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Botany burglar hits North Vancouver churchyard

Where have all the flowers gone? That's the question parishioners at North Vancouver's St. Agnes church are asking following the theft of six plants from the Anglican parish's memorial garden.
plantheft
Rev. Stephen Muir surveys the garden patch at St. Agnes Church where plants were deliberately removed last week.

Where have all the flowers gone? That's the question parishioners at North Vancouver's St. Agnes church are asking following the theft of six plants from the Anglican parish's memorial garden.

The horticulturally minded grave disturber likely plucked the candytufts, heathers and euphorbia with the aim of re-planting them, according to Rev. Stephen Muir.

"They had come in with a trowel and taken out the plants quite deliberately," he said.

The ashes of approximately 100 of the departed have been interred in the church's plot since 1980, according to Muir.

"We try to make it a nice place so that people have a place to come when they want to remember their loved ones," he said. "Quite often people on the anniversary of a death will come and you'll find them sitting on the bench in the garden."

The botany burglar likely struck the night of April 8, making off with plants and soil, much to the dismay of the "pretty peeved" volunteer gardeners who overlook the patch.

Muir said he hoped the thief didn't know what they were doing.

"They don't realize it's kind of a sacred ground that's used for a holy purpose. I hope that would discourage them."

The reverend said he's stung by the senselessness of the crime.

"Why would someone steal from a church garden?"

he asked. "They weren't even expensive plants."

Police have not been alerted.

"We've had to prepare the garden so we've disturbed the scene of the crime," Muir said.

The theft seems to be unique, according to Muir.

"I haven't heard of any neighbours or churches having the same problem, but I kind of want to nip it in the bud," he said.

Neighbours should be on the lookout for someone with a guilty conscience and a green thumb.