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What Not to Plant in a Park Strip or Adjacent to the Sidewalk

What is a park strip? A park strip is the area between the sidewalk and the curb at the street. Not all neighborhoods have these and they vary in width from 2′-8′. They are maintained by the homeowner, but the city often has a designated type of tree(s) to be planted in the park strip. The tree is maintained by the city or the homeowner (this varies with the different cities). A park strip typically has utilities in it- hydrants, water meters, phone boxes, sewer caps, utility poles etc……. Many cities do not allow the homeowner to use solid paving (like concrete) in the park strips because of the utilities and access to them. Removing street trees requires a permit from the city.

I wrote about ideas for landscaping your park strip in a previous post but wanted to highlight a few of the common issues that come along with park strips and sidewalks. Most are planting errors. Some involve encroaching on the sidewalk- respect the walkers and keep it clear.

A little warning here, I am going to be uncharacteristically snarky in this post and poke fun at homeowners foolish errors. It’s all in the spirit of learning from peoples mistakes and it is for the greater good of our neighborhoods.

Plants to Avoid in Park Strips

I love my walks in our neighborhood in LA. Lots of tropical fruit and flowers, birds, butterflies and neighbors saying hi. But it has its dangers too. I’m not talking about crime, although there are a lot of people running stop signs- scary. The danger is the uneven sidewalks and shrubs, cacti and low hanging trees that need to be watched out for. Having cared for an elderly person for some years, I cringe at the possible falls associated with uplifted paving, actual ledges in the sidewalk and exuberant plants growing out into the sidewalk. And it is not just the older folk. I took my granddaughter out for a walk with her scooter and she had a heck of a time navigating the sidewalks. I remember when my daughters were young, I was so excited to move into a neighborhood with sidewalks so they could ride their trikes. Guess it’s a no go in LA.

I thought it was a no brainer not plant Cactus in a park strip, but folks just can’t visualize how large these plants get. Even if you remove the spines they are still a problem with parking and walking on the sidewalk. Also people do need to cross these areas to get from the street and cars to the sidewalk and homes. In general spines, thorns and sharp branches are out for planting in a park strip.

Believe it or not, all these examples are within a 1 mile radius of our home. Egads. The park strips in this neighborhood are 5′ wide. Planting a huge tree in this small amount space leads to the kind of problems pictured here. In some of these photos even the tree base is bigger than the park strip! You can see that their trunks have even overlapped the paving. The trees pictured are Camphor, Palms, Eucalyptus, Indian Laurel Fig and Carob. The repairs are not fairing well, and in some cases the concrete has been replaced before. Asphalt doesn’t hold up any better than the concrete.

Homeowners are victims of a poor city planning idea. Park strips were meant to allow the streets to be lined with shade trees. Cooling the paving and buffering the sounds on the streets. Sounds good- right? Well, unfortunately big shade trees planted by water lines and meters, and adjacent to lawns in peoples front yards will quickly damage the sidewalks, ruin pipes and drop leaves and other debris on cars. It was a bad idea and all across the U.S. people are tripping and falling on uneven paving. Horrible.

So big trees are not a good idea for park strips, or near the sidewalk in your front yard. We love big trees but the paving and utility lines do not. Smaller trees can usually be planted safely in these areas but, it is a good idea to use root barriers around the sides of the root ball. These are heavy duty polyethylene or metal sheeting panels that acts as a bottomless box (available at nurseries and landscape supplies). They are buried with the root ball of the tree. The tree roots hit the side of the box and go down instead of surface rooting. The trees will also need to be deep watered so they will root farther into the ground. Please remember to water your trees in summer. It will help them stay healthier. Water at the edge of the canopy or under the outside tips of branches.

Respect the Sidewalk and Keep it Clear

Watch your head! And your shoulders too! Not a great idea to plant giant Jade trees (they were probably small when they were planted) in the park strip, or Boxwood right on the property line, or Star Jasmine either. I call that first picture the tunnel. My grand daughter and I walked through there every morning on the way to her school. Star Jasmine on one side and a row of Indian Laurel Figs in the park strip. It is only a matter of time till there is no space at all!

The sidewalk is public right of way and belongs to the city. Homeowners are meant to maintain the clearance along the sidewalk and not let their landscaping or other landscape elements encroach into the space. For the most part people are good about keeping the sidewalk clear. But, not always as you can see.

Large shrubs in the park strip can also impede drivers sight lines especially when backing up. To be safe, I would keep plants and shrubs in the park strip below 30″ in height (except the trees of course). Read plant labels carefully and double check on Google or in Sunset Western Garden Book about plant sizes before planting. Prune trees and shrubs overhanging the sidewalk to at least 7′ off the ground so folks don’t hit their heads.

Bougainvillea, the Sprawling Beast with Thorns

Look at that glorious magenta color! Notice also those thorns along the branches- don’t put your hand in there! Bougainvillea in LA comes in every shape and size. It is a vine but, I have seen it sheared into a hedge, grown as a tree, on hillsides as a ground cover, cascading over walls and even trained as Bonsai. Near a sidewalk it is not so great. It usually gets way too big and drops a ton of flowers and leaves onto the paving. The first picture shown is just up the hill from us. It’s kind of a big blob oozing out over the top of the fence completely overhanging the sidewalk. I don’t know whether to be amazed by it or a bit frightened.

Please Don’t Plant This

This is kind of a neat looking plant but it turns out that the sap is caustic and burns your skin if you break it. I wouldn’t want to be crossing a park strip or walking on the sidewalk and trip on some of that uneven paving crashing into that thing! Euphorbia tirucalli ‘Firestick’- Sticks on Fire is the name of this plant. It is one of the multitude of Euphorbias that we grow as ornamental plants. All have inner white latex sap and in the case of Euphorbia ‘Firestick’ it can blind a person as well as cause extreme irritation to the skin. Overall height is over 6′ and equally as wide.

Consider the Sprawl

Prickly Pear Cactus may start as a few small pads but will become a 7′ high multi-branched sprawling mass not suitable to live near a sidewalk, parking area or driveway. You would have to eat a lot of nopales to keep up with its size! You also wouldn’t want to trip over these guys at night.

I thought these smooth Agave would be pretty good in a park strip until I saw them sending off a ton of side branches and off shoots. You can thin them back but they also leave no room to cross the park strip.

Same with these Moraea and society garlic. Its a nice solution but if you plant an area that people need to cross or walk in when exiting a car, please leave a crossing area or wide path(s).

This poor little guy has to hide his eyes from seeing the havoc being wrought in the neighborhood! Palms that will thwack you in the head as you walk by, Agave spines right at eye level ready to give you a good jab, seedling trees and Agave left to grow to maturity then butchered to make them fit, and crazy Jack the Skeleton perched in a precarious manner as walkers pass below. At least they finally tethered him in place! Beware the perils that await you on your morning walk and don’t make the same mistakes as the neighbors.