GUERILLA GARDENING - LA STYLE

For those not sure what Guerilla Gardening is, a few quotes from LA's Guerilla Gardening Chapter (LAGG) website sum it up:

"The illicit cultivation of someone else's land." - Richard Reynolds
"Gardening public space with or without permission." - David Tracey

Guerrilla Gardening is a grass-roots, worldwide movement begun in London that has a radical name and what some might perceive as a revolutionary agenda because of its manner of appropriating public or private space towards a communal good.  Empty lots, barren planters, weed filled right-of-ways, and even posters are appropriated under the cover of darkness to grow plants, and so-called "seed bombs" are thrown to propagate wildflowers and beautify neighborhoods.  Most often these unused spaces are converted into flower beds, but some groups have converted these spaces into productive urban agriculture landscapes or native plant havens.

This appropriation of spaces could be illegal depending on the locality, although the (il)legality of the act is lot more murky in Los Angeles.  Interestingly, though, many groups have found not just community members but property owners, and even municipalities, receptive to these initiatives.  In large part this has been the case in Los Angeles, probably due to the LAGG's mission which seems to be more of a community-based approach to improving our often neglected public spaces than an assault on private property.  As LAGG describes it, their mission is:

"To not only get our hands dirty and start gardens all over Los Angeles, but to become a resource for other potential Guerrilla Gardeners and a homebase for people interested in brightening their own communities."

That doesn't mean they aren't stirring things up, and enjoying the anti-establishment edge of the movement.  Many members have adopted clever pseudonyms (Phil O'Dendron and Lord Aloe are two personal favorites), and the group coordinates a number of social outings with the air of cloak and dagger ecological missions.  Ultimately, that might be the greatest success of the Guerilla Gardening movement is interjecting some intrigue, coolness, fun, hipness, and sexiness into gardening.  They aren't just planting a few shrubs, they are part of an anti-establishment movement.

Whether the groups mission seems overly radical to you, it is certainly an opportunity to work together to maximize the limited open space we have in urban areas to transform them into functioning aesthetic and ecological elements within the urban fabric.  Perhaps the key for even wider adoption is working to create partnerships that don't require the cloak of darkness to achieve this, even if the bandanas make it hip to be an urban gardener.

Some cool links about Guerilla Gardening in LA and beyond:
http://www.laguerrillagardening.org/
http://www.guerrillagardening.org/