Hebes, campanula, primroses, heathers and other plants were taken from the charity’s greenhouse over the weekend, along with woodchip and compost.
The hebes, usually priced at £9 a pot, were taken in blocks. Horticulture manager Stuart Smale said they were usually slow sellers.
‘We are extremely disappointed by what has happened,’ said general manager Mandy Mackelworth. ‘Every plant we sell represents time, care and hard work by our crew, who take great pride in growing and looking after the stock.
‘As a charity, we work hard to make every penny counts, and a loss of this value is particularly upsetting.’
Mrs Mackelworth said news of the thefts had affected the crew, and some of them were quite upset.
Grow has traditionally run an honesty system at its plant sales area. Customers can buy at any time and pay using an honesty box or a SumUp card machine, and the charity is keen to keep the arrangement.
‘We have always wanted to operate on a basis of trust and make it easy for people to support us by purchasing our plants,’ said Mrs Mackelworth.
‘We would very much like to continue doing that, but we need people to respect the system and recognise that taking items without paying has a direct impact on our work.’
Businesses have since been in touch offering to cover the cost of the stolen plants.
The charity is giving anyone who took plants or materials without paying the chance to put things right, by leaving money in the honesty box or paying with the SumUp machine on site.
Grow has CCTV on site and will review the footage to establish what happened.
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