inspired by @Chance_Lunceford guerilla gardening project in Utah, I decided to share a similar project in southern california.
In the outskirts of los Angeles, around 3 years ago I started secretly planting fruit trees in an overgrown drainage ditch just outside my community, but haven’t had time to adequately water them. recently my friend and neighbor Chris started publicly planting my spare fruit trees in a nearby public park. he didn’t ask the park people for permission first, but when the groundskeeper found out, he readily approved.
here’s Chris planting 3 fruit trees together… pomegranate, ficus cocculifolia and ficus racemosa…
in the background is a java plum (left) and a mango (behind chris). he’s also planted guava, white sapote and figs. I have basically infinite fruit tree seedlings that I can contribute. currently he’s been planting 5 gallon trees but ideally they should be 15 gallon instead. we’re both maxed out on space though so he’s thinking of using his mother’s unused backyard to grow out the seedlings.
the park is 100 acres and only had 3 fruit trees previously… mulberry, avocado and jujube. I should feel a little bad for not counting hollyleaf cherry.
Chris recently introduced me to the garden of the local community college. its small but has quite a few producing fruit trees, mainly avocado and citrus. i thought that all the fruit trees there were common, until I spotted a seedling, which I pointed out to Chris…
it was a jackfruit seedling! hope it makes it.
back in July, I showed Chris a “wild” white sapote tree that i had discovered in our area…
the tree is massive, and was loaded with fruit. somebody planted it in their yard a long time ago, but the city took over the property and removed the house. fortunately they left the white sapote and it managed to survive without any irrigation. I guess when it was abandoned it had already been big enough for its roots to reach the water table (its not the only one).
so the question is, how to convert any park to a fruit park? in my case, I had the fruit trees, knowledge and labor, but lacked, something… gumption? in 2022 I emailed Los Angeles parks and rec…
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Hi,
In Southern Spain there’s a public park with a bunch of subtropical fruit and nut trees…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1dPiavc7eY
How would we go about doing the same thing here?
Cheers,
Carlos
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I received this response…
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Thank you for your interest in collaborating with the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP). In order to fully consider your idea/s and determine the best route to implement actions, we need to obtain some more information about your organization and what type of service you are proposing. Please find below some basic proposal questions to provide us with initial information. If any question is not applicable, merely indicate so.
- Provide Organization legal name, address, phone, website.
- Brief description of proposed program, idea, project, or general proposal.
- What specific RAP site(s) is the Organization interested in?
- How will the program/project be funded, and what is the general program/project budget?
- Is there any program/project sponsorship or grant funding involved? If so who, and are they requesting any form of recognition, promotion, or future facility use?
- Will the program or completed project be free to the community to participate/use? If not, what will the fee(s) be?
- Who is the program/project geared towards serving (adults, seniors, youth, women/girls, men/boys, etc.)?
- How frequently will the program be provided?
- What is the program/project development timeline?
- Has there been any community or Council Office involvement in the program/project planning process?
- Are there organizations or companies (non-funding related) who may/will be involved in the program/project, and if so, in what capacity?
- Will the proposed program/ project be implemented solely by your organization or will another entity be involved?
- Has your organization entered in a similar arrangement/ collaboration in the past with another government agency (local, state, federal)?
- What is expected of Recreation and Parks?
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organization? I wasn’t an organization. I was just one individual willing to donate my fruit trees and labor. basically, it didn’t take much red tape to defeat me. red tape is my kryptonite. and leslie knope wasn’t there to save me.
my friend Chris though didn’t bother with the red tape. last year he mentioned the idea to me, and I nodded along, but I was still mentally bound by the red tape. he didn’t have this baggage weighing him down. this year he just went ahead and started planting. when the park officials eventually find out, they might have the trees removed. hopefully the groundskeeper would give us a heads up and time to rehome the trees. but its not like Chris will go to jail or anything, unlike in barakqua.
in theory we should all want our local park to be a fruit park. have you tried to make this happen? if not, then why not?
hopefully every member of this group will have the opportunity to visit the fruit and spice park in Florida. I visited for the first time last year and it was an incredible experience. for most members of this group its too far. ideally there should be a similar park in every state. this is what Chris and I are attempting here in southern California. 100 acres can potentially home an incredible variety of fruit trees. the same is true even of 10 acres.
a couple years ago I bought a 10 acre orange grove in central Florida (Sebring) that i’m slowly converting into a botanic garden with an emphasis on rare fruits and epiphytes. getting plants from here to there, and having enough time to situate them all, isn’t easy. so i just started sending free fruit tree seedlings and other plants to people in the county (highlands) for the cost of shipping.
involving the local community isn’t my forte. I love connecting with local plant people, but its a real challenge for me to organize them into a force for good. ideally there should already be an organization dedicated to converting parks into fruit parks. right? its a worthy cause.
