Synopses & Reviews
Gardeners, unite! A call to reclaim the drab and neglected urban spaces of our cities and towns through stealth gardening tactics.
Four years ago, Richard Reynolds found himself without a garden to call his own. Stuck in a London apartment building without so much as a windowsill, he began to sneak out under cover of darkness to plant flowers in the building's neglected public flower beds. Encouraged by his victory, he advanced to other "orphaned" patches of land in his neighborhood and reached out for support by setting up a Web site, www.guerrillagardening.org. Before long, thousands of guerrilla gardeners worldwide had enlisted on the site, all stealthily cultivating someone else's land whether to beautify their neighborhoods, to bring their communities together, as a political gesture, or for basic subsistence.
Part manual, part manifesto, On Guerrilla Gardening gives you everything you need to join the revolution. Drawing on the venerable origins of the movement to reclaim our public land, from victory gardens to New York's Green Guerrillas, the book takes us to sites of illicit cultivation from San Francisco to Singapore, London to Libya. Packed with photos, stories of battles won and lost, and practical advice such as how to plan an attack, what plants to have in your arsenal, how to evade the authorities, and how to use propaganda effectively On Guerrilla Gardening is an irresistible invitation to shoulder your shovel and strike out beyond your picket fence.
Review
"Whatever guerilla gardeners bring to life will be eaten and shared by someone or some animal. And that will further light the green fuse, as will getting a copy of this book. Better yet, read it and become one of the growing guerilla army."Alan Bisport, Hartford Advocate
"In tracing the history of the guerrilla gardening movement, be it for beautification or to grow food, Reynolds voice is ardent as he writes about Johnny Appleseed and the Digger colonies that provided sustenance in fifteenthcentury England. Reynolds is most assured when advising readers on choosing specimens for planting their own guerrilla gardens and when expressing love for gardening." Booklist
Charles Bracelen Flood - Ramsey Campbell - Maggie Shayne - L.A. Banks - Kelley Armstrong - Katherine Ramsland - Joe R. Lansdale - Heather Graham - Cory Doctorow - C.J. Henderson - Kirkus - Anthony Quinn - Gahan Wilson - John Fowles - Anthony Quinn - Gahan Wilson - John Fowles - Gene Lyons - Jon Winokur - Neil Walsh - Andrew Leonard - Stephen R. Donaldson - Michael A. Stackpole - Glen Cook - Neil Walsh - Andrew Leonard - Stephen R. Donaldson - Michael A. Stackpole - Glen Cook - Neil Walsh - Stephen R. Donaldson - Jacqueline Carey - Glen Cook - Elizabeth Haydon - David Drake - Dr. Lewis G. Maharam, medical director for the New York City Marathon - Danielle Ofri M.D., Ph.D, author of Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at B - Jane Brody's "Personal Health" column in The New York Times - Ulick O'Connor - Michael Billington - Michael Coveney - Sir Ian McKellen - Blender Magazine - Yoga Journal - The Financial Times (London) - The Guardian (London) - The Sunday Independent (London) - Los Angeles Times - New York Times Book Review - Newsweek - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly (starred) - SF Site - The Dallas Morning News - New York Observer - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly - The New York Times Book Review - USA Today - Salon.com - SF Site - The Good Book Guide - Publishers Weekly - Salon.com - SF Site - The Good Book Guide - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - Booklist - Romantic Times Bookclub - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist, starred review - Publishers Weekly, starred review - San Francisco Chronicle - School Library Journal, starred review - Atlantic Monthly - Houston Post - Library Journal - Los Angeles Times Book Review - Miami Herald - Newsweek - Philadelphia Inquirer - Publishers Weekly - The Chicago Tribune - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Booklist - Interzone - Science Fiction Chronicle - VOYA - Cassandra King, author of The Sunday Wife - Deborah Smith, New York Times bestselling author of A Place to Call Home - Haywood Smith, New York Times bestselling author of the Red Hat Club series - Joshilyn Jackson, author of Gods in Alabama - Larry Habegger, editor, Travelers' Tales Paris - Entertainment Weekly - Kirkus - New Scientist - Newsday - Publishers Weekly - Realms of Fantasy - San Francisco Chronicle - The Sunday Times - The Washington Post - Time Out London - Wired - Library Journal - Entertainment Weekly - Kirkus - New Scientist - Newsday - Publishers Weekly - Realms of Fantasy - San Francisco Chronicle - The Sunday Times - The Washington Post - Time Out London - Wired - Interzone - Library Journal - SF Site - Kirkus - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - USA Today - Library Journal - Publishers Weekly - SciFiDimensions.com - Enigma - SF Site - author of Lee, The Last Years - Australian Bookseller and Publisher - Australian Jewish News - Marie Claire (Australia) - Vogue (Australia) - Enigma - SF Site
Synopsis
When Richard Reynolds began planting flowers secretly at night outside his tower block in South London he had no idea he was part of a growing global movement committed to combating the forces of neglect, land shortage and apathy towards public spaces. But his blog GuerrillaGardening.org attracted other guerrillas from around the world to share their experiences of the horticultural front line with him and become a focal point for guerrilla gardeners everywhere. On Guerrilla Gardening is a lively, colourful treatise about why people illicitly cultivate land and how to do it. From discreetly beautifying corners of Montreal to striving for green communal space in Berlin and sustainable food production in San Francisco, from small gestures of fun in Zurich to bold political statements in Brazil, cultivating land beyond your boundary is a battle many different people are fighting. Unearthed along the way are the movement's notable historic advances by seventeenth century English radicals, a nineteenth century American entrepreneur and artists in 1970s New York. Reynolds has researched the subject with guerrilla gardeners from thirty different countries and compiles their advice on what to grow, how to cope with adverse environmental conditions, how to seed bomb effectively and to use propaganda to win support.
On Guerrilla Gardening gives entertaining inspiration, practical reference and no excuses for not getting out there and gardening.
About the Author
Richard Reynolds was born in 1977 and grew up gardening with his family. His first illegal cultivation was at college, where he planted windowsills with boxes of Busy Lizzies. He has been a guerrilla gardener in earnest since 2004; his Guerrilla Gardening organization now has thousands of active members worldwide and has been featured on ABC, NPR, the BBC, Richard and Judy, the Washington Post, and many other places. Aside from his guerrilla activity, he works as an advertising planner. He lives in London.