Guerrilla gardeners at work in Calgary neighbourhood - Action News
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Calgary

Guerrilla gardeners at work in Calgary neighbourhood

Potted pink petunias and a wildflower garden have appeared along the Crowchild Trail noise barrier in Briar Hill. Nearby, a large heart has been cut into the grass.

Calgary green thumbs gone rogue in Briar Hill

A guerrilla gardener mowed a heart shape into the grass on a hillside in the northwest Calgary neighbourhood of Briar Hill. The city does not approve of mowing natural grasslands. (Allison Dempster/CBC)

Guerilla gardeners are flexing their green thumbs in northwest Calgary, along the Crowchild Trail noise barrier.

On a section of 24thStreet, the sidewalk pavement gives way to a small plot of wildflowers and fivepots of pink petunias.

"To me it makes the world a little bit more beautiful. Instead of concrete and weeds, you have flowers," said Ted Smith, who planted the roadside garden.

These potted petunias along the Crowchild Trail noise barrier are tended by Ted Smith. "Because I like to make things grow," Smith said. (Allison Dempster/CBC)

"There's nothing sophisticated about what I do. I just go for the most volume of colour, the most expansive greenery that I can get in the short growing season we have in Calgary," he said.

Smith has been tending flowers against the noise barrier for years, and says he has never heard from the city about it.

But there are rules about such things, and Smith does require a permit.

"It's not that the city doesn't appreciate the efforts, we just want to make sure that it doesn't interfere with anyone else's use of that area," said KevinLeitch, a bylaw inspector.

The rogue wildflower garden along the Crowchild Trail sound barrier. (Allison Dempster/CBC)

However, the rogue garden has fans in the neighbourhood.

"I love urban surprises," says Richard White, the writer behind the Everyday Touristblog.

He wants to see Smith's covert planting expanded on. He sees the noise wall as a blank canvas for neighbourhood gardeners.

"I could see that would be lovely with ivy growing up it, or hops or whatever. I mean I think it could be kind of a wonderful linear park."

Not far from the wildflower plot, a different kind of guerrilla gardening is happening. A big heart has been cut into the grass on a hill off 12th AvenueN.W.

That's a no-no, says Leitch.

"That's designated a natural area," he said, urging itchy green thumbs to leave their lawnmowers at home.

"They allow natural grasses and vegetation to grow for a number of different reasons, part of it is erosion and sediment control, water retention, weed control keeping out invasive plants. It provides a habitat for birds and other animals."

Richard White is a fan of the rogue flower garden along the Crowchild Trail noise barrier. He writes about urban living at his 'Everyday Tourist' blog. (Allison Dempster/CBC)