Good Hell Strips make Good Neighbors

Since Amy caused such a commotion over the issue of neighborliness, let's go forth and rant some more on that one.  While I agree that backyards are great places for privacy - possibly a code word for doing things in the nude - I side with the extroverts when it comes to front yards.  Though naturally it's more complicated than that, as we see when we explore porches, fences and plants between our homes and the street.

THE CURB GARDEN
Also called a hell strip or a right-of-way garden, mine is looking awfully happy now in midsummer.  Here you see it stuffed with cherry trees, a beautyberry shrub, red daylilies, black-eyed Susans, garden phlox, sedum 'Autumn Joy,' miscanthus 'Morning Light' and groundcovers liriope, carex, and houttuynia, all in their third year.  That means they've survived snow plows, salt spray, construction trucks, kids, and dogs on the run. 

When the daylilies are blooming I check them every morning, coffee in hand, to pinch away yesterday's blooms and admire today's.  And when the cherries are blooming it's a little bit magical, or so the neighbors tell me.  People telling you wonderful things is part of the appeal of gardening in a public spot, of course.  And next thing you know, more curb gardens pop up down the street.

THE JUNGLE
Proponent of curbside gardens that I am, I've walked enough sidewalks to know how easily they can add to the jungle of vegetation that makes the damn things impassable, or at least a menace to the hapless passerby.  People, what does it take to prune those trees and shrubs - 10 minutes a year, maybe?  If you see a branch going in the wrong direction, remove it completely; it's that simple.  Plants on people's own property encroach so egregiously over sidewalks around here that I'm afraid to suggest to the average boob they add them to their right-of-way.  Readers here would never do that, so plant away.  For the clueless and inconsiderate boobs of my town, my next column in the local paper is a rant about this and other threats to walkability.  As if they'll ever read it.

THE FENCE
Given the chain link fence surrounding my front yard when I bought it and the abundance of more pressing places to spend my money, I decided to keep it but cover it with the ivy growing along it, a solution that cost me nothing but time.  Suburban planners have traditionally deemed fences around front yards to be unneighborly but on the contrary! Mine keeps me from having to scream at kids who would otherwise run through my garden and at dog owners who would surely let their dogs crap in it.  So like the familiar adage says, the fence lets us be better neighbors.  And though people passing by in cars can't see my front garden, people walking by can.

THE PORCH
Front porches are the friendliest little pieces of real estate ever created.  While I spend lots of time on the very private deck off the back of the house, porch-sitting is what I do when I want to say hi and watch kids playing.  Feels like the very essence of neighborliness, second only to paying social calls on new arrivals, casserole in hand.  Like I'd ever bake a casserole.

Comments

[firefly]

"the average boob"
"For the clueless and inconsiderate boobs of my town"
"[My fence] keeps me from having to scream at kids who would otherwise run through my garden and at dog owners who would surely let their dogs crap in it."

Holy cow! Maybe I AM an extravert after all!

This post was priceless -- thanks for the laugh. I've noticed that the people on my street who are most vocal about "community" (the daylily hell strip folks) also have shrubs cleverly planted about their yard that aren't exactly a fence, but definitely discourage any kind of pedestrian stampede.

As a Garden Rant alumnus, I solemnly promise I'll work on my front yard next year, especially the hell strip!

[OldRoses]

No one plants hellstrips in my town because most of the town doesn't have sidewalks. But everyone observes the right-of-way and doesn't plant all the way down to the street leaving huge green strips across their front yards. It's very odd looking but I guess if the town ever got around to actually installing the promised sidewalks, it would save the homeowners a lot of money and aggravation in lost plantings.

[Talbin]

I walk my dog every evening, and it's amazing the obstacles that I have to go through just to travel the sidewalks of an average suburb. I have almost taken loppers with me to take care of low-hanging branches, but I guess I haven't quite turned into that "crazy lady" yet.

[The Clueless Gardener]

I really do have a hellstrip...no sidewalk, on the road-side of a hemlock hedge, along a road where, exactly at my house, the speed limit goes from 25 to 45 mph. It is hardpan and gravel,full of weeds. I literally must close my eyes, it's so bad. Plus the road is so busy and dangerous I really wouldn't be able to tend this patch without risking my life. Total hell! Any ideas?
Signed, Clueless

[Kasmira]

I'm with you on the hellstrip plantings! In Canada, it's called a "boulevard." Sounds fancy!

I've been amassing plants all year to populate my shady hellstrip. I can't wait to tear it up this fall and then plant in it next spring!

Your cherry tree sounds divine. We have a nondescript tree in ours. I dream of chopping it down and planting something more ornamental.

One note for others planning on planting their hellstrip: check your local ordinances first. Some have height or other requirements on what can be planted there.

Check out The Undaunted Garden (book) for a great hellstrip planting.