Guerrilla Gardening

Posted on May 7, 2008 Under Eco

When we used to sneak out of our parents house in high school, it was just to party and drink beer. When Richard Reynolds started sneaking out at night, it was to plant flowers in front of his flat. We're sure it made his neighbors happy, but he had no idea that it would turn him into some kind of gardening superhero, fighting the forces of neglect, land shortage, and public apathy for garden aesthetics. He began recruiting his friends and started a blog called Guerrilla Gardening.

Years later the movement has inspired communities to don dark clothes and plant colorful flowers at night, throwing seed bombs out of car windows. He has recruited "troops" that have started chapters in New York, Berlin and other major cities. And their nighttime activities earned them praise from everyone from Esquire to Al Gore for fighting neighborhood filth with forks and flowers. Read all about Reynold’s green days and wild nights in his new book, On Guerrilla Gardening.