A security video from the apartment building at 329 Upper Sherman appears to catch a mysterious flower-stealing woman in the act. It happened in the early hours of June 28. A detective has seen the video, but there is no further information about an investigation.

The robbed garden belongs to Chris and Paul Pielechaty, the 40-year owners of 329 Upper Sherman Ave., an apartment building across from Juravinski Hospital. But the Pielechatys aren't just any 83- and 84-year-old couple. They've been active in beautifying their neighbourhood with gardening for decades.

When bad things happen to good people

In 1996, the Pielechatys donated $10,000 to the city to develop the public space across from their building, which overlooks the city above the Sherman Access. The project, with plans drawn up by the Pielechatys themselves, was approved and implemented by the city. But the flowers exceeded the budget. So the Pielechatys filled a pickup truck with flowers themselves, and beautified the space.

I figure if she can afford that big tattoo, she can afford to buy those plants. - Chris Pielechaty

With some support from city hall, they maintained the area with their own water and hard work for the next 17 years. A sign in the park now bears the name Pielechaty in their honour.

"They're absolutely wonderful people," said Ward 6 councillor Tom Jackson, who remembers the couple clearly 20 years later. "They were ahead of their time in terms of personal efforts and dollars to beautify a part of their city."

About four years ago, water main construction work tore up the park, but Chris Pielechaty says she was promised it would be restored with more flowers than before. That didn't happen. While the area was cleaned up after construction and is still used by pedestrians and cyclists, Pielechaty says it's a shadow of what it once was.

"It's a disgrace now," she said.

They were broken hearted. - Janet McKechnie

With less of a garden presence, she said, far fewer people spend time there than before, especially Juravinski patients.

When that happened, "they were broken hearted," said Janet McKechnie, a long-time friend and one of the Pielechatys' tenants.

The latest of many flower thefts

The woman in the video, whose face is obscured with sunglasses and a baseball cap, appears to have a large tattoo on her lower back.

"I figure if she can afford that big tattoo, she can afford to buy those plants," said Pielechaty. The plants cost her $2.49 apiece. But she says she was very angry when she saw the footage of them being taken.

"It's not about the amount of money we spent on it," she said. "It's the fact that she took something that belongs to us. We try to make it nice for other people."

She must have done this before. I'd like to know if she's got a nice big garden somewhere. - Chris Pielechaty

McKechnie said she's also incensed on their behalf. "They're just the most wonderful people. I don't even look upon Chris an owner, but more as a sister."

McKechnie is 76 and a resident of the building for almost 22 years. She said she almost fainted when she saw how quickly the tattooed woman was able to pull up the spiky plants.

"She must have done this before," Pielechaty said. "I'd like to know if she's got a nice big garden somewhere."

Chris, 83, and Paul Pielechaty, 84, are beloved by their friends and neighbours for their years of work into beautifying the community. (Dave Beatty/CBC)

Maybe she has. Plants from the Pielechaty property go missing "all the time," she said, but always outside the visual range of the camera. Until now.

Steve Gilchrist, a long-time friend, uploaded their security camera's footage to YouTube and posted about it on the website Reddit, hoping to help identify the thief. He says an investigator arrived on Tuesday about one of the tenants' cars being stolen, and also took an interest in the footage involving the flowers. So far, there has been no follow-up.

Gilchrist's anger came through in his Reddit post, calling the thief a "dirtbag" and referring to the Pielechatys as a hard-working elderly couple.

"I don't like publicity and all that stuff. I like to stay in the background," said Pielechaty, reflecting on the sign at the park with their name on it. "We're just workers, Paul and I."

dave.beatty@cbc.ca | @dbeatty