Boulevards and Hellstrips

Jim Edminster

Chicago’s Fairy Gardener

  Whether you call that strip of land in front of your house between the curb and your front gate a parkway (as they do in Chicago) or a verge or a hellstrip or just curb plantings there are things to consider if you want to alter this area with plants or decorative items:

 

Some things you SHOULD do: 

A)  Find out who this land belongs to.  In Chicago, for instance, it belongs to the city.  (This fact may change what you want to do to it.)

B)  Is there an agency in your town which will tell you of buried sewer lines or phone, water, gas or electric lines in this area?  You don't want to damage these lines or put an expensive plant in a place where it might soon be removed.  (In Chicago this agency is called "Digger:  Chicago Utility Alert Network.")

C)  Figure out whether you have sun or shade in the area - you'll need this info later down the page.

D)  When planning what to do, leave a foot and a half of free space curb-side.  Car doors have to be able to be opened - put nothing in their way.  (Put plants there & they'll be stepped on.)  If you can brick this area or use broken concrete or pavers - don't put grass in - it has to be mowed then.

E)  Plan to use plants of as low maintenance as possible.  No prima donnas please or you'll be sorry (& over-worked).

F)  Depending how wide your property is you need to leave a sidewalk width somewhere to provide access to the street.  (For taxis, moving vans, deliveries, etc.)

Some things you SHOULDN'T do: 

A)  Some places like Chicago don't much care if you plant the parkway but they very much care what you plant.  Don't plant messy trees like catalpas.  Don't plant fruit trees - apples falling on the street are not a good idea.  Ditto nut trees.  (You possibly could plant trees with small berries that stay on the tree for birds.)  NO thorn-bearing bushes or trees - this is just a lawsuit waiting to happen.  (Yes, this includes roses.)  No large showy single flowers like iris or peonies - they're not dangerous but they are eminently pickable (& they will be!)

B)  If trees are already present do not bury their roots and lower trunks with dirt.  This is a good way to smother them.

C)  If there are visible tree roots there do not cut large ones.

D)  Some folks like to put sculptures and the like in the parkway.  Small cute stone kittens and/or colorful glass gazing balls = gone in three days.  If you have a (large) group of friends who want to help you wrestle a 300 pound stone Foo dog into place out there go for it!

E)  Veggies out in this area are not a good idea - they can be stolen & they are highly likely to be polluted by gas fumes & road salt.

Some things you MIGHT consider:

A)  If it is possible, raise the bed by several courses of brick or railroad ties.  You could put the bricks all the way around or let the bed slope down toward the sidewalk.  (If you do the second you might want to put a small fence in front.)

B)  If you have big tree roots you can dig pockets between them to plant hostas & the like.

C)  Ivies can be planted which will cover tree roots.  Neither will hurt the other.

D)  Plant flowers with many small flowers like coreopsis or asters or salvia.  These are not as likely to be picked.

E)  Small bulbs (which can be planted in sun or shade) like miniature iris, crocus, species tulips, and small daffodils are also unlikely to be picked.

Using Native Species in the Hell Strips

11 April, 2015

Presentation Materials for Using Native Species in Boulevard Plantings

Seward Neighborhood Sustainability Fair
Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Note that much of the following information was taken with permission from Prairie Moon Nursery.  Please visit and support their site at:  http://www.prairiemoon.com/  The appropriateness of these plants for boulevard or Hellstrip planting is based entirely on the presenters' judgment and does not reflect on Prairie Moon.

Recyling Challenge:

Creative Support Networks:

by Steven Wall

    Gardening in a challenged neighborhood is not for the feeble of heart.  No, one does not need extra courage or a protective sense of mission, one needs merely to make sure one's cardio-vascular system is up to the challenge of physical labor and the garbage pick-up necessary in yards, lots, and streets increasingly being overlooked by city services.

    On the other hand, seldom are the rewards so immediately realized or so personally fulfilling.

Problem 1:

  En Glaβ Häs, the Glass House, was vacant for a number of years.  While the grass was maintained to a safe and legal height, the fence-lines, shrubbery and beds were out of control. 

    Two basic issues confronted me as the new home owner:  bringing overgrown landscaping under control, and cleaning up the immense piles of debris, garbage, and broken glass.  Twelve extra-large leaf bags of mere trash were collected from the outside of the rear fence-line alone.

    A year later, things are looking up, but outside trash continues to invade the yard on a daily basis.  One certainly gets one's morning exercise walking the perimeter to collect trash from the alley-apartment car lots and the paths leading from the local convenience store.  More dangerous items, such as drug paraphernalia, broken bottles, the remnants of covert romantic trysts, and occasionally, even drugs themselves are to be found along our alleys and sidewalks.  

    The whole situation can sometimes seem overwhelming.

    Having cleared the side fence of excess vegetation and brush last year, Glass House was left wondering if the overgrown vista was not in fact preferable to what we were greeted with this Easter. 

    Yet, one can see promise in that having cleared the beds, we were greeted with almost a full border of spring crocuses and at least two large clumps of abandoned rambler roses:

    I was excited to discover the rambler roses last year, but despite being trimmed in the spring and cleaned up, the reward for my effort was a mere three blooms.  

Rambler Rose in Bloom, 2014.

    Rambler roses are an old varietal popular with our great-grandparents and grandparents.  They seem to develop bush-structures of numerous tall, straight canes, and were often trained to grow over fences and trellises.  The discovery of these roses in my yard was a definite heirloom bonus to the garden.  But, unlike their more prolific "climbing" rose cousins, they tend to blossom only once during the early summer (June).  Thankfully, their long, graceful canes are beautiful in their own regard and they tend to bear large colourful rose-hips that are visible into the fall.

    www.gardenseeker.com mentions that one might easily tell the difference between a rambler and a climbing rose not just by their growth and blooming habits, but by simply counting the leaves.  According to their blog, rambling roses have groupings of seven leaflets, while climbing roses are grouped in fives.

Problem 2:

    Glass House was formerly used as a law office, so the basement was chock full of discarded shelving materials that had to be removed.
 

A Double Solution:

    Taking a tip from Jim Edminster, Chicago's Fairy Gardener, we pondered a "re-define and re-use" solution.

   The shelf supports are inexpensive wooden frames available from Menards or Lowe's.  Usually, inexpensive planking or plyboard is strung across the supports to provide cheap utility shelving.  The supports have a basic lattice or ladder structure that makes this possible -- a structure that could be easily adapted to support other things -- such as rambler rose canes.

    A few changes would be necessary.  The wooden supports had been safely sheltered from rain and water inside a dry basement. The inexpensive lumber and glues that hold the frames together could be greatly impacted by outdoor garden conditions.  One way to help mitigate this process is to paint the frames with boiled linseed oil -- the same trick your great-grandparents used to preserved timber garden elements back in their day.

    Boiled Linseed Oil is easy to apply with a brush.  Will Lipscomb recommends trying a spray bottle or sprayer, but the Mennonites in my home town tended to stick to brushes, applying at least two coats to begin, and a restorative coat every spring following.

    We then used long wood screws to bind two frames together at an angle.  The result was a stable angled frame that could be set against the existing mature bushes in a way that collects the canes and then supports them within the crook of the screen.  Other options could include using twine to bind the frames together, to create triangular or box-shaped supports using three or four frames instead of two, or to connect the frames using recycled household hinges for easy removal and winter storage options.

    Our frames are intended to remain outdoors and we preferred the open access of the two-frame screen design.

    We do not yet know how effective our framing solution will be, but they have already survived three windstorms and plenty of rain.  The rambler roses have remained safely confined to the crooks without need of additional support.  And, there seems to be plenty of room for future growth, leaves, blossoms, and hips.

    We will keep you informed.

Plant Yourself at the Library

Q:  What has plenty of leaves, is 100% biodegradable, opens minds to new possibilities, plants seeds for the future, and is found at your local library?  

    If you are in Elkhart, Indiana, the answer is your new spring container garden.

    Perry Guilmette will be offering two library workshops, 06 and 07 May, on container gardening and the use of native plants in container gardens at Elkhart Public Library Main Branch.

    We'll be there.  See you there, too?

    For information, call:  574.522.5669.

 

Happy Easter!

Great Ideas from Others:

Courtesy NASA, 2015.

Underground Library, Neo Mathetsa, Mohlakeng, South Africa:

    Underground Library was self-started by a group of teens in Mohlakeng, South Africa, to address low literacy rates amongst school-age children there.  Collectively known as Mohlakeng Youth Movement (MYM), they solicited donations of books from neighbors, churches and other sources, creating a literary library out of the one-room home of Neo Mathetsa.

    The library houses the book collection and serves as a tutoring center for the youth.  One of the innovations at Underground Library are efforts to turn literary scenes into dramatic re-enactments, assisting the students in developing reading skills and interpretations.

    For more information, please refer to the following links to the Mail & Guardian, an official sponsor of Underground Library:

Credit:  Gustav Butlex, M&G photographer, 2015

Credit:  Gustav Butlex, M&G photographer, 2015

Mail & Guardian article: 

http://mg.co.za/article/2015-02-27-underground-library-needs-support

M&G: Meet the Team 

http://mg.co.za/article/2015-03-02-meet-the-team-behind-the-underground-library-project

Fairy Gardener: Buying, Buying, Scratch, Bought!

Buying, Buying, Scratch, Bought.

by James Edminster, Chicago, IL

Courtesy K. van Bourgondien & Sons

Trotting off to The Chalet, the giant plant nursery and retail plant nursery & garden center in Wilmette, IL, my garden club was met by Tony Fulmer, the head horticulturist who's been on the job there nearly 30 years. Here are some of the tidbits I caught during his lecture:  snow mold (which appears on some lawn grasses in spring) is ugly but harmless - just do a light raking;  voles, those little mouse-like critters can occasionally girdle (cut the bark) of some small trees & shrubs but are basically not too bothersome;  for salt spray from roads (which can spread up to 300 feet) one can apply gypsum which chemically ties up the salt's sodium;  for lawns the best time to revamp is late summer/early fall;  seed lawns in early spring;  don't bury lawn seed - let it fall into minor cracks in the soil;  fertilize lawns around Labor Day & Halloween;  commercial fertilizer's 3 numbers = nitrogen, phosphorous, & potassium;  roses DO need fertilizer;  Sluggo is a non-toxic slug bait;  sulphur is a natural black spot (a rose fungus) cure;  if south-facing beds of groundcovers brown out cover them with evergreen boughs;  put sulphur on soil for blue (even permanently blue) hydrangeas but don't apply it over mulch which ties it up;  trees need a bark-based or wood-based mulch;  don't use mushroom compost - it's too high in salts & can damage plants.

In making my spring plant order I'm mainly using the K. van Bourgondien & Sons, Inc. catalog.  This year this catalog seems to be somewhat cheaper.  I've used my old tried-and-true method of ordering:  on the order form I write down everything I could possibly want.  Then I go back and cross out half of the total.  I settled on 3 Raspberry Sundae hostas (red/purple stems) 9) (see above);  5 Brasilia lilies (white/pink);  5 Vice Versa lilies (pink/yellow);  5 Golden Stone lilies (yellow/red);  3 Martagon lilies (purple); 25 Blue Magic Dutch Iris;  5 Arum Italicums (orange berries);  3 Astranias Star of Magic (purple/red).  I'm also getting a sun sensitive gazing ball from another catalog.

Here's this month's recipe borrowed from The Old Farmer's Almanac:  Kale Salad - Ingredients = one big bunch of green-leaf kale (to make about 8 cups of thin sliced leaves), 1 tablespoon minced shallots, half cup chopped walnuts, half cup crumbled feta cheese, half cup chopped dried cranberries, 2 tablespoons rice-wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon of lemon or lime juice, 6 tablespoons of olive oil, salt & pepper to taste.  To do:  wash de-stemmed kale, slice in half inch strips.  Mix dry ingredients.  Mix wet ingredients & pour over rest.  Serve.

Summer vacation is coming.  Here are 10 of the best Botanic Gardens in this country.  Go see 'em:  1) Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pa. 2) Bartram's Garden, Philadelphia, Pa.  3)  Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, Colo. 4)  Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, Fla.  5)  Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, Calif.  6)  International Peace Garden, Dunseith, N.D.  7)  Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Ariz.  8)  Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo.  9)  National Tropical Botanical Garden, 4 locations in Hawaii & one in Coconut Grove, Fla.  10)  U.S. Botanical Garden in Washington, D.C.

The Fairy Gardeners has decided to collect  & promulgate various gardening blogs.  Here are 3:  hortiholic.com  (this is Chalet's Tony Fulmer's blog);  The Jackass Gardener ( a Chicagoan's blog) and trust4781.blogspot.com  (Warning - I may be writing for this Indiana based gardening, re-cycling semi-Amish blog)

Well, hallelujah - my 13 goldfish over wintered just fine outside.  Snow drops & purple & yellow crocus are blooming.  Tulips and daffs are above ground.  Found a large bag of still green pine branches so I cut them up for mulch.  For the obsessive among you - cat, dog & people hair is compostable or even useful in mulch (it may deter some critters).  For that matter fingernails are compostable - I clip mine over houseplants.  I don't have to go far - there are 7 in my small bathroom.

See you at the next garden club meeting at the Center on Halsted!

K. van Bourgondien & Sons