DON’T BLOCK TRAFFIC SIGHT-LINES

Today I moved a Beach Plum and Northern Bayberry from the sidewalk garden hellstrip where they were beginning to block the view of oncoming traffic. My practical husband pointed out that blocking traffic sight-lines is not a good way to win folks over to native plants!

I love the hellstrip because at 5’ x 150’ it offers a lot of space for beautiful flowering plants that usually need full sun. As Evelyn J. Hadden explains in “Hellstrip Gardening” it’s the perfect place for tough native plants that can thrive in full sun, dry soil and the disruptions that come from cars, dogs and road work.

Under three-feet tall and still dormant, the Beach Plum and Northern Bayberry were not yet a problem. But after three years in the hellstrip, they had probably set down enough roots to explode in growth come Spring.

Why wait for anyone to —rightly—complain that they can’t see the oncoming traffic as they turn onto our busy street?

I carefully dug all around the shrubs to preserve the root systems and transplanted them to a spot in full sun between two towering sycamores, then gave them a good long soak of water. Still dormant, I’m anxiously waiting for their buds to leaf out— a sign that they survived transplant shock.

I seeded the vacant spot in the hellstrip with dwarf cosmos. This dwarf variety grows no more than 12-inches and blooms from summer to fall. Cosmos are not native, but they will fill in the cracks and suppress weeds until I fill in that part of the hellstrip with short, native volunteers from the WILD garden.

Meanwhile, inside the WILD garden, I like the way the Beach Plum and Northern Bayberry help define a vertical arc up to the taller Viburnums, then Dogwood and Sycamore trees creating a harmonious woodland edge to the perennial beds.

Fixing mistakes while improving the garden design ….all in my first day of gardening for 2023!