Last year we told you about how guerrilla gardens were springing up all over the world, taking root in the UK where thousands of vegetable patches are finding homes on empty plots of land. These "surprise" gardens are planted by garden lovers using "seed bombs," perennials, or vegetables to turn empty medians, public spaces, and more into a source of food and beauty.
Guerrilla gardening is growing in cities across the United States, too. Los Angeles, for example, has its own
guerrilla gardening network that's greening empty spaces all over the city. And
in St. Paul, guerrilla gardeners (or "mystery" gardeners, as some call themselves) have been busy sprucing up parkways and boulevards all over the city.
Guerrilla gardening is growing in the Twin Cities in part due to foreclosures and abandoned lots, but its real motivation is, as Minneapolis guerrilla gardener Robin Russell
writes, "to fight the filth with forks and flowers." Russell, who lost her Northeast home in 2008, longed to garden again and found a renewed passion in turning neglected and abandoned spaces all over the city into perennial garden plots. One project included planting seeds at the Basilica/Dunwoody Gardens (above), an area that shriveled up and nearly died due to budget cuts.
Along the Minneapolis Greenway bike trail, some guerrilla gardeners toss "seed bombs" as they're pedaling past weedy spaces begging for revitalization. Seed bombs are a mixture of seeds, fertilizer, and compost. Most seeds are perennials, made with the intention of turning the spaces bikers ride past every day from an eyesore to a blast of color.
While these spontaneous gardens might be beautiful, they aren't exactly legal. City property is city property, no matter how poorly managed that property might be. Still, despite the laws forbidding tampering with city property, guerrilla gardeners carry on, bombing abandoned areas with promises of future growth.