(Any of your characters use magic?)
The plants are angry. But, they aren't quite powerful enough to do anything permanently damaging about it.
Little by little they diminish in number, reduce in speed of regeneration, and finally are reduced to batting back attacks without getting in any of their own.
They don't have long before they tap out to be returned to Arboralia and Safaria. Though not permanent, death is not a fun prospect, and they had every intention to avoid it.
“…Judge not what a man has done, but judge what he could have done if he was a different bloke altogether. For art thou a leper? And a leper can changeth his spots…” --Rudy Wade, Misfits (Series 4, Episode 8)