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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Michelle McDuff had an unpleasant surprise when she got to work on Friday. McDuff, manager of Northern Images, noticed her favorite rose bush was not blooming in its usual spot.

"I came up the ramp and thought 'oh no, its been trampled down'," said McDuff.

Michelle McDuff, manager of Northern Images, shows the rose bush she found outside the building last week that had been cut in half and parts taken. - Cara Loverock/NNSL photo

She went inside to speak with a co-worker about the trampled-looking rose bush and, upon closer inspection, realized someone had cut up the plant and made off with it.

"Half of it had been cut away and taken," said McDuff.

She said the rose bush belonged to the building on Franklin Avenue.

It was "a fuchsia bush ... it's gorgeous," she added.

This particular plant was positioned away from the other rose bushes behind the ramp, a little out of the way, she said.

McDuff said she didn't call the police over the incident, but is upset that it appears someone planned to steal the plant.

"It was done way too carefully," she said of the way the rose bush had been cut, adding it clearly wasn't just ripped up on a whim. "Someone saw a beautiful rose bush and decided to take it."

Yellowknife has had incidents of garden vandalism in the past. Last April the Garden of Hope on the shore of Frame Lake suffered a smashed fence. As for theft of flowers and bushes in public places, this may be an unwelcome first.

"I thought 'am I the only one?'" said McDuff of the suspected plant heist.

She suggested that the suspected thief or thieves may not feel too bad about taking the plant, since they left part of it there, but that doesn't make up for taking the unique rose bush.