Dismay over wrecked gardens

6th December 2006

Police and Napier City Council were today hunting for vandals who ripped out dozens of plants in one of Napier's most popular holiday visitor spots.

At the Veronica sun bay, dozens of the 2000 recently-planted annuals were ripped out of the gardens and tossed across the nearby pavement, while about 50 metres away a cabbage tree, planted about three years ago, was pulled out of a plot beside the beachfront pathway.

The tree's tap root was broken off and the tree would not be able to be replanted, council horticultural staff said. However, some of the annuals could be salvaged.

It was heartbreaking for council horticultural staff who discovered the mess strewn about today.

They have set to work trying to right what they could in time for the holiday season when thousands of holidaymakers will pass through the area.

City council CEO Neil Taylor said at the scene the gardens rated highly on the lists of things visitors appreciated about Napier.

Mr Taylor commiserated with his staff. "That's why the staff put so much effort into it." "Amazingly, no one sees a thing," said one disappointed staff member.

Police and the council hoped the eagle-eye of modern technology would identify the midnight flower-boys, or girls, responsible for the vandalism.