Help Gardener Of Chicago’s Back Of The Yards

Hola everyone, I’m Edgar the Community Gangster Gardener taking the word Gangster In Chicago and putting it back into gardening! 

Gardening is Gangster! Growing something beautiful and colorful and or edible is Gangster!

I’ve come a long way from a rough past but determined every day & eager to make a difference in a community I once helped destroy.  I’m located in Chicago’s neighborhood of Back of The Yards less than 8 miles and west from our Downtown skyline . As a first generation Growing up in thee Back Of The Yards neighborhood one of many disenfranchised and underserved neighborhoods in Chicago was and still is till this day a rough environment to grow up in due to its notorious gang violence  and influence.

And so today I warm heartedly dedicate time to ensuring a more colorful environment for our youth and elders. I grew up in these same streets and by the grace of God and my mothers prayers I’ve been lucky to have kept alive and so today I dedicate my free time in an art form via the Art of Gardening and Literacy. 

I’ve been blessed to have been able to landscape the many deserted city parkways in our community thanks to your donations and support. 

Beautifying our bleak and deserted public green spaces in the neighborhood with a good variety of flowering trees and small native perennial gardens for both our community and wildlife to enjoy.
I personally and strongly believe that “Beauty uplifts thee human Spirit ” and so my goal is to reclaim green spaces in our community by landscaping them and so by landscaping with vibrant colors we change the narrative and help build a bigger sense of community and pride. Most importantly our work also helps feed and house our local wildlife such as honey bees,monarch butterflies and our many feathery birds friends of all colors. 

Engaging our neighbors to come outside and
garden with me our empty corners and front parkways in a big effort to be visually seen and our presence noticed!

Our constant welcoming presence helps keep the peace as it helps deter crime as our many neighbors come out of their homes to take back their front parkways as avid landscapers and gardeners in presence deterring crime.

I’m a self made gardener and big horticulture enthusiasts, a big nature boy at heart.

I administer with the help of my peers a bilingual garden group on Facebook dubbed, 

“Jardineros y Jardineras De Chicago” that translates to “Gardeners of Chicago”.

Please feel free to join us to share and mingle anything plants at anytime.

 Because of key insight and experiences I  whole heartily engage in this effort to help fight and curve the violence and crime in our community by again changing our landscape and by engaging the community to come out to be seen and to garden the neighborhood and by inspiring young new gardeners and readers out here walking by the gardens and free library boxes scattered around the neighborhood.  Nature heals ❤️

Flowers cheer! Love instills Love. 

Our diversity in colors and textures is important. Planted along our city public green spaces are native trees in an effort to diversify the nature around us. I’ve planted over 30 trees since and counting.. ten of those being delicious fruit baring native trees,the majority being American plum trees the community can and will be able to harvest and one day enjoy. 

In some of our corner parkway gardens I’ve provided seating arrangements along our gardens as a way of stablishing little corner or parkway plazas for the moms in the neighborhood to enjoy.

I’ve dubbed them Mom Plazas or in Spanish

“Plaza de Madres”.

They are little landscaped corner parkway gardens were neighbors and moms are able to take a seat on a bench or tree stump and enjoy the colorful flowers with each other as they watch over the kids reading a book in our peace circle wood stump arrangement circle or our picnic reading tables. Our moms are able to make a visual and meaningful stand on these hot corner gardens with and by their loving and caring presence in a stand for peace. I believe our grass roots efforts here are more impactful than any police camera and or shot spotter near by. 

I’ve been bless to witness the little and big positive changes my landscaping work has done to our neighborhood as a village. 

 I’ve met many new thankful and curious neighbors that are willing to take part in my effort of beautifying our neighborhood.

I’m happy to say many of our neighbors and neighboring neighbors have taken part in my effort into making a garden out of our city blocks by planting trees and shrubs on their front parkways!

We are a low income and diverse working class community in Chicago and not everyone is able to landscape their front parkways and so here I am in an effort to filling these bleak spaces up with colorful greenery and floral. 

Together as supporters and neighbors we are Taking action and moving forward towards helping bring peace to our neighborhood via our enthusiastic gardening ways!. Thank you all for your support!

My paradise mission here is never ending as there is many violent city corners and blocks with empty parkways that could use some color and texture to brighten them up in and around the community. We can all put our part and help start a revitalization within our neighborhood on our own terms. My main goal is to establish a community corner Plaza De Madres with a native garden and a Little Free Library Box on every other hot corner one block at a time  as a way of establishing a safer sense of a family community. I was 18 years old and diagnosed with HIV before being able to start a family and so the children of Back of the Yards are my family and why I’m passionate about my work in beautifying our barrio. 

Having access to books was world changing to me as a young mind. Growing up we couldn’t afford cable let alone new books. Reading as a young mind was very exiting and I love being able to provide that experience onto others of all ages especially the kids in our village. I myself remember growing up not being able to afford new books from our school scholastic fairs and so for me to provide our youth in our community with free new books is a warming and humbling experience. 

 I’m today able to mow front lawns in and around our gardens and parkways at no expense to my neighbors that are elderly, immune compromised and our single mothers and anyone that might not be able too within our community.

I also take very much pride in the garbage I help pick up in our neighborhood in or around our gardens! I can’t help it! I love keeping clean! I love what I do and hope to inspire others to take ownership of their communities one parkway at a time and one garbage bag at a time. 

I hope to turn our city blocks into family friendly walking botanical gardens that anyone in Chicago or outside of Chicago would one day want to check out as tourist when visiting Back of the Yards or Chicago!

I love what I do and so I’m putting into action my green dreams of beautifying our neighborhood as a way of giving back to my community and helping stop the violence by changing the scene! I hope to one day open up a garden center in our community employing youth as well as a youth center were our youth can walk in get a snack, work at a computer or simply lounge around to engage with others and play a game on Tv. 

Our city parkways have much potential as trees can provide homes and food to our wildlife and much needed oxygen and refreshing shade for us.

All donations go towards stablishing, growing and maintaining our perennial gardens and helping keep our Little Free Library boxes stocked with books in the Back Of The Yards neighborhood to the full benefit of our youth and our local wildlife ♥️ As we help diversify the nature around us we also diversify our native wildlife! 

 Thank you all for taking notice and believing in my precise effort and in the power that 

landscaping/ gardening and a book can bring to young minds in a community. 

Chicago’s logo of City in a Garden..

“Urbs In Horto “ 

Ever evolving and becoming a true reality in our community.