"They garden in public places with, and sometimes without, permission. Without permission, it could just be 'John,' the Williamson Street neighborhood’s 'guerrilla gardener,' planting sunflower seeds along the bicycle path or filling that tree-line gap with a plan-appropriate sapling. It could be Keedo Beebe, a shy, scarfed woman who has methodically established a tangled hosta and wildflower greenway, without official permission, along a hidden Yahara River path.... 'Why not? I like to go out and plant things, it’s what my mom and I liked to do.'"
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How about No! I prefer natural landscaping.
Oh, Christ.
Baby Boomer rebellion has come, at last, to this.
A REAL "guerilla gardener" would plant poison ivy in the hippie park.
At least it's better than graffiti. Maybe we can arm these secret gardeners with paintball guns so they can tag the taggers if they run across each other late at night.
Guerrilla gardeners?
Watch out for the ones with the AKs and the RPGs.
I love the hippie Althouse flower girl.
Har, Meade!
I have done this myself. Several times. I planted artichokes in unusual locations. Sometimes landscape crews take them out, but if you make it look like they belong they often make it to maturity. It is fun to see people stop and say what is that crazy flower? Artichokes are in the thistle family and will make a magnificant big purple thistle flower.
But I have done it with lots of plants, roses, sunflowers, wild flower seeds. It is all good.
mesquito said...
A REAL "guerilla gardener" would plant poison ivy in the hippie park.
5/30/10 5:46 PM
Okay.
But real balls would be planting dope outside the police station in your town. And then harvesting the buds.
Oh!
Meade:
Quick! While she ain't looking! See if you can find Althouse's copy of The Greening Of America.
Is it underlined? Highlighted?
Here's your chance!
(Conciousness IV: getting your ass kicked by you new wife.)
Johnny Appleseed?
Artichokes are in the thistle family and will make a magnificant big purple thistle flower.
Oh Lord. I think I just mowed 5 acres of food.
this is cool, I have a friend who does this stuff. the other week I saw a little garden of his in the middle of the woods at elver park off the paths.
Around here we threaten to sneak in and plant kudzu on an enemies land. That stuff grows four inches a day; and it never looks pretty like newly planted English Ivy.
We save our melon or squash seeds to throw by the sides of the train tracks in my guy's neighborhood. These areas used to be de facto 'victory' gardens for SNCF employees until either the SNCF/l'Etat forbade it or tending a railside garden went out of fashion.
Have seen recently that an awful lot of folks are reviving the practice. Don't know if it's being officially sanctioned as these areas are kind of disputed territory. Still, am happy to see the land put to good use.
YES! I love it.
I'd like to this along the SW Bike path.
I think I'll plant Mexican Bamboo. Wonder if it'll grow?
Shades of Johnny Appleseed and maybe The Lorax - the legend lives deep in the psyche.
I'm attracted to the idea... but I'm also aware that some people have all their taste in their mouth. They want to do good, but they end up making things worse by their effort. In my condo community, we've always gone out and planted things in our immediate vicinity, even though it's technically against the rules. In most cases, this enhances the community for all. In a few cases, crappy statuettes and so forth do not enhance.
Mmmm. Interesting how many secret gardeners there are in this group.
I always toss my apple core or peach pit out the window if I'm headed down the road.
Does that count?
My state government has been planting food for wildlife on roadsides for at least 25 years. That's kind of a secret.
I know this because I looked at the labels of the seeds I was planting 25 years ago. Wheat, Rye, alfalfa, and other food stuff that I can't remember is in that roadside grass you are driving by every day.
The correct answer, I suppose, is that some dumb bunny with the same idea is responsible for introducing English Sparrows and Starlings to America.
But I'm not all that interested in the correct answer. I like lush better than I like tidy.
The idea makes me feel hopeful. People willing to plant seeds, even without official sanction! Without an EPA review! Without completing the Zone Variance Approvals Process mandated by the city government! Perhaps (whisper it) even planting things that are... non-organic! and not local plants, but maybe even (shudder to say it) "non-native"!
We are so bureaucratized, fearful, and precautionary-principled that anything that encourages a chink in that mindset is welcome.
As long as they don't mind people coming around with their guerrilla hoes and sprayers of roundup...
Guerilla gardeners should always remember to fill out the proper forms, and have them notarized.
In my little town in Minnesota, the local gummint gets to pick out the kind of tree you plant in your boulevard and exactly where it gets placed. You are permitted only to pay for it.
It is also illegal to sell cookies you made at home, here in the land of 10,000 regulations.
I didn't vote. I'm just tired of quirky people. They're all quirky in a conforming way.
This reminds me of my grandfather. He planted fruit trees everywhere, until a year before he died (age 97). Today, 39 years after his death, many of those apple and pear trees are still around.
How about No! I prefer natural landscaping.
Joe, out here in the sticks, we call that "weeds". I'll pass, our alleyways are already full of ruinous weed-strewn rubble.
A REAL "guerilla gardener" would plant poison ivy in the hippie park.
And this is why I voted "no" on AA's poll, not because of the authoritarian appeal, but rather that it *is* possible to misact with secretive acts of aggressive gardening. There's an interesting bit in Bujold's A Civil Campaign wherein a would-be professional gardener deliberately crafts a public garden full of allergens, and the author justifies it by having the gardener pick the plants which the sponsor-owner isn't allergic to in particular. Well, good for the patron, not so good for the rest of the public, you know?
Anyways, I'm just starting in on my own garden, and my impression is that the soul of gardening is removal and subtraction rather than mere mechanical planting. If you have good soil or even just decent water & fertilizer, you can't keep things from growing. The trick is keeping the wrong things from growing, and maintaining & cultivating what you want to keep, in a healthy and balanced state.
I'm definitely no good at that part, so far.
The true soul of gardening is tending. That is, attention and hands-on care (i.e. work)over an extended period of weeks, months, or years. More power to the guerillas who come back, but those who make it a one-night stand are hardly gardeners.
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