Guerrilla gardening- planting flowers and edibles in untended pockets of cities- is a growing phenomenon. This article looks at a group of Toronto residents who've turned ugly medians into lush gardens.
"Terry Aldebert, the east Toronto director for the Public Space guerrilla gardening group, says volunteers do it at their own expense, on their own time, and with little or no thanks or fanfare. The grassroots movement is driven by ordinary people who want to make a difference in their own community, she says.
"I got involved with guerrilla gardening because I didn't have a yard and I wanted to get into gardening," Aldebert explains simply, taking a break from weeding a new garden at the corner of Boston Avenue and Dundas Street on the city's east side.
The spot, now the home of a lush, colourful, robust garden that has changed the feel of the entire intersection, used to be the overgrown corner of a weed-infested parking lot.
"I chose this spot specifically because I used to walk my dogs here and I saw that it had fallen into disrepair and I thought we could make it beautiful again," Aldebert, a University of Toronto instructor, tells CTV.ca."
Read the full story: Guerrilla gardeners break the law with 'green' graffiti
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello