National Trust staff and volunteers at Colby Woodland Garden near Amroth have been left disappointed and frustrated this month by the theft of many of their newly-planted rhododendrons. The gardeners and volunteers worked really hard over the winter to thin out old overgrown rhododendron in order to plant young new plants and ensure that Colby would be as beautiful in the future as it is now. Many of the plants had come all the way from Scotland and were special and very expensive varieties, not readily available elsewhere. Head gardener, Steve Whitehead said: "The thefts are all the more disappointing because they are obviously the work of somebody local who knows the garden well and is able to return repeatedly to steal for themselves what should be left for everyone to enjoy. "Some of the recent plantings have also been donations by people who enjoy the garden and want to ensure it has a colourful future. When a plant freely given by a private individual, for the public to enjoy, is stolen in this way by some selfish thief, it's almost worse than the loss of the very rare varieties." Steve added: "It will be very difficult to replace the stolen plants with anything this year, we just can't afford the extra expense. A total of 27,000 people visit Colby every year to see the rhododendrons. If the thief reads this article, I would like them to think about all those people missing out in the future. "That's half-a-million people over the next 20 years who would have been able to enjoy our beautiful plants. I want the thieves to think of that, every time they look at our stolen plants. "And if anybody thinks they might know who has taken our missing plants, I urge you to contact the police immediately so they can be returned to their rightful home for everyone to enjoy."
