'It was beautiful': Plum tree honouring Portage woman's parents stolen

One of two flowering plum trees that Chris Gibson bought back in 2018. The one outside her childhood home honouring her late parents was stolen right out of the ground. June 7, 2022. (Source: Chris Gibson)

A Portage la Prairie woman is angry and confused after a tree she planted to remember her parents was dug up and stolen from her childhood home.

Chris Gibson planted a flowering plum tree at her childhood home in 2018 as a way to remember and honour her parents.

"It was beautiful. It finally rooted properly because they said you will see tons of flowers. It was beautiful," said Gibson. "Somebody else thought it was beautiful too."

Her mom had passed away in 2006 and her dad died in 2011.

She said she bought two of the trees, one for her house and one for her childhood home. She said her dad loved growing crab apple trees and her mom loved the flowers the trees produced.

The flowering plum tree doesn't produce fruit, so Gibson thought it was the best of both worlds to honour her parents.

"Any flowering tree was in that yard at one time. It didn't matter if it had fruit or not. As long as it flowered. It worked for them."

However, at some point between June 4 and June 5, Gibson said the tree was gone.

"The tree was there at 6:30 that night, and then the next day it was gone."

She said she showed up the next day to do some yard work and that's when she noticed the hole where the tree once was.

"Anybody in a two-block radius could have heard me over the lawnmower. I was livid."

Gibson said she immediately went to other homes on the street to see if anyone had seen anything.

CTV News reached out to the City of Portage la Prairie to see if any crews may have removed the tree and a spokesperson said the city didn't touch it.

Gibson is still trying to figure out why someone would steal a tree off someone's property.

"Must be just a total lowlife, no morals. This person has no morals whatsoever. But really, how can you secure a tree? As we put it, what next?"

Gibson said she plans to start looking for a new tree, maybe one that is a little more developed and harder to take.

She also has a message for whoever took the tree.

"If you took it, bring it back. Put it back in the hole because I didn't cover the hole.

"If I see that tree, I will not be scared to knock on the door…there are a few markings on it that they will never know about, but I know where they are."