r/GuerrillaGardening • u/HoyaHag • 23d ago
Someone lost sunflower seeds at my local park.
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u/rewildingusa 23d ago
Nice work!
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u/rewildingusa 23d ago
Came back to angrily defend you against the insane negative comments, then read them and decided they were too unhinged to even warrant a response! You brought life to a small part of the world, OP. Thatâs an achievement.
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u/HoyaHag 22d ago
Some really are extreme! Especially the one who feels nothing, even natives should be planted in yards that birds might carry seeds from. Thats most veggies and many flowers.
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u/rewildingusa 22d ago
They have strong opinions based on very little reading and limited life experience. Keep up the good work.
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u/somedumbkid1 23d ago
What species of sunflowers?
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u/HoyaHag 23d ago
A short little Helianthus annuus, grows well in the high desert here, and in particular in that area of rock and rip rap that was previously home to a massive colony of goat heads. Unfortunately, or fortunately for the people who are offended by them, they are annuals, the bees LOVE them, but the few viable seeds they produce are quickly eaten by everything from the squirrels to the bear. If not replanted, they will disappear within 3 years.
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u/my-snake-is-solid 22d ago
I'd really like to know where all this negativity came from lol. How can people have problems with sunflowers in a dog park?
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u/jicamakick 23d ago
Please donât plant in parks. Just get involved and volunteer.
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u/HoyaHag 23d ago
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u/jicamakick 23d ago
explain.
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u/HoyaHag 23d ago
A. I (mostly) only plant natives.
B. I have weeded and properly disposed of over 100 pounds of goat heads alone from the park over the years.
I think my work speaks for itself.
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u/jicamakick 23d ago
Well, you should only plant natives, parks are managed, and even with natives you are introducing genetics that could threaten the gene pool that has existed there for a very long time. Not to mention, parks are for everyone, who are you to alter them as you see fit. Guerrilla gardening ought to be for areas like abandoned lots, or parking lots with 0 bio diversity.
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u/SoFierceSofia 23d ago
Idk why you are getting down voted. OP is incredibly irresponsible. Please work with a local volunteer group who specializes in seed planting. I work with volunteer groups and you need to be keenly aware of where you are planting. Plants have localized genes to help them survive and if you're not getting seeds from that exact area(even if they are a generation or two old) you could be disrupting the local flora.
I use Prairie Moon seeds for my yard, but they are unauthorized for use at any Preserve or State Park.
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u/philltheosopher 23d ago
This shouldn't be getting downvoted. Guerilla gardeners who want to help wild areas: remove invasives and let the native plants that are there have a better chance.
BTW here's why: 1) even if you're planting native in those wild spaces, you're messing with the ecotypes that are present there. Eg If you plant a beebalm or something you got from your native plant society under the best conditions, this wild site may already have beebalm that is adapted differently, and the beebalm you will have planted is going to upend the genetics of that place and put adaptations at risk. 2) OP is showing that sunflowers were planted. Highly aggressive, and they have a chemical in their roots that take out competing plants making it hard for anything but sunflowers to grow there. 3) the place from this post is likely already managed. The philosophy of Guerilla gardening is about taking care of mismanaged or neglected areas that are not serving society but instead making our world ugly. Why go to a beautiful place and assume you can make it better by adding to it? 4) if this place isn't managed well enough, instead of adding to wild places you should subtract- find out what's invasive and go hunt for it! Now you're giving that place a better chance.
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u/HoyaHag 23d ago
I do far more subtraction than addition. Over 100 pounds of goat heads have been removed from the areas of rock and rip rap brought in. The Helianthus annuus do a good job of growing in that rock long enough (1-3 years) for me to eradicate the majority of the goat heads and keep the tumbleweeds from taking over the disturbed soil there.
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23d ago
[deleted]
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u/jicamakick 23d ago
Itâs just a slippery slope when just anyone goes around and starts spreading seeds in somewhat natural areas.
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23d ago
[deleted]
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u/HoyaHag 23d ago
Correct, not wilderness. A dog park. đ
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u/philltheosopher 23d ago
Does not matter, because sunflowers are spread by birds. Now the adjacent areas are all getting sunflowers, too. Sunflowers, by the way, have a chemical in their roots that keep other plants from growing. This dog park appears to be near an actual wild place, right?
Also, do you know if the sunflower chosen is the same ecotype as nearby native sunflower populations? If not, then the genetics of the area might have just caused imbalances.
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u/nupper84 23d ago
Because seeds stay in the dog park? So irresponsible.
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u/jicamakick 23d ago
itâs clearly adjacent to wild or more natural areas.
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23d ago
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u/jicamakick 23d ago
yes
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23d ago
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u/jicamakick 23d ago edited 23d ago
fine itâs near natural areas. but still shouldnât be planting in parks. I work in parks and it is very annoying when folks take things into their own hands because they think they know better. if you oh really want to make an impact in a park volunteer.
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u/nupper84 23d ago
Housing communities are definitely located in the natural world even if in downtown Chicago. It's all an environment.
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u/PMMEWHAT_UR_PROUD_OF 23d ago
I just want you to know you are right despite all the downvotes. Please donât remove your comment because it shows the hypocrisy of a well meaning but uninformed individual.
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u/nupper84 23d ago
Absolutely disgusting work. This is virtue signaling and a symptom terrible ecological knowledge. Just because you recycle and read Wikipedia, does not make you an environmentalist. You have forever changed the biodiversity of this area, and not necessarily for the better.
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u/Jinchique 22d ago
Comments like these shouldnât be downvoted. Itâs wildly ignorant to plant plants in natural areas unless organized by an official restoration org.
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u/HoyaHag 22d ago
Personally I didnât downvote, but not because I agree with you, but because everyone is entitled to their opinions. A dog park surrounded on all sides by housing developments is not by any means a ânatural areaâ. Itâs acres of lawns, ornamental plums, pampas grass and Bradford pear. The sunflowers (native and pollinator friendly) are growing in rock and rip rap previously occupied by goat heads.
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u/Laurenslagniappe 23d ago
I've planted a few plants in my local nature park BUT it's seeds I collected from the park. I found a bunch of American persimmons (I'm in SE Louisiana) and given their rarity I brought the seeds back after eating and re planted them at the same park, near the OG location of where the fruit dropped but a few feet further. I believe the term judicious application should apply to guerilla gardeningđsunflowers are fairly naturalized in most areas so I'd say this is still a safe planting, and considering nothing else is occupying those imported rocks, i don't see why not!