KAILUA-KONA — One day after it was reported 20 ruby ti plants had been stolen from her garden in the middle of the night, Pam DuPont received a call she didn’t expect.
The voice on the other line belonged to Keahaulani Keanaaina, store manager at The Home Depot in Kona, who made DuPont an unsolicited and generous offer — to replace the stolen ti plants free of charge and to plant them for DuPont and her husband Preston.
“We thought (the theft) was absolutely disgusting,” Keanaaina said. “It’s not Kona. It’s not Holualoa. It’s not the community we live in.”
Keanaaina found DuPont’s number in the company’s database and reached out, unaware that DuPont had originally purchased the plants from The Home Depot.
“We had actually bought them there, but she didn’t know that,” said DuPont, adding she was taken aback by the offer. “I just said, ‘Wow, this is really nice.’”
The plants were meticulously dug up and taken in the middle of the night between April 29-30. A neighbor’s surveillance video captured footage of a sports utility vehicle drive by the house in the dark, as though dropping someone off, then return a half hour later — presumably to load up the plants after the digging was done.
But replacing the unique flora wasn’t as simple as walking to the lawn and garden center.
“The particular ti plants she had, the particular color that she likes, they’re very rare,” Keanaaina said. “We didn’t have them in the store. The vendor is growing her ones that will be ready in about two weeks.”
DuPont said the ruby hue of the ti plants was what attracted her to them in the first place, adding she hadn’t seen them before. She thinks that may be why they were taken in the first place. DuPont estimated the value of the plants taken at about $150.
But whatever the reason for the unusual agricultural theft, before May is out the barren patch of soil and wood chips in the DuPont’s otherwise full and immaculate front yard garden will spring to life again with a new batch of ruby ti plants.
“It’s the sweetest thing,” DuPont said. “It’s Hawaii at its best.”
