The plan is still in place, it's just not as lush a plan.

The plan is to plant trees and shrubs from the Grown Ups 2 movie set in Swampscott. To add beauty to the town, said Selectman David Van Dam.

The plan got cut back a week ago Friday when bush rustlers descended on the donated plants being stored by the DPW garage at the Swampscott Cemetery.

The bush thieves cherry picked. They lassoed only the healthiest and choicest of the arborvitae and assorted greenery.

The Grown Ups 2 plants were lined nicely in an open area right behind the DPW building, and watered regularly.

The thieves' haul was maybe a third of the 60 trees and shrubs.  

The selectman thinks maybe, just maybe, the people who made off with the plants thought they were free for the taking. 

If that is what they were thinking, he asks that they think about returning them.

The Grown Ups 2 set included lots of greenery on its landscaped sound stage at Phillips Park.

Earlier in the summer, resident John McLaughlin suggested to Van Dam that someone ask the movie people if they would donate the plants to the town after the filming was done.

And they did. The movie people donated the 60 plants they purchased; others, that they leased, had to be returned to the company from which they had leased them.

In tandem with the plant donation idea, the town formed a Beautification Committee.

Committee members are meeting and deciding where in town to plant and beautify.

They still have a good number of plants at their disposal but would prefer to have the whole collection that Grown Ups 2 donated.