Love this idea! We need some in DC.
Maybe food bearing plants? Swiss chard? Tomatoes?

This rules! It's like creating The Curious Garden!

The ground at my local dog park has gotten really bad- clumps of grass surrounded by sunken earth. It's so bad you could turn your ankle on the uneven ground. It finally occurred to me to bring some grass seed and spread it around for the upcoming rains. Since it is city property, I just casually dropped the seed from my pockets- kind of like the prisoners getting rid of dirt from the tunnels they were digging in The Shawshank Redemption ;)

This makes me a bit sad :( I love this idea but I bet it'd be frowned upon around Phoenix. This area down here in the southwest is overrun with HOA a**holes who love nothing better than to shear every last bush and shrubbery into a tight little ball ( shudder ) I find it very hard to stay calm when talking about them. I don't know how or when this trend began but it's like a cancer and even regular people start to become brainwashed and you see neighborhoods everywhere with nasty little balls of Texas Sage balancing precariously atop an over manicured lawn. It's just horrifying and then when you try to talk to people about it, they just give you this blank stare. It's like The Stepford Wives down here. Here's the crazy thing, as a valley, we spend so much time and money artificially irrigating everything only to shave the living daylights out of the poor things that are just desperately trying to be what they are, beautiful green bushes and trees. It makes NO sense whatsoever. Sorry for the rant, this is why I read blogs like this, it's my way to escape to normalcy. So, people around here would be up in arms to discover the emerging beauty of a randomly tossed seed bomb. Sad, very sad :(

This is so cool. It's kinda like reverse-vandalism...it seems like you'd get the same thrill you'd get if you were doing something "wrong" - you throw it and run, looking over your shoulder - but it's constructive and good for the earth. I wanna buy one of those vending machines!

love it!

Please make sure that you're not introducing some invasive non-native species.

Pretty cool! Newburgh could use this too. Although, it would have to be as Palmetto said.

@ 56dustbunny, I live in Phoenix tooooo! This place is a wasteland! Although, I live in Central Phoenix and spend a lot of time in Tempe, and I can't really see anyone getting angry about seed bombs. BUT I could see that happening in Scottsdale or Chandler or something like that.

Living here makes me feel dead inside :(

I am with you! I live in Highland Park and work downtown, and I would LOVE to have some of these at the ready, esp. on my late night bike rides round the hood. So many bare, earthen lots or spaces to green up!!!!!!

From the forecast, it looks like we might have rain on Sunday. Saturday would be a good day for green-bombing!

Okay, now I'm afraid that the government will see my prior post and get the wrong idea.

Pocket Guerrilla Gardening?

Would be interesting to know what sort of seed are in the ball...

You can get these in SF outside of Bi-Rite! I've also been looking for a good place for mine. I never seem to have them when I see a need.

@Palmetto - it looks like they sell different varieties based on your region... For instance:

For TX & OK

Dwarf Coneflower
Golden Wave Tickseed
Lance-Leaved Coreopsis
Sulpher Cosmos
Purple Prairie Clover
Purple Coneflower
Annual Gaillardia
Baby's Breath
Candytuft
Texas Bluebonnet
Lemon Mint
Dwarf Evening Primrose
Showy Evening Primrose
Corn poppy
Annual Phlox
Prairie Coneflower
Clasping Conflower
Black-Eyed Susan
Scarlet Sage

Formulated for most of TX except the extreme Eastern and Southern parts, and most of OK except the extreme Eastern parts.

---- or -----
For the NorthEast

New England Aster - Aster novae-angliae
Cornflower - Centaurea cyanus
Siberian Wallflower - Cheiranthus allionii
Shasta Daisy - Chrysanthemum maximum
Lance/Leaved Coreopsis - Coreopsis lanceolata
Larkspur - Delphinium ajacis
Sweet William Pinks - Dianthus barbatus
Purple Coneflower - Echinacea purpurea
Indian Blanket - Gaillardia pulchella
Annual Baby’s Breath - Gypsophila elegans
Gayfeather - Liatris spicata
Spurred Snapdragon - Linaria maroccana
Scarlet Flax - Linum grandiflorum rubrum
Sweet Alyssum - Lobularia maritima
Perennial Lupine - Lupinus perennis
Corn Poppy - Papaver rhoeas
Smooth Penstemon - Penstemon digitalis
Black-Eyed Susan - Rudbeckia hirta
Catchfly - Silene armeria

Formulated for CT, DE, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT, Washing D.C., WV, Maritime Provinces, Newfoundland and Quebec.

I'm so with you... I live in downtown and would love to contribute. Where's your friends store/where can I find the seed bombs??

In Los Angeles you can find the seed bomb dispenser at Specific. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/marketplace/specific-120232

@ thorndale, your aunt is right! I will have to use that analogy sometime because it is so right on. There are some things that I like about living in Phoenix, but mostly it is a nightmare! 18 months, baby, and I'm gone!

The street I live on is pretty cool, actually. Most of the houses have desert landscaping, which is very pretty, especially in the springtime.

Oh, and when it rains it smells like cat pee and body odor... just to add to the kitty litter analogy.

These are the Greenaid Seedbomb Machines that are all over California. If you go the website you can see that they use all native wildflower seeds and have regional mixes for all over the US.

http://thecommonstudio.com/index.php?/project/greenaid/

One could probably make a homegrown seedbomb (did I just say "homegrown seedbomb?") out of a bit of compost and seedpackets. Wildflower seeds are often sold in canisters. Wrapped in a bit of folded paper, they'd hold shape until the hit :)

Where is this store and why are these dispensers not all over LA?!

I would love to do this in my city, I have a feeling I'll be arrested for littering. We have a local government who will call out the SWAT guys if they hear the word b**b, they are such lame brains. Where do you get that clay powder stuff, anyone??. I think I'll take a chance and do my bit to beautify the wastelands called downtown.

I love guerilla gardening.
I hope that someone will soon make seed bombs appropriate for the various parts of Australia in our indigenous (not just native) plants - we have even less water than none, and exotic plants are horrifyingly problematic.

My grandma in Japan did something similar. There were several vacant lots in her neighborhood (just weeds and hard packed dirt) so she approached the landowners and got permission to grow vegetables and flowers in them. One summer she even had a field of corn! Once the vegetables were ready, grandma harvested them and distributed them around the neighborhood. Quite a gal, my grandma. :-)

I recently moved from the New England to Queen Creek AZ. It seems like every other month its another letter from the HOA showing up for weeds, overgrown bushes, dying tree that needs to be removed, unapproved landscaping... its a nightmare! ... and we haven't figured out how to control our irrigation system, so i water everything by hand...

But I love this post and am going to share this with my friends back home!

It would also be possible to mix compost, garden soil (from a garden store/lowes/home depot etc...)and seeds and spread them from a bag. The garden soil has some clay. It will do the job, but not make a ball shape.

You could also make newspaper packets. Fill then place and open. The newspaper will decompose and help feed the plants.

We've had a drought this year, but most people have just let the lawn turn brown and were happy they didn't have to mow. Now that it has rained, the lawns are greening up again. Much more reasonable than Phoenix. There was one house with a green lawn, they just seem deranged. Why waste water just so you can waste gas and time mowing?

Cally, speaking of wasting water "just so you can waste gas and time mowing..." I just moved to Dallas from the East Coast and the guy that cuts our lawn recently asked us if we wanted to plant "winter seed" for the grass. When we asked why he said it was to keep the grass green all winter. Are these people CRAZY?!? Now I'm supposed to have green grass all winter long? When we said "NO" he told us we should probably let our neighbors know that we will not be doing it and will not have pretty green grass like theirs. Sometimes I feel like I have lost my mind here!!

Thanks for this thread!

It's kind of funny but kind of sad for me to read all of the posts above about Arizona. I was born and raised in Phoenix. Phoenix is a big city, and a new city (Arizona only became a state in 1914), and they're just starting to get a handle on things. But that doesn't mean they're not making progress in many parts of the city. For instance, in the neighborhood where I grew up, in North Central Phoenix (around Sunnyslope, Moon Valleyish), all of the houses have sustainable, native plant landscaping. There are no HOAs. And I know a lot of people in Phoenix who are very concerned about water conservation and supporting native species. It's the people who are new to the area, who move in and move out, who don't really get a feel for what the city is actually trying to do. They just base their impression off of a the gated suburbs on the edges of the city, which is really no longer the direction that the city as a whole is trying to move in. Do you notice that many of those new planned developments lie empty, while downtown is experiencing a revival, even in this economy?

I just can't stand how it's so cool to hate on Phoenix. Sure, it has its problems, but I've lived in a few other places since growing up there, and they all have their fair share of issues. And Phoenix has a lot of great attributes such as, for instance, its fabulous mountain preserve system. South Mountain is the largest municipal park in the country. And trails in the mountain preserves in central Phoenix allow you to hike/run/bike/ride horses for miles and miles of wilderness (NOT grassy parks, actual nature) without having to cross a road. There aren't many other major cities that you could say that about--none really. Within a 30-60 minute drive from downtown you can access probably ten different mountain ranges and hiking areas, with a few hundred miles of trails. Not to mention the extremely affordable housing, the great local restaurants (best pizza in America!) and many stunning examples of "desert modernism" architecture.

Sure, a lot of people in Phoenix are ignorant and uneducated. Sure, the politics is nuts and the sprawl has not been controlled as it should have been. But many people active in the city are trying to do better. If you're used to cities like Chicago (where I currently live and really want to leave), then you probably won't appreciate what Phoenix has to offer. If you're used to trees and snow, then you probably won't see the beauty in saguaros and fantastic sunsets and rocky mountains. All I have to say is, I guess, your loss.

Oh, and FYI, sturgeongeneral, the odor you smell when it rains is actually a natural resin produced by the creosote bush, a native plant, and I personally love it (most native Arizonans do, because it signifies rain, which we get so rarely!)

@AZLaura, yes, the things you mentioned are definitely the good parts about living in Phoenix, I agree with you! I live in downtown, and I do enjoy what it has to offer... but it's not for me. I really, really hate it most of the time, and if this post had caught me in July or August, I would be much more filled with vitriol.

As far as cat urine/creosote, I happen to be a botanist! Hahaha so I know about the creosote bush (Larrea tridentata!), and it smells wonderful. But, the city definitely does smell like kitty pee when it rains, particularly after a long dry period.

www.laguerrillagardening.org is the website you need to check out for Los Angeles guerrilla gardening.
2 years ago I made 1000+ seed bombs and threw them around the Los Angeles/Long Beach and Orange County areas. I used California natives seed since I live in Southern California and I thought they would grow easier. On www.wildflowersonline.com you can buy a pound of flower seed for $36 and they offer free shipping for purchases over $30.
How did my seed bombing campaign work? The vast majority of the empty lots and road strips that I seed bombed were either mowed down or sprayed with herbicides. Only 2 locations out of the dozens I bombed produced flowers.
Most major cities have a guerilla gardening group or 2, look on www.guerrillagardening.org to meet like minded people.

Since we don't get much rain in So Cal the seed bombs should be smaller than the one you got from the gumball machine. Ideally about the size of a marble. Making your own is much cheaper and if you get a group of friends together it can be a fun and dirty project.
I think the gumball machine is a great idea and as seen from the posts its given lots of people from around the US motivation to go out and do their own guerrilla gardening.

I LOVE THIS. There'd be a limited window of opportunity for seed-bombing in my northern Canadian clime, but it's still a fantastic idea.

I'm in!

This is lovely - please make sure the plants are truly native to the region and even if you don't have seed bombs, if you till the soil and make it healthy, eventually a native seed will take root there for a whole small ecosystem to start. I don't plant a thing in our yard and it's rich and colorful with native plants and trees.