A newsletter from England...Guerrilla Gardeners

Hi all,
It has been a long time since I have posted as the Boulevarden is under show - it still looks beautiful - we planted many grasses and plants that look as good in the winter as they do in the summer - so I am pleased with the winter garden plant architecture. I am already looking through gardening books and seed catalogs...I wish I had a green house again - hopefully soon.

Anyway...I have posted letters from Richard before...he is a guerrilla gardener based in England and his website guerrillagardening.org not only chronicles the escapades of guerrilla gardeners in Europe, but all over the world; the Boulevard is also included on his site.

So happy holidays...

Dear Troops On a day when London was cloaked by a glittering frost I write to you with season’s greetings and bring you guerrilla gardening gifts in the form of: - Three recent digs from Switzerland, Ireland and the USA. - Guerrilla gardeners’ awards - Surprise Hollywood support - A Christmas card to share Digs. Reports of guerrilla gardening activity hit my inbox from time to time, pop up on the GuerrillaGardening.org Community boards and appear on private blogs. I’ve just added reports from Greg 3516 in Zurich, Tampopo 2236 in Dublin and Amy 2903 in Raleigh North Carolina to the Troop Digs section of the website. These three wise guerrillas demonstrate the miracle of a sunflower triumphing in a government planter, the fun of roadside gardening, police sympathy and the power of mulch. Read more and see their pictures at: http://www.guerrillagardening.org/ggtroopdigs.html Awards. In London several different guerrilla gardeners have recently been awarded by benevolent organisations for greening their community. In North London Esther 418 and her youth force (who progressed from being guerrillas to legitimate community gardeners a while ago) added to their trophy cabinet with awards for cultivating both beautiful and wildlife friendly spaces, whilst in South London both Andrew 1679 and I collected engraved trowels and garden vouchers from David Bellamy and the Conservation Foundation on behalf of all those troops who have helped transform a couple of large traffic islands in South London into “blooming marvellous” green corners. Here we are still very much fighting a guerrilla gardening war against the public landowner’s long term neglect, but are most definitely winning. Daryl Hannah Last year Daryl Hannah (or Daryl 1976 as she is known in my guerrilla gardening spreadsheet) tied herself to a tree in Los Angeles to protest against the destruction of the incredible South Central Farm. I knew about this but I had no idea she was going to visit me. With just one hours warning from a journalist she turned up at my front door a couple of weeks ago carrying a large wooden flagpole and a digital video camera. She was keen to learn more about guerrilla gardening and so whilst she asked questions and filmed I showed her around Southwark and pointed out where guerrilla gardeners had struck. Last year Adam 276 (a New York guerrilla gardener of thirty years) had told me with a tone that expressed both pride and fatherly caution that celebrities would one day descend. In his case Lady Astor and President Clinton had stopped by to visit the Clinton Community Garden. I didn’t expect my visit would be from an actress who is sadly still most famous for dressing up as a fish. Despite her sudden, perhaps rude splash she was delightful and I encourage you to browse her eco-video blog at http://www.dhlovelife.com The story about her visit to London is published here: http:// women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/ article2982771.ece GuerrillaGardening.org Christmas Card Last summer Patti 1253’s donated her elderly Christmas tree to GuerrillaGardening.org and Kit 018 and I planted it on the barren corner of St George’s Circus in South London. Later that year guerrilla gardeners decorated it and from a photo of the festive tree I have made a Christmas Card. You can download a copy of the card as a PDF file from the link below and you are welcome to print and post it to your friends. http://www.guerrillagardening.org/christmascard/gg_christmascard.pdf Until 2008, that’s the news from GuerrillaGardening.org