BlogTipsEnlistCommunityLinks
Make a donationTroop DigsGetting StartedE-mail
The Incredible Guerrilla Garden of Giant Sunflowers of Parliament
We must thank either negligence or tolerance by the horticultural contractors for the triumphant blooming of giant sunflowers in guerrilla gardens in central London. We planted the seeds back in May and hoped the young plants would not be strimmed away. As you can see we have been successful. Best of all, the sunflowers in the tatty rose bed opposite parliament have now bloomed too as defiant cheerfulness facing our miserable leaders. Perronet House
You may recall International Sunflower Guerrilla Day on
May 1... well these pictures are the result in London. YouIllegal ledge planting
can see more pictures on Flickr and view a short film I
recorded of them on YouTube. Share pictures of your
guerrilla sunflowers in the boards of the Community.
Stamford StreetRed guerrilla gardening sunflower
New Kent RoadNew Kent Road verge planting
Project Ten: Westminster Bridge Road The third annual lavender harvest from our two traffic islands in central London began at the civilised hour of 4pm. The sun dried blooms were ready for picking, stalks and all, back to where the pale new growth is comingHarvest Time
07.08.08Guerrilla gardening on Westminster Bridge Road
10.03.06 Before guerrilla gardeningthrough.
newLavender Pillowsfor sale by October.
Scotland Action!Memorial Mackintosh
Clairwill 3163 and Dr Wilson 3457Gail Porter with guerrilla gardening troops
I get enquiries from all sorts of different media asking to come guerrilla gardening but it is rare they offer to pay for a lot of plants. This contribution came from a highly unlikely source: a TV show fronted by Noel Edmonds (a celebrity famous for fronting a gambling game show, inventing a pink monster called Mr Blobby and being an advocate of Cosmic Ordering). So I said yes and agreed to their help with a new dig in Scotland on the grounds that the suitable plot must be found by an active local guerrilla gardener who would be up for keeping the ‘fight for flowers’ going after we had
left. I found the brilliant Clairwill 3163 (read her blog here)who in turn found orphaned land in an
historic district of Rennie Mackintoshs birthplaceWord was put out on the Community page for
local support and the TV people enlisted Gail Porter to bring some glamour and enthusiasm to what they feared might be rather dull dig. (perhaps because late in the preparations they sought approval from the local council). Thankfully permission was given, (the power of TV / cosmic ordering perhaps) but this also meant the presence of St Andrew’s Ambulance and a pair of security guards was needed. So it was quite unlike any other dig I’ve done, not guerrilla gardening but still a struggle against the urban wilderness. We uncovered some roses amongst the rampant green dogwood and planted Heuchera, Cyclamen, Vinca and Montbretia to tolerate the shady conditions. The dig began at 8pm but was not complete until past 2.30am, but gardening at this time enabled more people to turn up. Enlistment was fantastic. The local troops were not just pleased to be getting stuck into a dig but also for being triggered into finally getting together and share ideas for future projects. The film of the dig
will be broadcast within Noel’s HQ on Sky 1 in the evening of Sunday 14 September 2008.

For blogs earlier in the year clickFor blogs earlier in the year click here