A group of vandals swept through a community garden in Clayton Park Sunday night leaving a trail of shredded plants and broken hearts.

The Glen Garden, built by former refugees, has grown into a place to share experiences in their new home.

For Ateka Yaghoubi and her husband Mohammad, its an oasis of peace. They are refugees from Afghanistan.They say the garden helped them feel at home in a strange land, until vandals struck late Sunday night.

"It's not about the garden it's about like respect," said Ateka.

"They didn't respect our dignity ... we had fun here. Every day we came here to water our garden and to sit...and talk about everything, not only (the) garden, everything."

Mohammed agrees.

"It's breaking my heart because I come every afternoon," he said.

"It is not fair, actually."

The community gardeners say the garden will continue.

Halifax's Immigrant Settlement and Integration Service said it has already been offered mature plants from Halifax businesses, to replace those that were torn from the garden.