Stimulating Streetside Strips

Several blogger friends told me that they enjoyed seeing the larger view of my "Strips" like the one in my Labor Day post. So, I thought I'd show some streetside views, which I usually don't publish because: (a) the street itself is ugly...asphalt...uninteresting and difficult to photograph, and (b) I have a running hatefest with the foundation and driveway junipers and don't like to draw attention to them. Actually, I have finally come to overlook them most of the time. They were inherited with the house and my husband likes them. They are typical of houses built in the era when ours was, and at a time when everyone was going nuts over them. I don't like the smell, I don't like how they make my skin itch, and I certainly don't like the sneezing they cause me. Okay... enough griping. On to some more attractive subjects.

The top photo looks west from our corner. Notice the morning glories climbing the stop sign (another reason I don't take long shots of this area). My husband takes responsibility for the "corner" garden and he has done a wonderful job with it this year. It has been beautiful through every season. Below is a picture of what this area looked like before (2003).

The following two views look down the same strip, only from the other direction, looking east. I love the way the early morning light comes through the Russian Sage. In the foreground I have some ornamental grasses and a culinary sage, which then leads into my new sedum garden. Since it borders the alley I decided to plant shorter perennials to allow for better visibility.

Here is the other side of the property. This is what it looked like before...

And here is what it looks like now. The foreground area is shaded by a large tree. For the last couple of years I had horrible neighbors on this end and I pretty much lost interest in working down here. That has now changed (thank goodness) and I will be doing some new planting here. I have several Heucheras planted in the middle of this strip and they are doing so well, and look so nice that I am adding more.

Here is the corner looking south toward the Heuchera bed. The berm in the turf area was our first gardening project when we moved here ten years ago.

And here is my favorite tree and one of the reasons we bought this house. It is a huge Honey Locust and dominates the entire block. When this area was developed every house received at least one Norway Maple. Ours is in our back yard and gives us wonderful shade all summer. When you look down the block you can see a whole row of them. Their leaves are such a lovely dark green.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed the tour of my neighborhood and strips. All total we transformed 1375 sq. feet of hellstrips into plantings that are much more beautiful to look at and enjoy.