-The sort of short sentence of guerilla gardening
is gardening on public property without permission.
But essentially, it's finding plots all over the city
that are dirty or overrun with weeds
and trash and things like that and then going in
and making it a garden, making it pretty.
-It's fun to have that sort of sense of danger,
even though there's no real danger
of anything really happening 'cause if anybody stops us
or anything like that, it's always like,
"What are you guys doing?" -"We're gardening."
And wait, and they're like, "Okay. Good."
And they leave.
-When you have taken a piece of land that had trash
and weed and wasn't taken care of, and then, you know,
the next morning, you have a garden there
and then you come back a week later, you know,
a month later, a year later
and you see how that's transformed the neighborhood,
it's a really great feeling to know that you caused the change.
-We originally started at night.
That was sort of the "guerilla."
Someone went to bed with no garden and woke up
and walked out and saw a garden.
There's kind of -- That's a cool element.
So I think that's something that I get out of it.
But I think the most important for me is building community.
Do you guys want to garden? Yeah?
-Seriously, you want to? -Grab a shovel.
-Come on, man. Here. -Come on.
-It's amazing to see all these different people
who never would have met otherwise
and have this kind of common interest.
Again, maybe not massive gardeners,
but just an interest in sort of beautifying
and taking ownership of something.
-So, what we do is we garden and find spots,
like, out in public.
There isn't anything here, right?
So we just find a spot like this
and we plant plants and we're like -- We just do it.
We don't ask for permission or anything like that.
We just do it. -[ Laughs ]
-Go ahead, man. Dig a hole. Go for it.
-Awesome. Let's do it. -See how it goes.
-The most diverse group of people I've ever met
has been through guerilla gardening.
People who are producers of movies
and, like, homeless people.
All ages, from, like, tiny, tiny kids to people in their --
probably in their 90s who wouldn't be interacting
in any other way.
-For me, I'm kind of a spontaneous,
want-to-get-it-done-now person.
That's what's great 'cause I could right now say,
"Oh, I see a spot," and then tomorrow
show up with plants and put it in.
-I heard about guerilla gardening
a few months before my birthday,
and I was like, "Oh, that would be a great idea
to do that, rather than going out to a bar
and getting drinks or whatever.
Hey, everybody, we're gonna make a garden.
Bring some plants."
-Kenneth and I actually dated for I don't -- a year, I think.
And so... [ Laughs ]
So actually, during when we did our first garden,
it was for his birthday, and we were dating
and then decided it would be awesome
to try to start a company together. [ Laughs ]
We did and now we are here and it's worked out.
-We put up a website
so that people could get the information.
It wasn't meant to be,
like, this organization or anything like that.
It just became that afterwards.
Do you want -- So, do you want the Kalanchoe on this side?
-We worked really hard to, you know,
remain friends and keep it kosher and great.
And, yeah, I'm glad, actually.
I don't think we would be friends
without guerilla gardening.
-Guerilla gardening has really changed the way
that I've looked at the world in general.
I'm constantly looking for a place to put a garden.
-My mom always makes fun 'cause she used to
make my brother and I, you know, weed or do stuff
in her yard, but we hated it.
And now I'm running a gardening organization.
I learned, actually, that there's something
really great about touching dirt and being, like --
and it sounds a little cheesy,
but to be kind of one with the earth
and actually get in there and do that,
which I think in a city like L.A.,
a lot of people don't get to do that
because you don't have a backyard.
It's most important to know that if you want to do it,
you can, and you should do it tomorrow.
I mean, it's easy.
-The way to start a guerilla garden --
First thing is you want to do a little bit of research
about what type of plants work well for your area.
-What we do is all succulents and drought-tolerants,
so it's actually really easy to maintain.
There's not a ton of water.
-And then you start figuring out,
"Where can I find the spot that's gonna work?"
-Small is better than big.
You want something you can kind of maintain.
The bigger it gets, the harder it is to take care of.
-Places that are near where you live, where you work,
or where you go to school
because you want to take care of the garden
and not just plant it once and leave it
because it might turn into what you had. Just do it.
You know, a lot of people think,
"Oh, it's got to be a perfect spot
in the perfect conditions."
You know, experiment, throw something in there,
see what happens.
You know, a lot of people ask, like,
"Is guerilla gardening a political statement?"
Guerilla gardening for me isn't a political statement.
It's just something that I want to do for my community.
I just hope that it inspires other people
to take ownership of their own community,
their own area, and it causes them
to be inspired to take action.