Metro Herald - 22/04/2010 digital edition

D Thursday, April 22, 2010 News The flowerpothole man A cyclist is on a mission to make damaged roads safer and brighter By Joel Taylor Urban roots: Another tiny treasure in Nightingale Lane, north London A GUERILLA gardener is trans- forming ugly and dangerous pot- holes in roads into mini spring showcases. Cyclist Steve Wheen decided to plant cyclamen, narcissus and poly- anthus in the holes after becoming fed up with the state of the roads where he lives. The 33-year-olds green do-gooding is now proving as popular as his website thepotholegardener.com has had 25,000 hits in its first month. Im a mad keen gardener but I live in a small flat without a gar- den, said Mr Wheen, from Shoreditch, in London. I also wanted to make a point. As a cyclist I find potholes a con- stant menace. I have almost come off my bike several times. And the roads are in the worst state I have ever known in London because of the snow this winter. I choose smaller roads or pave- ments with potholes and work early morning or evening so that I dont get run over while gardening. I prefer to use low plants with bright, colourful flowers in the hope that motorists will see my gardens and avoid them. But he admits that his colourful work often falls victim to traffic in the English capital. My very first effort only lasted two hours before it was destroyed. They have a short life, he said. And the longest any of my gar- dens has survived is three weeks so far. But, if I can draw a cyclists at- tention to a pothole so that they dont hit it, and put a smile on their face, that is enough for me. Now I cant stop looking at pot- holes wherever I go. Fans are quick to suggest pot- holes across London for him to turn into small and short-term gardens. I am following up some sugges- tions. One is that I try and turn Edgware Road into Kew Gardens, he said, somewhat ambitiously. Garden city: Steve Wheen even includes a chair as a prop in this small wonder in North View Road, near Alexandra Palace in north London Pictures: Tim Stewart Dig in: Steve Wheen index.html 2.html 3.html 4.html 5.html 6.html 7.html 8.html 9.html 10.html 11.html 12.html 13.html 14.html 15.html 16.html 17.html 18.html 19.html 20.html 21.html 22.html 23.html 24.html 25.html 26.html 27.html 28.html 29.html 30.html 31.html 32.html 33.html 34.html 35.html