It was an eyesore on the corner of Main Street and Chicago Avenue in Evanston -- a vacant lot that's in the process of being foreclosed by Cole Taylor Bank.
So, last September, resident Carla Hayden and her neighbor Charlotte Briggs, the "Trowels on the Prowl," raided the lot, firing 700 seed bombs (a mix of wildflower seeds, compost and clay) from a whiffle ball thrower, a lacrosse stick and a slingshot onto the property, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Come spring, the wildflowers sprouted beautifully -- a marked imporvement over the deep hole left after plans to build a condo tower fell through.
But, then someone mowed it all down.
"It was like a kick in my gut," Briggs said.
No one's admitted to mowing down the wildflowers, but the local alderman, Melissa Wynne, has said the freelance gardening effort might not work.
"I really don't want to say, 'Don't mow the lot,' because I don't want it to look neglected," Wynne said. "If there is a way to get the message across, 'Don't mow the flowers,' I will do that."
