Increase Curb Appeal by Renovating Your Parking Strip

Parking strip, curb strip, hellstrip. No matter what you call that little bit of grass between the sidewalk and street in front of most suburban homes it is a huge part of your curb appeal. Unfortunately, it is hard to water and mow and in most cases gets plenty of foot traffic.

Right now mine is a weed riddled mess. So, I thought I would turn to my neighborhood and Pinterest for inspiration.

What is a parking strip?

The parking strip has many different names: curb strip, parking lane, road verge, sidewalk buffer, tree lawn, nature strip and my personal favorite hell strip.

Besides the visual aesthetic they have a few functional purposes:

It is a place place for the snow from the street and sidewalk when it is plowed.
It prevents run off from the main front landscape (usually a lawn) into the gutter.
It adds a buffer from road spray to the sidewalk.
It offers a place for public amenities such as light posts and bus benches.

Before you renovate your verge, you may want to check with your local regulations. In some areas the city actually maintains it, with your property line beginning at the edge of the sidewalk. In a few areas, particularly in California, there may be regulations as to what can be planted. For example, in Santa Monica it cannot be irrigated (drought prone area) or allow any run off (the gutter drains directly to the ocean).

Some UGLY Parking Strips

Ours is not the only house in the neighborhood with an ugly parking strip, but I am only going to embarrass myself and the city with my bad examples.

This is what I am replacing. I dug up the grass years ago and replaced it with dymondia, aka silver carpet. But now it is completely over run by weeds and the tree in the photo has died and is nothing but a stump. It requires far too much maintenance and water to keep it presentable.

Three different parking strips in Murrieta, CA.

Left - weeds, standing water and PVC pipe. Oh my!

Center - when I look at this I see green and not the good kind. In southern California are constantly fluctuating between drought conditions and plenty of rain. All I see is the tax payer dollars wasted on watering and mowing. Not to mention the neighbors that will not curb their dogs!

Right - Oh, boring pavers! Actually it completely works here, the building across the street is an elementary school and this is the spot next to the crosswalk where the children and parents wait with the crossing guard. Before they put in the pavers it looked like a mix of the first two pictures because of constant foot traffic.

Parking Strips with all plants

Sigh, these are examples of what I originally envisioned when I removed the lawn originally. But, in Southern California's dry summers plants like these will not survive without plenty of supplemental water. Plus my neighbors constantly have people parked in front of my house so this would get trampled.

But, I love the look!

From Wife Mother Gardener. Two complementary colors with two contrasting textures creates a simple but appealing look.

From Wife Mother Gardener. I love the different heights and pops of color.

From Donald's Garden. Only two plants but the wave of that grass calls to me.

Parking Strips with rocks big and small

Three different rock styles in my neighborhood.

Left - not a big fan of lava rock, but that could just be me.

Center - These rocks are always being kicked by people walking on the sidewalk and getting in and of cars on the street side. Maybe that's why they planted roses. OUCH!

Right - definitely low maintenance, I would soften it with some thyme or moss planted between the pavers.

Two more rock styles in our neighborhood.

The strips in the above images are made with decomposed granite. Crushed granite either from natural erosion or from quarrying granite for other uses.

Some other ideas from Pinterest

I love the softness of the rounded rocks and crawling plants. From Havetid.

Build it Up

These two examples use rocks in a slightly different way, to build up the area as a planter bed.

From Signature Gardens (I worry about the rocks getting kicked in high traffic areas).

Divided Use Parking Strips

In the end, I think I will end up doing something like this that has rocks and paths and plantings.

What plants work best in a parking strip?

There is not a one size fits all answer to that question. You will need to consider a variety of factors:

sunlight: most parking strips are direct sun, but if you have a tree it could be shaded and you have roots to deal with.
water: we need drought tolerant plants with no additional water required, but we get lots of winter rain so cacti and succulents don't do as well.
slope: if you have a slope you might do better with ground cover type plants as opposed to taller flowers.
climate: this is somewhat of a combination of sunlight and water, but you also want to consider heat and humidity throughout the year.
other factors: if you are in a snowy area you may need salt tolerant plants. If you have a tree you may be dealing with roots.

Here are a few sites to get you started with generic ideas:

Ground Covers and Plants to Use as Lawn Alternatives

Plants for a Hellstrip Gardening

As I native plant gardener I recommend searching for plants that are native to your area. These plants are naturally acclimatized to thrive with little to no care.