The Dry Garden: Replacing that lawn along the sidewalk

 

Lawn-busters, take note: Emily Green weighs in on the best alternative to turf for that troublesome patch of dirt between the sidewalk and the street. Here's a hint: In her view, water-sipping perennials aren't necessarily the best choice. To find out why, read the latest installment in her drought-tolerant gardening column posted after the jump.

-- Craig Nakano

By Emily Green

There may be a drought and tough watering restrictions, but there has never been a better time to tackle the knottiest problem in Los Angeles landscaping: How to plant parkways?

Parkways are now and always have been a headache. No matter who owns that strip of land between curb and sidewalk, for safety reasons, two city of Los Angeles agencies call the shots over what may and may not be done with it. The Urban Forestry Division oversees the plants, and the Bureau of Engineering handles "hardscaping," or the paved parts. But the homeowner is responsible for tending them.

Traditionally, most parkways have been planted with grass to match frontyard lawns. But under the new drought ordinances, when lawn sprinklers on parkways create run-off, homeowners face warnings, then fines.

It’s a measure that’s both unfair and long overdue. No tweaking of parkway sprinklers is likely to end run-off, and yet end it must. As the trickle from sprinklers accumulates in gutters and storm drains, it is steadily draining our water supply and poisoning the Pacific.

So dolphin-respecting, law-abiding, lawn lovers are left with the option to water the parkway by hand — or get rid of the grass.

Removing the grass feels right but too often looks wrong. Lawn on parkways offers visual consistency. Interrupt the strip of green with a sudden eco-preserve of gravel and succulents and it can look motley. (Moreover, gravel is not an approved parkway ground cover by the city.)

That doesn’t mean that the turf should stay. And the new ordinances forbidding run-off combined with cash-for-grass rebates begs a third option. This is for collective makeovers of parkways. If every house on any given street applied for individual rebates with a collective succession planting plan in hand, the results could be stunning.

The most durable and elegant succession plan would be to refresh or install the street trees. No sprinklers required: They’re actually not a good way to water trees.

The cost-benefit profile of parkway trees is so high that the city and the L.A. nonprofit TreePeople promote tree-planting as drought-smart measure. Add to that, lawn can’t shade your car.

Choose the tree option and there are more freebies in the goodie basket. The L.A. Department of Water and Power is still funding its tree giveaway program in conjunction with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Million Trees LA drive.

To investigate getting a street tree, call 311 for the Urban Forestry Division or go to Million Trees LA, or contact the DWP. They work together.

Finally, there is the matter of ground cover around the trees. There may be a better choice than decomposed granite, but it’s hard to imagine. It is water permeable, elegant and tough. It’s pedestrian friendly. You would get no tickets for sprinkler run-off. DWP rebates apply to it. It doesn’t need mowing, and a meaningful savings would appear on your water bill every month.

Decomposed granite does require an "A" permit from the Bureau of Engineering, but that can be readily acquired online or in city offices.

There will be only one big loser if block clubs jump on the opportunity. Without sprinkler run-off into the gutter, mosquitoes will be unable to breed in the sewer.

Green's column on drought-tolerant gardening appears weekly on this blog. For past columns, click on "Dry Garden" in the category cloud.

Photo: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[cec]

Consider Fleur-de-Lawn, developed by Oregon State University. No irrigation, no fertilizers, no pesticides, little mowing. http://www.protimelawnseed.com/about-us/fleur-de-lawn/

[sandy]

Please save water so developers can build more, thank you very much.

[Rima]

Gravel -- even pea gravel? -- is not an approved parkway cover but decomposed granite is? Interesting.

Anyone know how close together street trees can be planted, and whether there's a list of approved/disapproved trees?

[Craig Nakano]

Regarding your question about tree recommendations: The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has a 54-page online guide that covers selecting, planting and protecting trees. You'll find tree profiles, including photos, at http://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/cms/ladwp009614.pdf. You also might be interested in Emily Green's L.A. Times story headlined "Planting the Future, One Tree at a Time," http://articles.latimes.com/2006/nov/23/home/hm-trees23. Thanks for reading and commenting.

[Sue]

More trees on the parkways!? For those of us with old, narrow driveways that don't fit our cars, more trees mean more trips to the car wash. Although car wash water may be recycled, it's one more expense I don't need right now. I'd like to pull out the trees on our walkway. We can't park in front of one neighbor's house because her parkway sprinkers are on so high and ruin the finish of the cars, and parking under our trees provides us with bird droppings, more dust, falling branches etc. Looks good? Yes. Pain in the neck? Absolutely.

[Terrence]

Wads of little bushes as the "...alternative to turf for that troublesome patch of dirt between the sidewalk and the street..." make it hard to get out of the car on the passenger's side, hey?

[Roger Carrillo]

Californians need to learn about arid landscaping or xeriscaping with native and drought resistant plants. They have been doing it in Tucson, Arizona for years. No one has front lawns there anymore! Their yards with xeriscape are unique, beautiful, and use less water. Southern California is a desert and we need to realize that and give up our water wasting lawns in our front yards and maybe in our back yards!

[Gloria]

Pea gravel rolls out of place, causing a slipping hazard for pedestrians and cars, as well as a dangerous brake for skateboards, skates and other small wheeled items. It and other round river stones are especially inappropriate for a parking strip. Because the pointy edges of crushed granite lock together, it stays in place better, and when it does get dislodged it doesn't create a floor of marbles situation.

[Scott Cox]

Excuse me Sandy, but "please save water so developers can BUILD more?" Seriously? All I can think of by your use of suck a misguided statement, is that your husband must be a contractor or carpenter of some sorts.
But the reality of the matter is, we need to save water so that WE, and other LIVING THINGS can survive. Water is the new oil, and nations will be going to war for it soon enough.
Besides if we don't get this population-growth in check, there won't be enough water anywhere to provide the needs for agriculture (yeah your food) let alone human existence.
Copulate don't populate!

[A Morie]

You do need a permit (no-cost) for parkway tree planting! There are spacing restrictions on how far trees must be from signs, vaults and so on. Check with the bureau by calling 311; for more info see: http://www.lacity.org/BOSS/UrbanForestryDivision/index_plantpolicies.htm
Craig's guideline link above appears broken, but the Los Angeles approved tree guide can be found here: http://www.lacity.org/boss/UrbanForestryDivision/StreetTreeSelectionGuide.htm
It has some reference to planting (parkway width, suitable under power lines or not).
Most importantly, cal 811 at least 2 days befoer you dig in the parkway - this will get any agency with underground services out to mark the location of lines so you don't risk costly damage!! http://www.pge.com/myhome/edusafety/diggingyard/callbeforeyoudig/

[Emily Green]

Rima, hi. Yes, alas, even pea gravel is illegal for the reasons that Gloria makes. I use it a lot around my garden and put it in the parkway outside my house without checking with the City. Tolerant neighbors have not turned me in, but I plan to change it. As the gravel gets kicked onto the pavement, it is a constant worry that a cyclist or skater will skid and fall. So what I plan to do and what I would recommend others do is pay for the DG in the parking strip and then use gravel on private property, where it is less expensive, every bit as elegant and very easy to maintain.

As for the comment about parkway shrubbery making it difficult to get in and out of cars, point taken. I've made the shrubs on the parkway mistake too. The City allows shrubs up to 36 inches, but having witnessed the difficulty that families coming and going from the neighboring school have getting in and out of their cars, I will be removing the shrubs. Instead of gravel and shrubs, I think it makes sense for parkways adjacent to parking spaces to be mainly planted with trees surrounded by neat, water permeable DG. When the trees grow, benches wouldn't be amiss. Maybe people would walk more if there were pleasant resting stops.

[Butch Mueller]

Yes, city trees lineing the streets sounds so nice. Except if you have a corner lot and have several huge trees planted by the city, who doesn't have the "time" or "money" to trim them for years and then our totally destroyed side walk which became a health hazzard and of course the city won't repair it. Beside the unbelievable amount of dead leaves in the winter from those trees, which is impossible to clean up and fit into the green trash can. Yes, they look "great" but the city really is out of sight with their help for me as a home owner. I am suppose to pay for an extra green trash can/s and I suppose to pay to repair the whole side walk.

[Rima]

Thanks for the replies to my earlier post.

Regarding street trees, I understand people's problems with them as stated in several posts. Personally, though, I LOVE street trees because of the shade they can provide. I live in Chatsworth and it gets unbearably hot here for much of the year. Mature street trees here are a godsend.

Unfortunately, over the last several years, most of the mature street trees that were planted when my neighborhood was built in the late 50s have been cut down because they started splitting and dropping dangerous, huge branches.

I really miss them. I no longer walk in my own neighborhood unless it's an overcast day, which is rare, because otherwise it's too darn hot. And our DWP bills are higher now that the nearby trees are gone too, because we have to run the AC a lot more.

[pete lydon]

i'll give you my gardening tip of a lifetime- in that space put 'jade plant' (crassula) - no water needed, a small shrub that grows slowly over time, the limbs break off gently, and it will eventually fill up that space.