Guerilla Gardening

I almost did guerilla gardening yesterday. Guerilla gardening is putting flowers or plants in surprising or unexpected places, where they show up suddenly without warning. There are guerilla gardening organizations all over the world; people taking over public spaces with a bit of beauty, whimsy, function, and/or food. It is simply one easy and fun way to 'pay it forward' and make this world a better not to mention more aesthetically pleasing place.


To engage in guerilla gardening, you being by coming across an orphaned piece of land, or perhaps some corporate piece of land that could really use some bright pink flowers! Then you need to plan your mission, find some lucky blooms and under cover of dark, or at a minimum with anonymity, go and plant them. Better yet, plant wildflower seeds in spring and watch them transform a small parcel of land. What I love about guerilla gardening is that it does require stealth, occuring often in the light of the moon. Virtually no one needs to know

your good deed, but everyone whose heart is kindled by an unexpectedly tended patch of earth will benefit.

So, I said I almost got to do guerilla gardening yesterday. I walk or drive down a certain road in my neighborhood every day and saw two large flowers that had nothing in them, even though the rest of the neighborhood is teeming with abundant color. I also ran into that particular neighbor that day and she seemed down to me (I might have been projecting here!)  So I went out to the store with a plan to fill those planters on my way home, as long as their car was missing from the driveway. Happily I went and picked out a 6-pack of the brightest flowers I could find. But on the way home, I saw .....the planters had just been planted! Maybe some other neighbor beat me to it. I guess I'll just have to find another spot for my surprise strike!