security systems.......

We've put up a few signs, 'please don't steal our plants' kind of idea, we'll see if it helps!

You wouldn't believe what I did the other day.... I had a clump of bamboo to plant in the shade garden. We dug a hole, inserted a plastic ring (a sawn-off barrel) --(which should help retain the bamboo's invasiveness)--and ran wire around the plant, ran it around the ring a few times and then around a hunk of concrete!! Then we burried it all and we put the bamboo in fairly deep as well, so we'll see how that works as a deterrent! ...Unbelievable that we went to such lengths, but then it can be pretty unbelievable what goes on in that alley as well...





but now the bamboo's
starting to grow! (don't mind the mess to the right there... trying to stop the wood wall from rotting.)

stolen plants

The first time someone stole a slew of plants, everyone was afraid to tell me. They tip-toed around me and waited for the right time to deliver the news. After the rock wall for the shade garden had been filled with soil, I threw some cheap plants in to brighten things up. I put in 9 tulips and 10 $0.54 primroses. I wasn't attached to the plants at all. I didn't know what colour the tulips would be and I've always found primroses to be a bit gaudy.





the spring flowers to fill in the soil at first, (they all got stolen a week or so later)







Anyways, when my husband told me the news, he acted as if he had to tell me that my pet hamster had died. It was fine, I reassured him, I had been expecting it all along. I was surprised it had taken until now for someone to steal flowers. I was relieved it was just the gaudy/unkown flowers though.

I took the news so well... but then the landslide happened. Day after day, plant after plant went missing. Then blooming flowers got cut off en masse. Suddenly, the garden that I had thought was terribly over-planted was thin and shabby-looking. I was so discouraged (and not to mention busy with kids) that I mostly left things for a month or so. Now I've opted to grow cuttings from my own yard and divide plants from my friends. Cheap and easily replaceable!

Yes, in the last month 54 plants have been stolen. But, at the same time, I recovered irises, lillies and a peony from Julie's yard as she was clearing some space. (Some of them got stolen--the peony was about to bloom, that one hurt-- but I consoled myself that I'd rescued the plants from the garbage anyways.) Julie also divided some bamboo for me. Crocosmia from my parents' garden, daisies from the side of hwy #1, geraniums from the neighbours and various plant divisions from my own yard have made their way to the garden.

This, in general, maybe a better way to go. It's inexpensive and if they're stolen, more is readily available!

I had debated for weeks about whether to plant periwinkle in the shade plot. (I know, don't I have anything better to do? But I'm not constantly thinking about it, it's just on my mind as I look at other gardens as I walk around the neighbourhood.) While periwinkle tolerates shade, it can sperad rapidly and if left unattended, it can really take over and look a bit scruffy.

Finally, I decided that I didn't really want a ground cover, I was going for a mixed border look. But, the following week, someone had plunked a handful of periwinkle into the soil! I quickly watered it and it's taken hold beautifully! I threw all of my debating out the window--who can argue with random acts of kindness? Not only was it a thoughtful anonymous act, but it meant to me that someone else in the community was taking a little ownership of the garden too. How ironic that someone had planted periwinkle, I wondered if they had knowingly planted it in a shade spot or if it had been coincidence.

Fluid Gardening

Glen and Hastings

May 2006

I can see that these are going to be fluid landscapes. Not only do they change with the growing seasons, but in the last month or so, around 55 plants have been stolen (27 plants and 27 or so tulips cut off).

So now: how to respond to this? During the initial planting of sun garden #1 I (and many of my friends and family) fully expected that all of the plants might've disappeared the following day. I tried to contain my excitement as the only vandals the following day had brought were the crows after my bulbs. Each day that passed brought more hope for the longevity and potential of the project.

As the plants took root, my own attachment also took root into that soil. I knew better, but despite my ongoing efforts to remain divested and detached, the gardens and their contents (now the sun garden doubled and a shade garden in the alley) begain to seem like they would be permanent fixtures.

After about 6 month, there had been no vandalism and in fact, a few people had added elements of their own : a butterfly lawn ornament showed up one day and a duck head (broken umbrella handle) had been placed in the sun garden a few days before that.

At one point, a day lily went missing. I thought it odd that someone would steal it in March or so--to the untrained eye it would just look like a few long leaves. There were other colorful plants around it, but maybe the person knew what they were doing. The day lily might've been the most expensive plant out there. But, right before the daylily was stolen, I had come accross a bunch of lilies that had been in a rubbish heap in our alley. Another house was throwing out a bucket so excitedly scooped up the lillies and brought them home in the bucket!

Now that I've thought about it, I've realized that they'd perform differently, but I initially shrugged off the day lily loss, excited that I just happened to have some replacement lillies. (and I happened to find some day lillies on sale a few months later for $10 cheaper anyways!)

This seems to be the pattern of the gardens. As plants disappear, new ones present themselves. It's fluid gardening. (Sometimes with an alarmingly high turn-over rate!) For some time, I had been poring over library books on gardening, analyzing yards, drawing diagrams, all in the name of finding the perfect sustainable landscape designs for the gardens. I now realize that the design of these gardens will be much more liquid than any of my research can predict. It's as if the gardens are my hands cupping water, some water slips through my fingers but then friends and strangers top it up.

Glen & Hastings

Fall 2005

This garden was planted to bring colour and hope to a neglected and desperate part of Vancouver city. In an industrial neighborhood where many sex-trade workers spend hours-- day and night, the plot's location is on Glen, just off of Vancouver's notorious East Hastings.

Needles, used condoms, garbage and makeshift homes can be found within feet of the flowers you see here.

Although what you see in early pictures are mostly annuals, there are plenty of perennials and bulbs laying in wait.

Some people have laughed at my efforts as they've walked past, but smiles and appreciative comments have come from many others. Several women in the alley have complimented the garden and usually strike up a conversation with me about their history of gardening or a story of why they like flowers. One sex-worker even helped me haul bags of soil that were to be dumped on the garden one day!

The goal is to develop sustainable beauty that will enrich the lives in the neighborhood for years to come, even after we've left our rental spot in the neighborhood.

The first plot planted was sun garden #1, soon to be expanded if I have anything to do with it! (Lots of room for expansion!)





The sun garden looked something like this BEFORE












sun garden DURING
early spring 2006










sun garden AFTER
(although it looks much different now, more pix to come!)
late spring 2006










Next up is the shade garden in the corner....

the Shade Garden

Shade garden BEFORE











the shade garden AFTER

Amazing things grow in Vancouver!

Before I really get into the guerrilla gardening projects, I think I'll post some photos from our yard. Most things have been planted by other people but we get to enjoy them.

I've been really into container gardening at home. After moving from a hot dry climate, I was impressed by how many things can be grown in containers in Vancouver. I have about 45 pots on the go right now, from asparagus, spinach and rasberries to daylillies, clematis and a willow tree. It's a lot of fun!

Hopefully this blog won't be too confusing. I thought of making a few different ones, one for the yard, one for my project gardens and possibly one for plants I see when I'm out and about but that's just going to make my life too complicated on my end. SO hopefully you can follow, this will basically serve as a window into my world of gardening! KB




I bought these irises a few years ago at the Strathcona Community Garden sale for a few dollars. They were small when I bought them but they're at least 1.5m tall! I planted them in this marshy spot... this is the first year they've bloomed and there's 7-8 blooms at a time!












I like the headless angel with the rhododendrons. There's all kinds of interesting sculptures hiding out in the garden.