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Guerrilla Gardening Secretly Greens New York
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 3, 2008
Modified Jun 3, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 3, 2008
Modified Jun 3, 2008
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The worldwide Guerrilla Gardening movement has been around in some form for quite a while, in New York the Green Guerillas even took over a vacant lot on Bowery in the 70s. Since then some residents of the city have been embracing the idea of secretly beautifying the landscape and beginning their own guerrilla groups here. There's solo mission seed bombings and joining community tilling troupes like Bushwick's Trees Not Trash...but what about the more "illicit cultivation," the more underground nocturnal planting.
The New York section of the GG message board seems to be somewhat active as of late, with one entirely too short thread discussing where the most horticulturally neglected places in the city are. Some locales brought up were the US Passport Office on Varick St, a lot where the Q/B crosses the grid between Woodruff and Crooke Aves, and East New York. What other major (and minor) patches of land or lots need to be greened? Maybe the plant-barren Williamsburg State Park could use some guerrilla interest.
Last year Web Urbanist explained that while guerrilla gardening "is a kind of graffiti or vandalism - just done with plants instead of spray cans," it rarely gets people into trouble (though it has in the past). If you see a patch of land in need of some green, here are some tips on becoming a guerrilla gardener. And if you look closely, you'll see secret gardens in even the smallest of places.
Guerrilla Garden in Red Hook, circa 2006, via Apartment Therapy.
Tagged
gardening
Gardens
guerrilla
guerrilla gardening
plants
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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