Plant thieves swoop on lily lady's garden in Felpham

The crooks made off with two troughs full of begonias from the front garden wall of Joan Ufton.

The theft of the three-foot long containers, each with about 12 flowering plants, took place during the evening of Saturday, August 16.

The blooms outside Mrs Ufton's Vicarage Lane bungalow have made her famous throughout the village.

She vowed: "I'm going to replace the troughs. The thieves are not going to stop me. I love my garden. It keeps me going."

The theft was one of several to have been inflicted upon Mrs Ufton, who will be 80 on August 30, since she began to make her garden the pride of Felpham.

The arum lilies which are her trademark bloom have been frequently targeted.

They have been cut down, pulled up or just damaged by those who simply want to destroy them or take them for their own pleasure.

Mrs Ufton believes some are stolen to be sold at weekend car boot sales.

The eye-catching white lilies cost 5 each. Earlier this summer, she had 1,300 in bloom in her front garden and that of one of her neighbours.

She cut down the plants just before the end of their season last month to call a halt to the constant damage and thefts since March.

But those in her garden will be back next summer, she pledged, after she decided not to have them in her neighbour's garden again.

"Why should I have to give up my flowers just because someone wants to pull them up? What's happened has been heartbreaking," said Mrs Ufton.

"It started in March and just carried on. People would come to me and say they had seen the flowers strewn all around the village.

"I just don't know why someone would want to damage my lilies.

"People come down the road specially to take photos of my flowers. Everyone knows me because of them. I get called 'Miss Lily'.

"Lilies are lovely flowers. They grow so well and they look beautiful. I've been here ten years and there was nothing in the gardens when I arrived.

"I still do my own gardening. I won't let anyone else do it for me in spite of having polymyalgic rheumatica."