TULSA, Okla. -- Laura Collins was walking through her garden this weekend, excited to see flowers come into bloom.
"I came out to water and I started watering and all of a sudden I thought "what's different?" Then I saw that plant was missing. I just got sick to my stomach because I wanted to see it," the Brookside homeowner said.
A 16-inch coneflower had disappeared, the third plant to go missing this season.
"Last year they were picking the blooms off of it. Then one day it was gone," Collins said.
The homeowner said she first thought this could be animals, but the disappearances became more suspicious as time went on.
"Mulch would be kind of in that area, but then when I pull the mulch back I'd see a hole and I could stick my fingers in it, all the way up to my knuckles," Collins said.
Staff at Ted and Debbie's Flower and Garden said they've received multiple complaints of theft this season. They added six security cameras when their own store was robbed last year.
"You'll pretty up your yard and that's kind of an extra that people like to do for their house and it's curb appeal for your yard. You spend your money on it and all of a sudden you wake up, or you come back from work, and it's gone. That can be really frustrating," Olivia Lee said.
Collins added a sign and is working to put up lights and cameras. Lee recommends heavier pots to deter thieves.
"A lot of times it's just so easy for someone to come and take those and take off with them. They make them now to where they're super lightweight, which is wonderful because you can move them around. But it also makes it really easy for somebody to take it," Lee said.
One of the most frequently stolen items is perennial flowers. Collins said she's relocating plants untul further notice.
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