The Guerrilla Gardner

Our part of town has been stable forever, but finally the last of the IBM-ers from the 1960's surge that led to the building of the neighborhood are dying out.  We learned from the utility guys painting fluorescent lines on the ground and planting little flags that the house next door and the one across the street are going to both be demolished and replaced with something fancier.

We kind of thought as much when the children of the next-door-neighbor came and dug up some ancient gardenia bushes, but this nailed it.  Knowing that both houses had been occupied by gardeners, Paula asked and received permission to 'liberate' some of the small plants and flagstones that would be destroyed by the new construction.  Recognize that Paula is the Guerrilla Gardner of North Hills.  For instance, the other day on our morning walk, she came across an amaryllis bulb with big white flowers in someone's yard waste barrel and so she 'liberated' it.  

Among the specimens to be preserved were some lovely hellebores, a low-growing plant that blooms in the winter, 

as well as some Arum italicum, a pretty shade-happy lily.

Luckily, her aggressive 'liberating' hasn't gone beyond legal limits...yet.  If I were the neighbors, I'd watch out for my gardens.  I'm just sayin'.

Dave