Wednesday, March 22, 2006

It's war - but not as we know it



When you look at this picture, what do you see? A fairly ordinary planting in a roundabout? Look closer. When was the last time you saw palms, fir trees, rudbeckia, lavender and rosemary in a Local Authority planting list - at least, in London? What you are seeing is a manifestation of Guerilla Gardening, really. people that sneak out in the dead of night and ... plant things.

This roundabout, in a desolate corner of South London had been totally forsaken untill these guerillas struck. Here is the Wikipedia article.

posted by Ham at 00:12 -- Comments here: 15

Comments on "It's war - but not as we know it"

 

Blogger scouter573 said ... (01:46) : 

Brilliant! Fight on!

 

Blogger Pierre said ... (07:57) : 

Amazing. What a great action! A positive and constructive way to protest against the deterioration of the urban environment. Guerilla gardening ! "Pure Genius!" I learned something important this morning. Something that I totally ignored. Thanks. I wish we could act this way in all actions of our lives...

 

Blogger Lisi said ... (08:36) : 

Hi Ham, that's a pretty cool thing, btw the first thing that came to my mind was you were in a risky spot if the bus turned too fast...

 

Blogger Amande said ... (09:30) : 

Very interesting idea!

 

Blogger Nicola said ... (10:12) : 

I know some spots here where we could use some guerilla gardeners. Love the idea!

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (17:08) : 

Ham, I am impressed with your knowledge of the names of these plants

 

Blogger breadchick said ... (17:17) : 

Only in England would a "guerilla" group form to plant lovely growing things in otherwise desolate surroundings. One of the things I loved about living in London, everyone had a little garden even if it was only a planter out front. Great picture Ham!

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (20:56) : 

Hey, Ham…that’s nearly as funny as a genuine Russian T-34 battle tank, that was once painted pink, parked up permanently just off of the Old Kent Road in south east London! Love the blog, btw, has inspired me to launch my own photo blog Daily Photo Scrapbook!

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (21:52) : 

Amazing and amusing. Only in Britain? I have a huge bit of land here that could really benefit from a Guerrilla visit. :) Just make sure you don't mix other exotic palms with any Phoenix canariensis though.

 

Blogger Ham said ... (00:32) : 

Thanks folks, glad you enjoyed it.

lisi - I was in some danger, but only through showing I had camera tha tcould be stolen, not the buses

winscreen:fly - nice to see you, drop me a mail (link on page) if you'd like to hear what the daily photo bloggers are doing together worldwide.

 

Blogger Ineke said ... (09:04) : 

This is the weirdest story i heard in a long time :)

 

Blogger Brian Dubé said ... (18:12) : 

We have a lady like that who plants in my local park. The park rangers kept leaving her notes asking her to reveal herself but she wouldn't, they wanted to give her tools and probably advise her what to do. She comes in the night and does what she likes instead...
L

 

Blogger G Fraser said ... (21:30) : 

guerilla gardening...love it! what a fantastic idea and let's just hope that some jobsworth from the Council doesn't come along to remove 'unauthorised' plants.

 

Blogger Ham said ... (22:43) : 

brian&lucy - nice to hear its happening all over!

grant - The wonderful thing is that the council and highways agency are arguing over whose responsibility it is!

 

Blogger G Fraser said ... (20:45) : 

fabulous! I'm sure the guerillas will keep an eye on them even if the council and highway authorities don't!

 

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Name: Ham Location: London, United Kingdom View my complete profile