Vandals tore out several large plants and flowers and chopped the top off a small palm tree at the Diamond Head surfers' garden sometime late Thursday or early yesterday.

Those who tend the garden are perplexed and angered over the incident at the garden along Diamond Head Road. They say it could cost up to $400 to replace the damaged or dead plants.

"I was so angry," said Peter Lee, a regular surfer at Diamond Head who often admires the garden and sometimes helps tend it.

"It's such a beautiful place."

Surfers started the one-acre garden, just past the Diamond Head lighthouse, in 1999. The expanse, with a host of flowers, trees and native plants, is now something of an attraction for visitors and welcome scenery for surfers and passers-by.

Gilbert Lum, who helped start the garden, said there have been smaller incidents of vandalism, when people have uprooted a few plants or trampled on some flowers.

But the most recent case is the worst.

He said several large plants and the palm tree were not only ripped out or cut down, but then strewn on the road or sidewalk.

When Lum got to the garden early yesterday, he was surprised at what he saw.

"Why do people do these things?" he said. Lum added he has no idea who targeted the garden.

The vandalism comes as Diamond Head residents have kick-started a renewed effort to green up the landmark and its surroundings.

Earlier this month, volunteers from the Diamond Head State Monument Foundation planted 1,300 naupaka plants at the foot of Diamond Head, from Beach Road to across from the surfers' garden. No vandalism of those sites was reported.

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.