Hellstrip Gardening: Create a Paradise Between the Sidewalk and the Curb

by Evelyn J. Hadden, Joshua McCullough (Photographs)

The hellstrip—also known as a boulevard, meridian, and planting strip—is finally getting the attention it deserves! Gardeners everywhere are taking advantage of the space to add curb appeal to their homes, expand the size of their gardens, and conserve more resources.  Hellstrip Gardening  is the first book to show you exactly how to reclaim these oft-ignored spaces by determining the city and home owner's association rules, choosing plants that thrive in tough situations, designing pathways for accessibility, and much more. Gorgeous color photographs of hellstrip gardens across the country offer inspiration and visual guidance to anyone ready to tackle this final frontier.
 

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, How To

296 pages, Paperback

First published April 22, 2014

About the author

A national speaker and award-winning author of four garden books, Evelyn Hadden shares strategies to help people create and maintain comfortable, functional, nature-friendly landscapes with less or no lawn. Her most recent books, published by Timber Press, include Hellstrip Gardening (2014) and the acclaimed Beautiful No-Mow Yards (2012). Evelyn founded the informational website LessLawn and is a founding member of the national Lawn Reform Coalition, as well as a partner at the lauded and provocative team blog Garden Rant. Find her at http://www.evelynhadden.com.

Reviews

[❀Aimee❀ Just one more page... · Rating 4 out of 5]

I skimmed it, hubby loves it. Bought a copy. The title and the advice for the hellstrip (spot between the sidewalk and the street) is great.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm excited that this book exists, and it has some ideas and information that could be useful in making good use of hellstrips.

However, I would have LOVED it if:

The ideas and examples were focused exclusively on hellstrips. Many were about designing entire front lawns and entryways. If there's room for a waterfall, it's not a hellstrip. A shorter book that stuck to the narrow focus of the title would be more user-friendly.

The examples of homes that had done this included better photos or even maps of the entire space. The photos were nice, don't get me wrong, but they weren't always taken from angles that let you see the big picture of what's happening.

The listing of plant suggestions in the back had been organized by common hellstrip problems to solve, such as ground covers that tolerate foot traffic; plants that tolerate road salt; tall plants that provide privacy; etc. Plants for such uses were mentioned in the text but more user-friendly lists and descriptions would be much more useful. Having read the whole book, I'm no closer to knowing what work well in my particular space; even if I had taken notes every time a problem-solving plant was mentioned, many may not work in my climate or partial shade. Also, it was not clear to me whether listed plants were annuals or perennials.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked this out from my local library (ebook) and was glad I did.

The pictures were some good inspiration; but so is pinterest. I did like the plant list, and the focus on "good for problem areas" (drought tolerant, bad soils, boggy) was helpful, as was the organization by size/type/benefit.

My "wishes" for this that led to less stars was mostly a desire for more focus on "hellstrips" and more in-depth design ideas. For example, if you put a path in, what is the standard "spacing" to allow cars to park along the strip, and people to get out without fighting a bush? Knowing where to place paths along the strip, and more in depth design suggestions would have been helpful. I would have loved to have seen scale drawings with plant heights, paths, and photos to illustrate good design in the flesh. Where the organization of suggested plants were concerned, I would have appreciated more segregation between "drought tolerant" and "tolerates permanently moist areas."

Living in the garden-of-eden-of-Oregon, design becomes all the more critical because "getting stuff to grow" isn't the problem--its more "how many hours do I have to prune," "can I please not have to water this in summer" and "how can I plant so branches aren't grabbing me when accessing a car."

The plant suggestions were great and I was glad for photos of everything--and added several to my plant list.

[Logan Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm fully on board with alternatives to the classic grass lawn and this book had a lot of helpful insights into how to do that. I'll definitely be coming back to this when I have my own yard/garden someday.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think every homeowner needs to read and duplicate this gorgeous way to rethink the boring monotonous grass that fills that strip between the sidewalk and street.

Lots of examples, tips on how, including making better soil onto the plants best suited for such undertakings. Why wouldn’t someone want this beauty abounding?

Mine is!

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I love the concept behind it -- turning little used and difficult places in your yard into lush gardens instead of half dead lawn. But for as long as this book is (and I read it cover to cover), I didn't come away with a lot of information. Sure it looks pretty, but this book reinforces my general theory on gardening/landscaping books -- the prettier they are, the less actual information is contained in them.
My main complaints are referenced by many other reviewers. The first section of the book is dedicated to gardens all over the country that have hellstrip or other front yard gardens. In the text describing many of these gardens, it references how the homeowners used professional landscape design services or were landscape architects themselves -- that was offputting in a text that should be DIY. The pictures were very artistic but didn't give me a clear understand of the full picture of the garden or the full layout, which would have been helpful.
Throughout the book were buried in paragraphs lists of suggested plants for specific uses and sites. It would be nice to have those lists all together. Unless I was taking extensive notes and referencing pages, it would be very time consuming to find those lists again.
The plant profiles at the end were nice, but I also feel that such profiles can be found in other books and websites.
The book had the right idea and a good concept, but in the end just didn't execute that very well.

[reading is my hustle · Rating 5 out of 5]

We have two rather large "hell strips" in front of our already big front yard. I have one under control but the other looks like, well, hell. I read about this book in the gardening section of our paper and liked the review. The book is outstanding. It seems to have given me the push I need to get that hellish strip whipped into shape. The pictures of reformed hell strips are gorgeous. The plant choices are not intimidating, and the casual tone serves perfectly to inspire. LOVED.

[Cali · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I really enjoyed the example gardens and found them really useful for generating ideas for my space, I didn't necessarily feel like this book was as tailored to actual "hellstrip" gardening as I thought it would be, given the title. It felt more focused on gardening in general, while throwing in a few additional tips on gardening next to the sidewalk. Many of the examples showcased entire front lawns and sideyards and, while a lot of them were cool, there is a BIG difference between a front yard and a three foot wide hellstrip. I wanted more information on maximizing narrow spaces, protecting from foot traffic, incorporating paths and whatnot into tiny spaces, etc.

I suspect most of the useful information I got from it could also have been gleaned from a standard gardening book.

[Alina Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

First proper gardening book I've read from cover to cover, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. Agree with other reviewers who say the title, Hellstrip Gardening, doesn't match the material inside. Instead, it should have been called "No Mow Lawns: Vol II." Pretty straightforward, some good advice, and I like the underlying concept very much (lawns = expensive and consume tons of water; thoughtful gardens = more visually interesting and better for the environment). The "Inspirations" section featuring beautiful gardens from across the country was my favorite.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book because planting in the hellstrip is such a big opportunity to reclaim urban space for pollinators and wildlife, but this book felt like a recycling of blog posts, and in fact, several of the photos are used in a Sunset Magazine "9 Best Hellstrip Gardens" online slideshow. Mostly useful for inspiration, not specifics on how to make a mini-garden work in a difficult spot.

[Katherine Anne Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, so this redefines hellstrip as front yard. Not terribly useful when I'm looking for ideas of what will cope well in a 2ft wide strip under a new elm tree in our sidewalk. There was some ok stuff at the end, but not a lot.

[Carol Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ideas, great pictures, but not as well organized as I’d like. I’d like to create a cry side garden in New England where roadside salt and snow are issues. It is not easy to find appropriate plants from this book. I’m already persuaded—need a better reference—zones, what’s native, etc.

[Steph Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a strip of grass between our street and the sidewalk at our house. Just to mow this strip is dangerous. It sits at the bottom of a hill and cars, delivery trucks, and the school bus exceed the posted speed signs. I don’t even like to trim, concerned for personal safety. That strip is extremely dry too im the summer and receives heaps of snow and salt from snowplows im the winter. The term “hellscape” fits.

Our goal is to not mow and have plants that can withstand snow, salt, heat, and drought. This book was great; including suggestions to have spots for shoveled snow and plants that won’t bother or endanger people and children (thorns and bees).

[Ligaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on how to plant your own hellstrip garden! Lots of info on plants, pros and cons, regulations and aspects of human nature of which to be aware. Best of all, tons of photos showing gardens from many different planting zones - not everything is drought tolerant or spiky succulent. Of course, more photos would have been appreciated because not all plants are represented by an adjacent photo. Intelligent, thoughtful text and lots to learn from here!

[Ribbqah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of pictures and locations for tree lawns and other yards abutting motor traffic or other intrusions.

I spent days just skimming and looking at the pictures, then dug deeper looking for gardens in my growing zone - great ideas although not all are practical for my location,

Useful book and will probably check it out of the library for a fourth or fifth time.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great photos. You will feel very inspired after flipping through this book, but there is not a lot of practical instruction.

[Angie Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ideas, ideas, ideas.

[M Aghazarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough, well-organized, and inspirational

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good starting point.

[Kiera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun inspiration and an extensive plant list

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

It had some ideas but too broad to help very much in my yard. I liked all the pictures and garden toys.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in creating small spots of beauty in a garden, this is a lovely book!

[JM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really felt like an adult when I checked out a book on gardening from the library! This book is more for inspiration and planning than practical how-to's, but very enjoyable to leaf* through all of the lovely pictures of hellstrip and front yard gardens from across the country. I am thinking that the flow might be a little better in the print version versus the e-book I checked out. Came away with lots of plant inspiration for our sad little yard.

*see what I did there?

[Ita · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first thing I do with most gardening books is look at the pictures. The pictures in this book were disappointing. Most were not of hellstrips, but of gardens, or of individual plants. And the angles of the pictures were confusing. Was this a picture of a garden or the hellstrip? Before and after pics would have been more interesting and useful if they had been taken from the same angle and distance.

It contained lots of good information and advice, but quite a bit of it was Gardening 101: use natives if you can, provide food for birds and bees, augment your soil if necessary, use low maintenance plants which don't need watering. In other words, the advice and info was not specific to hellstrips.

I realize that with a general book (i.e. one covering the wide climate range of the US) I couldn't expect much advice or info specific to my climate, but with global warming and drought becoming a more serious issue, I had hoped to see more xeriscapes.

Still, it was a book worth perusing.

[Jack Cheng]

Some call it the Hellstrip, others a "berm" -- it's that space between your sidewalk and the road.

This book offers suggestions on plants and designs that would grow well in that space. There are lots of photos and examples, which are nice, but it also means that there are whole swaths of this book that were not useful for my purposes.

That said, this is a very specific book for a very specific project and it does a good job for its purpose.

[Shari Schawo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really great find. It is a good all purpose garden planning and problem solving book with a nice glossary of plants for specific microclimates in your garden. It is going in my permanent collection at home.

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty book that I admit to only skimming. I wish there were graphs showing how various hell strips were laid out. No new info here for a seasoned gardener, but nice for a beginner for getting ideas.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the concept, but very few of the pictures actually looked like hell strips- so in that regard, it wasn't very different from a regular front yard gardening book.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly skimmed this book. While not applicable to the research I was doing, if I was redoing my complexes' median strips, I would find it very useful.

[T Crockett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book for getting inspiration. It brings up all sorts of practical issues that apply to planning any garden. Lovely photographs.

It gives examples from all types of environments and parts of the country, so you do have to pay attention before deciding you want to apply something to your own street.