Chris,

Do you have a picture of the site? Have you done any site preparation to remove “lawn” and other weeds to decrease competition for the newly planted seeds? Will you be able to irrigate at least during the spring, to improve germination rates? I am afraid that inadequate site preparation might result in just the “scraggly” result you are dreading.

Martha

Yes to 1 & 3.

3. Wildflower mixes vary widely in quality and often contain weedy plants IME.

1. As Martha said, you will want to do adequate prep as well as starting seeds so that you can plant plants. Your soil will have a bunch of weed seeds that will compete with your desired plants, and so you would need to know both what the plants you want look like as seedlings or small plants and what the weeds look like so you know which to pull. Since few folks who try to seed a meadow this have a good handle on what their desired plants look like in seedling form, they end up with a mess and may end up here at Houzz/Gardenweb with questions about what went wrong. Also, since you already have clover and grass, very few new seedlings that aren’t relatively aggressive weedy types will be able to compete with the established plants. So to make this work well, you need to remove what is there, plant small plants (as opposed to scattering seeds that would need to outcompete the fast-growing weeds) and then water and weed until plants are established. Mulch will help keep down some of the weeds and will help retain soil moisture, but this is a garden and so will need care and maintenance. Even my long-established meadow still needs maintenance, including some hand removal of invasives and an annual mowing to keep the trees from moving in.

There are several threads from prior years on hellstrip gardens in the perennial forum

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/peren/query/Hell-strip/nqrw

plus this recent one in the New England gardening forum:

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5866594/the-hellstrip-garden#n=8

Thank you. Very helpful. I was definitely NOT looking for more work. I think I will continue to overseed with clover which has crowded out some weeds in the past seasons. Some of the other weeds are useful, like plaintain, or pretty (those little yellow flowers that seem to have invaded this area over the last five-ten years) and don't bother me. If I can keep the crabgrass out and fill in sun-scorched bare spots (so far by raking up and overseeding with clover) I can be happy with it.

Chris if you would message me I would be glad to send you a lot of seeds, I have zinnia, cosmos pinks and oranges, calendula, marigolds and lots of 4 clocks. I would love to send some to a rebel to make some hellstrip a garden.

I may be in the odd here and think you could overseed with some of these and let mother nature take over and see what flowers come up and enjoy. I have taken areas like hell strips and succeeded in making them gardens like you are talking about. I guess what I am saying is what would it hurt??

Hi Stacie,

4 o'clocks would be awesome. I used to have them at my old place and now I can't seem to find any. Given how prolifically they create seed, you'd think some rebel among us would have some :) Are you in the US? Are we allowed to send seeds across the border?

Yes I am in the US. Where are you at? Check your Facebook messages I think I found you and sent you a message there about the flower seeds.

Have you started this garden yet? I would love to see progress shots, especially since I want to do the same thing even though my neighborhood may not be so thrilled! ;-)

Is this allowed where you live? While there is no HOA in my neighborhood, there is a town ordinance that requires lawns, brush, and anything that is not a cultivated and maintained planting to be trimmed to 12 inches or less. If I did this, especially where it's visible from the street, I would get a letter from code enforcement and 10 days later a court citation.

Chris, for various reasons you want native or at least naturalized.

Plants of different flowering seasons to get flowers over much of year.

The advantage of tall, in sufficient number, is that tall grass blends into the overall appearance.

Paul, we can plant what we want in these parts and many homeowners have turned their boulevard into gardens. As long as the view for traffic (i.e. in and out of driveways) isn't obstructed, anything goes. So shrubs are out. You do have to consider snow plows and dog walkers, so whatever goes there would have to be hardy and not something you'd want to eat

Someone up the street did all daylilies and low-growing junipers.

I was thinking of doing something super invasive like that purple blooming groundcover thing I severely regret planting in my flower beds and now have to pull out. Or perhaps deadnettles.

In our area we are not allowed to plant shrubs or climbing plants there so I planted some perennials a month ago. This is one side of it from a few days ago. The plants have grown well except the lavenders in the back, maybe 🐕 got to them... I water once a week if it didn’t rain, but can probably leave them alone until the hot summer days.

Multiple people have complimented on the little “garden” when I went to water it. I might try planning 2 more patches nearby next spring.

Happy gardening!

So pretty. Lavender likes it dry, so maybe move those to another spot and let it dry out between waterings. We had a really rainy period last year and it killed mine.

I know there is an ordinance saying we shouldn't, but several neighborhoods have lots of homeowners planing their hellstrips and they look great. I agree that it is time to challenge local governments to be more aware of the environmental issues we face these days.

Cyn427: I finally figured out why the lavenders are not growing. Cars parked in front of them basically block the sunlight even though these plants are south facing. I didn’t think of that when I planted. I’ll move them somewhere else and replace with shade tolerate plants. The challenges of street gardens:)

Aw, too bad. Lavender would be so pretty by the street, I think! I would try it if ours were a sunny spot. No full sun anywhere on our lot. My lavender is in pots on our top floor deck.

I once saw a hell strip in Iowa that was packed with mixed colors of zinnias. Probably State Fair mix or something similar- long stems, 3-4 ft tall, huge range of colors and shapes Stunningly beautiful and loaded with bees and butterflies. I'll never forget it, literally one of the prettiest things I have ever seen.

Plant perennials, too, so you don't have to start over every spring. Bulbs are great for that first shock of color before "regular plants" have come up. Then they die back and the spring flowering begins. I had a strip like this about 100 ft. long. The city made me cut off my aster because it was too tall. I have come to love daisies, butterfly weed, bluebells and gaillardia (although gaillardia is only short-lived perennial). I love penstemon, but my experience with it is that it only lasts a few years so I've moved on to other plants/flowers. Have you considered peonies for early spring? Good luck! Even if you don't hear it, I'm sure people smile and feel good when they see your blooms.

Verbena bonariensis would seem to suit your spot very well.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5960477/ot-verbena-bonariensis#n=18