5) Have you been noticing a suspicious amount of daffodils popping up around downtown Santa Rosa this season? The Press Democrat has answers. “The guerrilla gardener” responsible for this cheery scene is a local attorney who has been quietly burying bulbs under cover of darkness, after work and on weekends, the paper reports — driven by the delightful thought of “a February surprise.” Annnd it’s kind of hard to imagine anything sweeter than that. “Armed with only an orange vest and a cordless drill with an auger for digging, attorney Paul Miller has planted 10,000 daffodil bulbs in medians and under freeways near his downtown Santa Rosa office” over the past three years, the story goes. “He does it in the slivers of dirt between parking lots and sidewalks, in weedy medians that divide busy streets, and in the barren roadsides beneath highway overpasses. In the places no one anticipates experiencing beauty, or color even, Miller quietly leaves his mark.” Gahhhh. It’s almost too much to take. More from the PD: “About five years ago, Miller was outed as the guy behind the sunflowers that bloomed on the edges of the parking lot bordered by South E and Second and Third streets. His handiwork in those parts also included a bed of cosmos, tomatoes and basil just outside the door of his law offices. A city worker recognized him as the guy tending the plot on public property, and Miller was certain the jig was up. But alas, instead of shutting down what Miller called his ‘guerrilla garden,’ the city ran a bit of regular water to it, added some top soil and otherwise legitimized the effort. So Miller kept going.” The local flower hero himself explains his motives to the paper: “It’s just an unexpected burst of beauty in an unexpected place. No one expects to see a curtain of sunflowers or a sea of daffodils in a big parking lot full of concrete.” Also: “People have asked me, ‘Your backyard must look amazing.’ Nope, it doesn’t. I put my efforts out here.” 😭😭😭 (Source: Press Democrat; paywall)
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