Plum’s peculiar disappearance provokes planter’s ire

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This article was published 07/06/2022 (1359 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — A woman who planted a dwarf flowering plum tree in memory of her late mother and father suspects it was stolen in the night, after it disappeared over the weekend.

Chris Gibson was livid and devastated when she arrived at her childhood home Sunday to find a hole in the ground where the tree once stood more than two metres tall.

“It’s disgusting. That’s a disgusting human being, basically a lowlife,” Gibson, who owns the property, told the Free Press on Monday, after posting an appeal for information on Facebook.

She put up a sign to deliver her message to the person or people who removed the tree Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

A message, written on a large piece of neon green paper, reads, “To the lowlife that dug out my tree, (karma) will come back to you big time.”

Gibson stapled the sign to a wooden stake and drove it into the hole, near the corner of 12th Street Northwest and Lorne Avenue West in Portage la Prairie, about 70 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

Several drivers slowed down to look at it as they passed by Monday afternoon.

The tree was one of two Gibson purchased from a nursery in 2018. She planted one in front her house and the other next to the home where she was raised by her parents, Janina and Bruno Wijas.

Janina died in 2006, followed by her husband in 2011.

Gibson planted the tree, which blooms with pink flowers every spring, in a spot where her parents once had apple and chokecherry trees.

“My dad loves trees, and I thought this was a good memory for them. It was the pink flowers that mom likes,” she said.

Gibson last saw the now-missing tree Saturday afternoon, when she stopped by the house before attending a friend’s funeral.

“Every branch on it had flowers,” she said.

When she returned to do some gardening Sunday, she was stunned when she noticed the tree was no longer there.

“It’s weird. Really? People are going into people’s yards and taking everything,” said Gibson. “Society has gone loopy. I don’t know whether to get another one or not, because are they going to take that one, too?”

She suspects the tree was stolen by a person or people who “liked it or couldn’t afford one” of their own.

“You had to have thought about it (removing it) beforehand because you’d have to bring a shovel,” she added.

A City of Portage spokeswoman, who was checking in with staff Monday, told the Free Press it doesn’t appear the tree was removed by parks employees.

Gibson also went door-to-door to ask neighbours if they saw the tree being pulled out of the ground or if they noticed a vehicle parked nearby.

No one saw anything, she said, but “they couldn’t believe it” when she told them the tree was missing.

A neighbour described it as a “big, beautiful tree,” adding she was saddened to hear it was removed.

“I never would have expected it,” said the woman. “It’s a bad thing for the neighbourhood.”

Gibson decided not to report the tree stolen, believing it would be a low priority for local RCMP.

“What are they going to do about it? It’s just a tree,” she said.

Given its importance to her, Gibson took special care of the tree. In the winter months, she would set up a bright orange snow fence around it to protect it.

She has heard of everything from bicycles and garden furniture going missing from yards, but never a tree with roots in the ground.

“Trees aren’t even safe,” said Gibson. “Chain it, tie it or lock (your belongings), or you’re not going to have anything.”

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching