Shop owner Ceri Pulvirenti has shamed pranksters into returning a pot of geraniums they took from outside her store.

She was blooming furious after her hanging geraniums went missing from the front of the DIY and hardware store Kit Box in Gloucester Street that she and her husband Philip took over in March.

Mrs Pulvirenti had planted up four paint pots with geraniums and hung them outside her shop on old saddle hooks that were part of the building.

To vent her frustration after one pot went missing Mrs Pulvirenti put up a sign which read ‘shame on you’ explaining how she was a small business owner trying to survive in a recession and that she wanted to enter the Malmesbury in Bloom competition.

It obviously did the trick because two people then came forward to give back her can of flowers.

She said: “On Friday two repentant young ladies in their early 20s came into the shop and returned my geraniums.

“They had been to the pub and on their way home thought it would be funny to take the flowers.

“But then they saw the sign and felt guilty and so brought it back.

“They obviously hadn’t taken much care of them, there was a dent in the pot, but I’m just delighted to have it back.” She added: “It just goes to show that the young people of Malmesbury aren’t all bad, I now feel much better about the town.”

The pranksters struck on the evening of June 2 and an angry Mrs Pulvirenti discovered her loss the next morning when she opened the shop. She said: “Me and my husband Philip have only just taken over the shop and I was absolutely fuming.

“My mother also had a geranium stolen from her window box, but it seems this was not related.

She added: “Everyone said what a good idea it was to have flowers in paint pots.

“I had four up in front of the shop and they left me with only three.”

“Thankfully I now have them back.”