Street Strip Design
Hot and Dry Street Strip Planting Design
The narrow green spaces between streets and sidewalks, referred to as street strips, are common in most neighborhoods. However, for anyone tasked with maintaining these areas they can be a source of frustration, as these nonpractical areas are often planted with cool-season turf that requires more water and maintenance, leading to higher expenses. These narrow turf areas can also include trees and can range from 2 to 10 feet wide. While potentially problematic, these areas can be converted to attractive planting beds using water wise, climate-appropriate plants.
Northern Water has created a street strip design that provides a detailed plant list and designs to reduce supplemental water and maintenance throughout time while adding ecosystem services. Plants in this design need water the first two years, and then only during long dry spells. Once established, this street strip garden design will only require 10 percent of the water that Kentucky bluegrass needs.
See this Street Strip demonstration in person in the Conservation Gardens at Northern Water, as well as refer to our Street Strip resource page on our website.
