Put out Cacti with the plants. They will learn not to touch it again.

Get a big 6ft cactus and use it as a property barrier

The best advice so far in this is recording it and contacting the parents or the police if the parents are useless.

Contact the manager of the apartment complex and make a formal complaint. Capture them in the act. If the manager does nothing to prevent it after two more incidents, file complaints each time contract his/her employer. If it happens again contact police. Have proof and they get in trouble for vandalism of private property.

Be careful how you approach the parents though. Parents can be VERY sensitive when it comes to their kids. I've had trouble with my grandmothers neighbors kid, and my moms neighbors kid. Both times I confronted the parents I was met with hosility and excuses and "oh my kid wouldn't do that" My troubles were very different than yours, I was quite flustered and had every right to be, but if I could I would definitely go back and handle both situations differently...more calm like.
So yeah, defintely get it on camera, choose your words wisely, and watch your tone of voice. Express how upset you are and what the plants meant to you, but keep your voice calm. And I would talk to the parents before talking to the police. Bringing the police in before talking to the parents might make the parents less willing to cooperate with you now and in the future.

I was gonna say use a hose. But people already gave better answers.

arson........no plants to destroy if theres no house to put them.

Keep us updated which suggestion you went with!

tell their parents..... and watch them get beat, (also I can recommend plenty of houseplants that do good in little to no sun if you are interested)

I look forwards to an update

When you have a day off, wait for the children to appear, then ambush them and ask them why they tear up and kill your plants. Hear them out, ask them to stop, and if they don't, record and report to their parents.

Cactus sounds the best solution of all the above..
Or spray an itching solution which will itch the kids but not harm the plants...

Itching spray is a more low-key variant of what I was talking about. The pepper solution doesn't have to be as hot as I mentioned, but it does help with pests and isn't harmful to the plants (and supposedly most birds).
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Admittedly surveillance is an option, but then you have to buy the camera, and, depending on where you hide it, run the risk of someone discovering it and taking it, too, and parents can be beyond shit humans to deal with when their kids are misbehaving sometimes. These ones already don't seem to give a crap what their kids are doing on a daily basis so remains to be seen how helpful they'll be
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Either way, all viable options. Hopefully one or all of the above work out for you.

Thanks so much guys! I will plan out my strategy and report back on the results! :D

Got a shotgun? Use on one to send out a message.
They won't disturb you ever.

Destroy the plants before they can.

I cant wait

Plant poison ivy.

“Hear them out”? Smh.

@betterthanyou I'm not sure that's a practical solution since she probably doesn't want to grow poison ivy, but I appreciate the thought process behind it