Parking strips – what to do with them? Most have grass but is that really the best option?

Grass in a parking strip* has never made sense to me.  All that mowing, watering, etc and what is it used for?  If you are going to have grass in your landscape use it for sitting and or playing for you, your children, or your pets.  We don’t usually sit or play in a parking strip.  If you are going to sit in your parking strip why not create seating instead?

* Parking strip:  the strip of land between the sidewalk and the street.  Depending where you live it may be called: mow strip, berm, besidewalk, boulevard, boulevard strip, city grass, curb lawn, curb strip, devil’s strip, easement, furniture zone, grass bay, grassplot, hellstrip, nature strip, neutral ground, park strip, parking, parkway, planter zone, planting strip, road allowance, road verge, roadside, sidewalk buffer,  sidewalk lawn, sidewalk plot, snow shelf, street allowance, street easement, street lawn, swale, terrace, tree belt, tree lawn, utility strip, verge

So, instead of grass, plant (or replace your grass) with drought tolerant plants, groundcovers, or edibles.  Check your city ordinances and HOA rules before installation to see what is allowed.  If your city or HOA requires you to have a lawn there work to get the ordinances or rules changed.

Why replace the grass?

Less water

Less work

More food production (I would recommend not growing edibles within 2′ of the road due to car exhaust)

More attractive

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

 

 

More photos: Garden Inspire on Facebook

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