Owaka woman Wendy de Boer said several heritage apple trees were planted around the township to enable the community to pick fruit in season, to provide spring blossom and to bring history alive.
She said the group planted two of the stronger varieties at the entrance to the township to "make it look really beautiful".
The trees were grafted from old trees and the group had hoped they would be at a good height in time for the 150th anniversary of the wider Owaka area in 2015.
Last Monday, Annette Patterson discovered one of the trees had been snapped in half at the point of its grafting and tossed into the nearby cemetery.
"It's really mindless. A lot of hard work, time and effort went into these trees."
Mrs de Boer retrieved what was left of the tree and replanted it in her garden. She later removed the remaining tree at the entrance to Owaka, fearing it also would be damaged.
"We're pretty gutted about it. I'm still hoping somebody does know something and can help us track them down," Mrs de Boer said.
"Some of these varieties were grafted from very old trees which were on their last legs and were very rare. The odd one or two may be gone forever." The vandalism comes after four trees planted by the group were stolen from a walkway early last month.
In a letter to the Otago Daily Times, Owaka resident Jill Buckingham, who worked with Mrs de Boer and Mrs Patterson to plant the trees, said the trees were raised over four years by a hardworking group that grafted apple trees from old orchards, roadsides and railway lines.
"These trees were stolen with no trace, and several had been in the ground for only a matter of hours."
Former Owaka woman Katherine Raine and others worked to collect a range of old apple varieties, tracing their histories and collating data on each variety.
The best trees were grafted and taken to Riverton couple Robert and Robyn Guyton, who spent several years growing them.
