Drought-Tolerant, Weed-Free Parking Strip on Queen Anne

Looking for parking strip plantings that aren't water-or-work intensive? Tired of dragging a hose and/or lawnmower out to the street? Most strips seem to be ratty, half-dead grass or exuberant planting medleys that require regular pruning to keep them in bounds. As well as water, weeding and as much, or maybe more, care as the rest of the garden.  What about the busy gardener who doesn't want to water or maintain much out there by the street, but also cares about how their parking strip looks?

Around the corner from Trader Joe's on Galer (top of Queen Anne hill) is a simple, mostly green parking strip that looks good in all seasons. I admire it whenever I walk by, and had my camera yesterday to take a few shots. The good news is that it looks pretty much  the same in winter as in summer - a contrast of textures and shapes that is quietly pleasing. 

Once grown in, the sedum, euphorbia, lady's mantle and ornamental grasses need little or no supplemental water, and they won't grow so large as to block sight lines of impinge on street or sidewalk.  The sedum has grown into a thick, tight, weed-suppressing mat, its flatness relieved by the fluff of Mexican feather grass (Nasella tenuissima), and the vertical lines of carexes, blue out grass, and billows of euphorbia. The chartreuse of the euphorbia, blue and bronze of the grasses create enough color contrast, but the overall effect is simple and soothing...no doubt for the gardener as well as passersby..

Comments

[Chris]

Very nice!!

[wendy john]

it IS a very attractive planting. But I take a small issue with the no-work intensive concept. I too have lady's mantle, and euphorbia in particular, as well as nasella tenuissima, and are fairly troublesome plants for all their beauty. I say this because my planting strip is overrun with lady's mantle at the moment, spilling out over the sidewalk with those lovely frothy blooms, and i plan to dig about about half of them very soon. And the blooms of the rest of them need to be trimmed off, too, or there are even more seedlings in my future. The nasella is invasive as well, so I'm pulling out starts of it every few weeks. The euphorbia is a profuse self-sower, plus those nasty spent bracts need to be trimmed off, with the care of a surgeon, lest I get the sap into my eyes, as i did once. (hospital visit) I do love these particular plants and am willing to put up with their characteristics both good and bad, , but no, they are not carefree. (except maybe in winter) . Oh wait, winter latss quite a long time here...

[Atlanta Lawn Care]

Brilliant! These parking strips are very beautiful showing how talented the people who build and maintain these. I love to park my car beside one of these as I reflect on things or just taking a rest.