The aim of the paper is to characterize contemporary transformation of urban greenery, which rely on the image of garden in order to arrive at a “garden-like” character of the cityscape. It also demonstrates how the image of garden is applied in the city as a new tool of social communication in the course of democratic transformation of the urban space. The author discusses the origins of the garden-image and the “garden-like” character of space, providing examples of how it is used today in the cityscape by the inhabitants, activists, designers and artists. The text introduces a range of informal, Polish projects of urban gardens and spaces drawing on its image, describing their novel role in building the vernacular landscape of a city.