If you were asked to name three ways to help fend off home invaders, planting bushes probably wouldn't come to mind. But the Metropolitan Police in the UK actually recommends you do exactly that.

“One of the best ways to keep thieves out is to use nature’s own defense mechanisms to stop intruders," said police. "A barrier of prickly hedge may be all the protection you need around your property."

They recently released a list of 30 plants that can help keep your house from getting robbed. Most of them are thorny or have barbed leaves (and none them look like your kids' Pokemon or cartoon characters).

A statement from the list reads, “We have tried to identify the plants mentioned by their correct botanical name, but we cannot guarantee that the plant you buy will not grow into a small, fragrant flowering shrub with no more thorns than a daisy.”

The 16 most preferable plants listed are creeping juniper, blue spruce, common holly, giant rhubarb, golden bamboo, Chinese jujube, firethorn, shrub rose, pencil Christmas tree, juniper, purple berberis, mountain pine, blue pine, oleaster, blackthorn and fuschia-flowered gooseberry. The other 14 mentioned as possibilities to consider were aralia, chaenomeles, colletia, crataegus, sea buckthorn, maclura, mahonia, oplopanax, osmanthus, poncirus, rhamnus, climbing and shrub roses, bramble and smilax prickly ash.