A little while back I posted an article about guerilla gardening. Well this weekend we were out and about in the city, and I noticed that somebody had been doing a bit of guerilla gardening in our neighborhood, and it wasn’t me. They haven’t planted any food crops – only ornamentals – but the photos will give you a pretty good indication of how much even a handful of flowering plants improves the look of an area.

Here’s the first one we came across, a little garden planted in the dead space around one of the plane trees that line the street. I estimated the cost: Fence – $6. Topsoil – $5. Plants – $4. So for around $15 US, some kindly neighbor utterly transformed the entire feel of this space.

Check out the next tree over as you go up the street.

Big difference, no?

Here’s another one farther down the road.

And again, the tree immediately to the right.

And now the last garden we came to on the street. This one was considerably larger and more ambitious, and it looked great!

I want to make clear that this is not the city government that is doing this, it’s simply a local resident or residents who are taking the time and effort to beautify their little corner of Budapest. And doing a marvelous job, I must say.

Now imagine if hundreds, even thousands of people in this city, or in your city, took it into their heads and hands to guerilla garden a small space in their neighborhood. Imagine these dead zones planted with tomatoes, sunflowers, strawberries, beans, squash, nasturtiums, you name it. People could not only admire the beauty of the area, they could harvest fresh veggies as well. Their kids would get to see green things growing rather than dog shit and broken bottles.

I will probably never meet the person or people who took the initiative here, and it’s almost certain that they will never read these words. But I want to say thanks – you are making the lives of the people around you just a bit better, just a bit brighter, and for that you have my deepest gratitude and appreciation. Nagyon szépen köszönöm – Thank you very, very much.

For more information, resources, advice, and organizations in your area, see:

• Pam Warhurt’s TED talk
• Guerrilla Gardening.Org
• Geurrilla Gardening.Org’s Community Pages
• How to Start Guerilla Gardening
• The Secret Life of the Guerrilla Gardener
• Green Guerillas.Org