After 15 plants were stolen from outside the Cranberry Region Visitor’s Center several weeks ago, Wareham residents donated new flowers and spent time planting them Friday and Saturday.

Lisa and Helen Simmons donated perennials from their gardens and spent a few hours transplanting the flowers to the visitor’s center gardens. Home Depot of East Wareham donated a rose bush and assorted other plants and A.D. Makepeace is providing picnic tables to be placed next to the garden.

“The revived gardens at the entrance to the center will give a great first impression to the town,” said Priscilla Alden, coordinator of the visitor’s center. Alden said as the flowers were being planted, visitors entering the center stopped to comment on how nice the garden looked.

“I think it’s really great that for every bad person in the world, there are several good ones,” Alden said. “That made us feel a whole lot better.”

The plants were first reported stolen June 10. Then, a plant thief returned soon after for one plant that was missed and remained in the garden. According to Alden, several nights later a plant on the visitor’s center porch was also stolen.

State police will have extra nighttime patrols through the visitor’s center for the duration of the summer to ensure that the flowers remain untouched this time. The state police “do a really good job taking care of us,” Alden said.

The Cranberry Region Visitor’s Center is located on Route 195 east between the Marion and Wareham exits and is open from April to November. The center sees 20,000 people in a season from 50 states and 45 countries, according to activities coordinator Bruce Hutchins.