, they can get clover it.

athshe2 −  NTA. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the thyme!

RamenNoodles620 −  NTA. This sounds like a hilarious way to call people out for stealing from someone’s property. Sounds like some of these people are ruining the garden and not just taking a flower here and there. To the parent complaining about his sons picture being there, he should have his son apologize to your mom in order to get his picture down.

Perhaps the son could present your mom with flowers – which you could provide if he’s unable to get them himself – as a gesture of genuine remorse. It’s somewhat amusing that the focus is immediately on public embarrassment rather than instructing him not to steal. I suspect your mom wouldn’t have objected if he had simply asked for a few flowers for his ailing girlfriend.

ForkAKnife −  NTA. I think this is boss. A local video store used to have a wall of shame for people who never returned videos and it was pretty good prevention for me at least. Has anyone who didn’t steal from you complain about it?

Delicious_Lobster468 −  NTA, but I would sit with your mum and discuss how to get off the wall of shame. Is it after some period of time? An apology and compensation? Etc. So when people come to ask to be removed you can explain the process.

CrazySpoon97 −  I’d say NTA, I’m assuming these are adults who know better than to steal that are being shamed? Also regarding the guy’s kid who’s a minor, he should be teaching his child not to steal it doesn’t matter if it was just flowers he shouldn’t have touched them.

Cassy0827 −  NTA because they literally STOLE from you guys. To take proper cuttings or to take the roses, you need some tools of sorts which requires the forethought of “I’m taking something that isn’t mine without permission.” Stores in my area have a “board of beer shame” of those who either stole or attempted to steal alcohol so it’s not like this is a new idea, although you’re puns were great. Besides, who brings back a useless chunk of a plant they stole? What did they expect, that you’d just gorilla glue that baby back on?

[Reddit User] −  NTA. . . . but bordering on ESH. At the point that someone apologizes and tries to make it right, especially if it’s a kid, you should probably take it down, especially if it was a cutting and not stealing a whole ass potted plant. But it doesn’t sound like these people were particularly apologetic, just demanding, so they can eff off. If I were you and your mom, I’d tell the kid he can work it off with an hour of work in the garden, and the adult that she can bring a full and healthy new plant to replace the one she damaged, and then take them down.

angela-panda −  NTA. The sign is hilarious! These people are stealing and this sounds like it’s definitely going to stop them.