Upper Peninsula of Michigan

My husband and I are in the Marquette (Michigan) area and would love to connect with other Guerrilla Gardeners in the U.P... We have some spots in mind, but really need more help =)

While not quite guerrilla gardening... we're working on earning our Master Gardener Certificates from the MSU Extension and would like to start a community garden in our town of Ishpeming. Here's our website so far: http://ishpeming.thewebpage.net/garden/

Winter came late to us and we got tricked into thinking that Spring was coming early too.... so, we started planning our own gardening projects already.... one thing on my list of personal gardening includes splitting the hostas that were already well established in our yard... and I plan to donate them to our GG efforts... whatever those efforts end up being this Spring =)

My husband and I recently attended a workshop presented by our local conservation office and forest service on the topic of invasive species. It was very inspiring and made me realize that, for us, our guerrilla gardening efforts here ought to be of native plants.

Our cities already have the parks and sidewalks covered with petunias and flower baskets.... but the real need for us is to get into the roadsides and replace the spotted knapweeds and garlic mustards with more fireweed and purple lupine.

We've been collecting seeds over the past year and will make it our goal to get started with more native species planting.

     I visited the Marquette area about once a year from 1979-2000, I enjoyed the trip from my former home in Lake Orion. I did a little Guerrilla Gardening there even before I was aware of the concept. From my home in southern Michigan, I sometimes had volunteer trees pop up in my yard. I dug them up and planted them elsewhere.

     I distinctly remember planting a Black Walnut near the mouth of Roxbury Creek (into Whitefish Bay), a Boxelder in Luce County (near Crisp Point Lighthouse), and a Silver Maple along the road from Marquette to Big Bay (County Road 550, I think).

     I made it a ritual of mine to swim in Lake Superior every year. Of course, you know that there are two types of water in Lake Superior: frozen ice and melted ice! The UP was a great place for photographing lighthouses and waterfalls. If I could find Thimbleberries, I'd pick them and eat them immediately!  Oh, yes, I also tried a cudighi in 1979, and I've been hooked ever since! Alas, my last visit was in August 2001....

     I don't know when I'll be back, but if you could plant more Thimbleberries, I would be grateful!

Yay! We'll have to go looking for that silver maple on the Big Bay road

... we picked thimbleberries last summer and made jam and wine and had lots of seeds left over (though, we're not sure yet if they are viable), but if you know of a moist shady spot in Wyoming to plant them, we'd be happy to send you a liberal supply of thimbleberry seeds. PM (Private Message) me your mailing address =)

We went out last night and did some covert seed planting near the public library and a couple of barren areas near the highway. I'll right up a detailed report and send it in this weekend =)

I am a student at Northern Michign University and I am extremely interested in getting involved guerilla gardening this spring.  I learned of this activiity at a MSSC meeting this fall and i think it's a great idea.  I definetly feel that only native plants should be planted.  There are many other students at Northern who are very interested in this as well.  Be in touch...

Greetings GreenUP! My husband and I are definitely still interested in doing some GG in Marquette area... I was on campus a bit this fall and was disappointed by the islands of weeds in the parking lot near the LRC ... sounds like a project to me *grins* ... email me and we'll start planning for spring! beatrixspinster@yahoo.com

Hello GGs.  Am wondering if anyone is around the Mackinac bridge area.