WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Planted, then stolen

Thanks for the tips. Some of the hard work done by Seattle Parks gardeners and community volunteers at Alki last Friday was undone by thieves/vandals.

After James Tilley sent us photos including that one, we checked with Parks’ southwest-region crew chief Kristy Darcy, who confirms that about 110 plants were stolen. That’s about a tenth of the plants Darcy had told the Alki Community Council she had ordered for the annual planting, and some were left over after Friday, so one of her new gardeners is busy now replacing the ones that were taken.

SIDE NOTE: A commenter had asked about the watering plan for the plants, following our work-party preview last week. Darcy explains, “We are going to have to water them manually to start, as the irrigation is still not quite ready. We are waiting on the plumbers to come and fix a main line break on that system. Once that is complete we can then repair the heads on that one zone that are broken. … We are prepared with all of the heads and nozzles we need though, and should be able to get it up and running pretty fast once the water is on.”

20 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Planted, then stolen"

  • Just wondering June 28, 2022 (11:48 am)

    Really?  Plants for sale out of a car trunk?

    • MW June 28, 2022 (1:00 pm)

      What are you referring to? Did you see somebody selling stolen plants from a car trunk?  You should be calling the cops and give them the license plate.    

      • Just wondering June 28, 2022 (4:05 pm)

        Actually I was making a joke wondering what you do with 110 stolen plants?

        • Ferns June 29, 2022 (9:21 am)

          You sell them on offerup or craigslist out of Federal Way.

          • JustJedSaid June 30, 2022 (10:04 pm)

            or Madrona or Magnolia.

  • ShermanO June 28, 2022 (11:52 am)

    What were the plants and how big were they, so people can keep an eye out? I guess this is why we can’t have nice things.

  • flimflam June 28, 2022 (12:21 pm)

    110 plants stolen? sounds like an unscrupulous landscaping company at first thought…how terrible. literally anything and everything can and will be stolen now it feels.

  • KellyM June 28, 2022 (12:36 pm)

    OR, anybody notice a newly lushly(110 plants?) garden popping up?  People can really stoop low can’t they?  Why do they feel they deserve to just help themselves to these plants?

  • Craig June 28, 2022 (1:18 pm)

    Does this happen in the middle of the night? Isn’t that suspect? Yeah, someone is a jerk for taking from the community like this. 

  • waikikigirl June 28, 2022 (1:49 pm)

    I’m not sure what kind of “plants” or “flowers” they were but digging them or pulling them out in the hot weather we just had they more than likely will not survive if re-planted. Which is sad and a shame! So more destroyed than stolen.

  • Nwe June 28, 2022 (4:00 pm)

    On a much smaller scale this happened to me! In my case the plant-thief brought a shovel to dig it up. People can be jerks. 

    • onion June 28, 2022 (9:01 pm)

      My guess is that someone in the landscaping business stole them and then resold them to a homeowner or business they are working for, with the client not even aware that the new plants they paid were actually stolen. I don’t want to impugn the overwhelming majority of landscapers, but this kind of strategy would be extremely profitable to the unscrupulous.

      • Me mama June 28, 2022 (9:51 pm)

        Exactly what I was thinking   

      • anonyme June 29, 2022 (8:31 am)

        Yup.  Not that licensing guarantees honesty, but there are a lot of unlicensed landscapers out there doing shady business from the back of a pickup truck.  They’re cheaper for a reason.

  • curious June 28, 2022 (4:10 pm)

    Where was this?  Sort of surprised that my favorite local news source (thank you,  WSB!) didn’t provide at least a general vicinity.  Sounds like it was Alki but where?  Thanks.

    • WSB June 28, 2022 (5:50 pm)

      Sorry, wrote about it so many times in advance, guess I internalized it. Alki, mostly near the Bathhouse.

  • Beto June 28, 2022 (5:02 pm)

    It is saddening to say it but I feel that society in general is decaying.

    • Jethro Marx June 28, 2022 (9:26 pm)

      Yes, people have felt that way every generation since Cain slew Abel. Not accurate in any generation as far as we know.

      • John June 29, 2022 (8:41 am)

        Perhaps Berlin in the 1930’s?

        • Neighbor June 29, 2022 (4:26 pm)

          What happened in Berlin in the 1930s?

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