Bonsai bandit strikes in New Orleans metro
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
A bonsai bandit is on the loose, stealing pricy trees from nurseries in Metairie and New Orleans.
The big picture: Someone stole "our most prized bonsais worth hundreds each," Perino's Garden Center on Veterans Memorial Boulevard said this week.
- "We have been meticulously growing and caring for some of these for over three years, so these plants are not something that can be replaced," the Facebook post on Sunday said.
The next day, Harold's Plants in the Bywater told NOPD someone broke in and stole bonsais, poinsettias, pottery and other plants on Thanksgiving morning.
- The bonsais were "really nice" ones the nursery had been "playing with and coddling for a while," according to The Times-Picayune.
- The nursery posted a video of a person with a hooded jacket loading them into a gray Toyota Tacoma with no license plate.
Zoom in: The nurseries believe the thief is planning to resell the plants and asked people to look out for suspicious bonsai sales.
- Leaders of the Greater New Orleans Bonsai Society, which describes itself as one of the most active bonsai groups in the country, tell Axios they are upset and have been encouraging members to check on their collections.
- "It is very concerning for us that spend an exorbitant amount of time developing a tree into a bonsai," said Dennis Burke, president of the group. "Most of us have many trees we've been developing for years... They are living works of art."
The intrigue: It's unclear if the same person stole from both nurseries.
- The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department and NOPD said they are tracking down leads.
- Meanwhile, Urban Roots Garden Center on Tchoupitoulas Street is stepping up security.
- "We don't carry bonsai, but we've been locking up extra tight," Hadyn Breedlove of Urban Roots tells Axios.
Editor's note: The story has been updated with additional comments.