Notes to Editors
*Survey of 2,000 UK respondents conducted via 3Gem, June 2025

Article: Does home insurance cover your garden? advice from Allianz. 

Top tips for protecting your garden this summer by Dr. Leroy Logan MBE

Out of Sight, Out of Trouble

Store your most valuable plants and garden ornaments in the back garden, away from prying eyes. Thieves are often opportunistic and go for quick wins— so don’t make it easy for them. More exotic plants and trees can be a magnet for thieves so keeping these out of public view is smart security. Simple steps like fencing, shrubs, or trellis screening can help reduce visibility from the street and keep your garden safe.

Natural Defences That Fight Back

Plant thorny hedges like hawthorn or pyracantha around vulnerable gates, low fences and other access points.. These don’t just look good — they work hard too, acting as a natural burglar deterrent. Look to the earth for support, using soil-based potting mix rather than compost in containers - this makes your pots twice as heavy and harder to steal. 

Make Some Noise

Lay down gravel paths or bark chips that crunch underfoot around key areas of your garden. These materials may seem like a simple gardening choice but in rural and suburban settings, this simple, and cost-effective, step can alert you, or your dog, when someone is approaching, making it harder for thieves to sneak around quietly.

Plan Your Planting

Newly planted plants and trees can be a magnet for thieves — especially prized or ornamental varieties. While still settling into the soil, they can be lifted in seconds, often vanishing before you've even had a chance to mulch them. To stay one step ahead, consider planting in winter when they are dormant. They're less likely to catch a thief’s eye — no flashy foliage, no obvious new growth — just a quiet start for what will become a garden standout come spring.

Sow and Grow

A clever security tip is to sow your lawn from seed. Unlike rolls of turf, no one’s going to be able to walk off with it — it's simply not stealable once it's in the ground. Best of all, it can cost a fraction of the cost of turf — and it’s as simple as scatter, rake, and wait.

Tag It to Track It

A lesser known trick is to use a UV pen or plant-safe forensic liquid to mark valuables with your postcode. This creates a trackable link to you and your plants should you ever need to produce proof of ownership. Always photograph rare plants or tools and keep a log, so you can act fast if something goes missing – this will be a great asset for the police if they need to get involved.

Watchful Neighbours Work Wonders

You can’t watch your gardens 24 hours a day so enlist the help of your neighbours. Set up a Garden Watch to keep your neighbourhood safe. Community eyes are one of the strongest deterrents to garden theft. Also, if something rare is stolen, let your local garden centre or horticultural society know. These tight-knit groups often spot when unusual plants are being sold on.

Plants most at risk of theft this summer by James Wong

1) Japanese Maple Trees 

Characterised by their intense autumnal colours and beautifully shaped foliage, these stunning trees are a great way of making a statement in any garden. At full maturity they can be worth thousands of pounds, so housing one of these in an easy to pinch plant pot could put your tree at risk.

2) Peonies

Notoriously slow-growing and tricky to propagate, Peonies are some of the highest cost flowers for nurseries to produce. Add to that the collectors craze for unusual varieties and some rare forms can sell for over £200 (even well over £100 for a packet of dormant roots!).

3) Variegated Monstera 

These plants have experienced a bit of an economic bubble in recent years, with individual cuttings once selling for thousands online during lockdown. While the truly eye-watering prices may be a thing of the past, a metre-high specimen can still be worth well over £500. Something to think twice about before sitting your houseplants out for the summer!

4) Lemon Trees

Warmer year-round temperatures over the past few years have meant some British gardens now have a more Mediterranean vibe with lemon, orange and lime trees being grown. These trees, easily recognisable by their colourful fruit, retail for as much as £950, making them targets for opportunistic thieves - whether that be the whole tree, or swiping fruit for a slice with ice in a G&T!

5) Bonsai

Mr Miyagi wasn’t wrong when he taught Daniel the value of the Bonsai - these are probably the most valuable outdoor plant in terms of resale value per kilo of weight. A 50 year old Bonsai could be worth £5,000, and with the average tree standing just 50 centimetres tall these can be easily lifted by passing thieves.

6) Newly-Planted Trees

These often fall foul of burglaries as they can be easily swiped from gardens before their roots take hold (especially if they’re smaller specimens.) Young trees like Magnolia grandiflora and Arbutus unedo are particularly at risk due to their light weight nature and high resale prices.

7) Tasmanian tree Ferns 

These are often sold without their original roots, meaning opportunistic thieves can sneakily clip a cutting and make a killing. What's more, they can be worth as much as £100 for every foot they grow.

8) Windmill Palms 

No other tree brings more holiday aesthetic, but in British climes these can take decades to grow to a decent size. Smaller palm trees are usually found in containers and can retail for over £1000, making them a prime target for thieves. 

9) Olive Trees

These stunning, high value trees can live for hundreds of years, but often start life in small, swipable plant pots. These are traditionally a popular choice for displaying in front gardens, making them easily accessible for green-fingered thieves.

10) Designer hydrangeas 

Once upon a time, those old-school ‘swimming cap’ hydrangeas your grandma had were as cheap as they were ubiquitous. However, these days a new generation of designer varieties like ‘Annabelle’ have made these must-have designer plants. Potted plants of these that aren’t even a metre tall can retail for £100.

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