Viral video helps track down Adelaide plant thief caught on CCTV

A plant bandit has apologised after being caught taking plants from multiple streets in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs.

The woman was spotted on CCTV ripping flowers from the garden beds of Norwood businesses but returned them days later after being tracked down via footage posted on social media.

The woman appeared to be prepared for the job, bringing her own pots to at least three locations in less than a week.

The plant pincher was caught ripping flowers straight from garden beds in front of independent soft drink maker Mischief Brew on Magill Road at the weekend.

Video the company posted to social media showed her smoothing over the soil and checking for witnesses before darting away with the plants in a trolley.

Owner Scott Giles was bewildered by the video of his garden bed becoming the scene of a horticultural heist.

“Yeah she had her little trolley and had her pots ready to go and was making sure to keep a good eye out as well so it was, yeah she was ready for it,” he told 9News.

The video garnered nearly 100,000 views on Instagram.

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"To have someone so brazenly come and plan a bit of a heist like that was something worthy of sharing I think," Giles said.

It was soon clear the green thumb had struck before.

Bridal gown designer Greta Rumsby, based just a few streets away, was hit two days prior and a resident was stung on Thursday.

“They did appear to have a trolley and the plants had just sort have been taken straight out,” Rumsby told 9News.

While the business owners are frustrated at the cost and inconvenience incurred, they say flowers will return to the garden beds soon.

The woman was tracked down on Thursday afternoon. She returned the plants and apologised.