It was the night of Opera in the Domain on Saturday a week ago. Included in the program was the Flower Duet from Delibes opera Lakme.

It seems one "older" lady, said to be from a good suburb of Sydney, took the title of the work rather too literally.

A German tourist enjoys the sunshine in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Credit:Louie Douvis

She briefly left her picnic and went to purchase a coffee at the Pavilion Restaurant.

"She pretended to be reading a paper and, thinking nobody was looking, she pulled up two plants out of the ground and wrapped them in the newspaper," head ranger Trevor Heaslip at the Botanic Garden said.