News / guerrilla gardening
Guerrilla gardening highlights climate emergency
Thousands of daffodils have appeared as if by magic on a roundabout spelling out the words ‘Earth’ and ‘fragile’.
They are the work of a team of guerrilla gardeners who planted the bulbs towards the end of last year on Lime Kiln Roundabout at the junction of Bridgwater Road and the South Bristol Link Road just outside the city boundary.
The location has not been chosen at random, with Bristol Airport just down the road and the roundabout containing the remains of lime kilns that used to make concrete.
is needed now More than ever
“It’s quite a job to get flowers to flower as you want them to, and to plant them so you don’t have any typos,” says Tim Robertson, a garden designer and artist from Cotham who led the team of volunteers responsible for the colourful display.
Volunteers worked in pairs wearing hi-vis and PPE, pegging out the lettering before the 3,000 Narcissi bulbs were planted during a number of early mornings.
“You have to be very systematic about it,” says Tim. “We were very organised and looked very official.”
Guerrilla gardeners planting the bulbs on Lime Kiln Roundabout in late-2020 – photo: Tim Robertson
For Tim, the artwork “is looking at human fragility and the fragility of our planet”.
It took months, however, for Tim and his team to know if the flowers would appear as they had planned them to appear.
“It was literally a planting session for the future at an uncertain time, without immediate gratification, with an uncertain result.
“The reward for those who took part was to be part of something conscious and positive, with the hope in uncertain times of a more positive future.”
The daffodils spell out the words ‘Earth’ and ‘fragile’ – photo: Martin Booth
Lime Kiln Roundabout is not the only location where Tim has done some guerrilla gardening in Bristol.
He has previously planted fruit trees and wild food, but is now moving onto larger projects with flowers spelling out ‘help’ due to appear soon on a verge next to the M32.
“‘Help’ is quite an urgent word. But it’s also a message that we can all help.”
Main photo and video by Martin Booth
Read more: The rise of grassroots growing projects in Bristol
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