Wednesday, August 15, 2012

NEIGHBOURHOOD BULB PROJECT - Westcott

While in Toronto I spent some time trying to figure out how to increase the number of bulbs in Cabbagetown, particularly on public property, other than my own small bits of Guerrilla Gardening.  I just can't scale on my own to the vision I have in my head of loads and loads of bulbs everywhere.

A fundraiser for schools?  
Good idea but requiring a bulb donor if the school is to make money from it.  As a marketer I know that sponsorship is not impossible, but it takes a lot of time to pull together.  I tossed around some ideas but never got anything off the ground before we moved.

Recently I found this inspiring story on the Wescott neighbourhood in Syracuse NY that has been building up its bulb collection since 2003 -  with excellent community participation I should add.  They raise funds and buy bulbs, then give them away with planting instructions to anyone in the 'hood' who promises to plant them in front yards or public spaces so they can be seen and enjoyed by all.  
Awesome.


This is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind and I hope to get off my butt and make it happen in my new neighbourhood of Tuxedo.

Tuxedo has large properties with expansive lawns and we know that people won't plant the bulbs in their lawns because they need to cut those lawns before the bulb foliage will have matured (to ensure the bulbs have energy to bloom in the following year).

This means I'll have to spend some time figuring out where best to plant 'public' bulbs, but I have lots of time since I am giving myself until next fall to distribute any bulbs.  

A quick Google search turned up a few other interesting projects that I will have to dig into:


Suffice it to say I am inspired. 
I will need to investigate what community organizations are already operating in Winnipeg, such as the Friends of Gardens Manitoba, to see what role I can play.  Maybe I'll need to get the ball rolling, but likely there is already great infrastructure I can plug into.

An exciting part about moving to a new city is discovering what it has to offer.

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