Montreal man turns to 'guerilla gardening' to beautify neighbourhood - Action News
Home WebMail Saturday, November 23, 2024, 04:03 AM | Calgary | -12.0°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Montreal

Montreal man turns to 'guerilla gardening' to beautify neighbourhood

Sebastien Caron is asking people to adopt and care for sunflowers he's planted in the Gay Village.

Sebastien Caron is asking people to adopt and care for sunflowers in the Gay Village

Last week, Sbastien Caron and a group of friends took to the streets to plant more than 100 sunflowers. (Submitted by Sebastien Caron)

In an act of what he calls "guerilla gardening," hobby gardener Sbastien Caron took to the streets with a group of friends and planted more than 100 sunflowers around his neighbourhood.

Dubbed the SunflowerMascarade, the group set out to make the Gay Village that much greener.

"I thought they could almost replace a tree," he told CBC Montreal'sDaybreak. "My boyfriend and I got on a Bixione day and cycled around and mapped all the tree spots that had a tree missing."

The sunflowers, planted in empty tree spots, can grow up to 7 feet tall. (Submitted by Sebastien Caron)

He started small last year byplanting 15 sunflowers, about half of which made it to the end of the summer.

"The others were stolen or trampled," he explained. "The ones that did survive became quite the sensation around our house. They were at least sevenfeettall."

Now he's thinkingbigger, with 107 plants in the ground and a campaign going around on social media to encourage other residents to adopt and care for the flowers.
Each sunflower they planted has a number attached and anyone can adopt one by registering on the Facebook page. (Submitted by Sebastien Caron)

"Around every plant we put a little fence," said Caron. "Theydon'trequire that much care."

Each plant has anumber attached to it and anyone can adopt a sunflower by registering on theFacebookpage.

So far, says Caron, 68 flowers have been adopted.

"It becomes your sunflower baby," he said.

Caron and his partner mapped out the locations of all the empty tree slots where they could plant sunflowers in the Gay Village. (Submitted by Sebastien Caron)

With files from CBC Montreal's Daybreak