A new group of "renegade arborists" is twig-bent on bringing fruit to the streets of San Francisco, the Ex reports today. Calling themselves the Guerrilla Grafters, the group co-founded by pear progenitor Tara Hui, has already produced a couple of pieces of the fruit by grafting a fruit-bearing branch to a decorative Asian pear tree in Hayes Valley.

The Guerilla Grafters seem to be limiting their illicit horticulture to plum and pear trees in Hayes Valley at this point, but they have already managed to provoke the ire of the Public Works Department. DPW Director Muhammed Nuru, who presumably doesn't have much to do now that he got Justin Herman Plaza all cleaned up, has declared the seedling operation to be illegal. (But only after catching word of it from the Examiner.)

Besides the "serious offense" of vandalizing city property (or making them whole again, depending on how you feel about genetically modifying fruit trees for urban planning purposes), Nuru doesn't think it is a good idea to have pears and plums growing over the public right of way. Should Hayes Valley ever become an orchard, we imagine there's a strong chance any unpicked fruit could end up smushed under car tires and rotting in the city's storm drains. Still, just think of all the homeless fruitarians the city could be feeding if they'd only see the pear-shaped light.

[SFEx]