The mission briefing from the guerilla leader was concise and simple: rendezvous at the intersection of Westminster Bridge Road and St George's Road in south London at precisely 8pm on Tuesday evening.
When the dozen men and women dedicated to the cause had assembled, they would attack with their long-handled weapons. It was unspoken, but understood, that it would be a messy job and take several hours.
But the guerillas didn't mind. They were volunteers dedicated to liberation. In this case, the target was a neglected traffic island overgrown with weeds which they planned to free from ugliness.
Britain's guerilla gardeners are led by Richard Reynolds, a 28-year-old marketing executive with an intense devotion to horticulture and a desire to beautify rundown public areas. Mr Reynolds said he started his group 18 months ago with friends. Since then it has grown, thanks to word of mouth and a few mentions in local media. He now has 600 subscribers on his mailing list and a willing pool of 30 to 40 volunteers, as well as interest from abroad.
Mr Reynolds said he started his resistance movement when he moved into the Elephant and Castle district of London, a notoriously run-down area that is home to a massive public housing estate and an ugly shopping centre.
'I moved to Elephant and Castle, which is good for having big flats for not a lot of money but it's not a very attractive area. There's a lot of public space that is not kept up immediately outside the tower block,' he said.