A pensioner’s labour of love, box hedging patiently grown in containers for eight years, was stolen from a garden in Tydd St Mary on Tuesday night.
David Bays (79) grew four pyramids that stood 3ft 6in high and ten rectangular shapes that were about 2ft tall.
He lives in Common Way and has had a new house built on the opposite side of the road and the box hedging was for the new garden.
Mr Bays said: “At my age I don’t know whether I have got another eight years left to grow them from cuttings again.
“I can’t gamble. If I want the same sort of thing, I have got to go out and buy them and it will cost me about £400 to £500.”
Some of the box hedging was ripped out of containers and left bare rooted while others were taken in their green plastic pots.
The plants were taken out of the garden and left on the grass verge, most likely to be picked up by a van.
• Anyone with information can call police on 101.