I've got a suggestion for your boulevard garden: Make the grade of the boulevard strip lower than the grade of the sidewalk and curb. Not so steep that someone will trip and fall -- just a gentle swale. This will allow your boulevard to capture a significant amount of the stormwater that rolls off the sidewalk.
This boulevard swale will not only hold more water for your plants (your "real" grass might even flourish), but also it will keep a significant amount of water out of the street and out of the storm drain. If this were a common practice in Minneapolis, a tremendous amount of storm water could be diverted from the city's storm sewers. This simple landscaping technique could improve impact on water quality in the Mississippi River. Most of our boulevards look mounded. This is generally not a design choice, but rather a gradual heaving of soil from growing tree roots and dust and debris deposited on boulevards from snowplowing. You can expect your boulevard swale to fill in 10-15 years. But this maintenance of your boulevard every decade or so is well worth the water quality impacts. I've got more Natural Stormwater Management information on my web site at http://www.greeninstitute.org/GSP. Corrie Zoll GreenSpace Partners The Green Institute Phillips -----Original Message----- From: Sue Ponsford [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, July 21, 2003 4:56 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] boulevard plantings I've about had it with trying to grow grass in my boulevards. "Real" grass doesn't flourish and the assortment of weeds I have look terrible. I'm almost at the point of dividing the common orange daylillies behind my garage just to put something other than weeds out there. (Although some would argue that those are weeds.) So, anyone have suggestions for good, low maintenance, salt and heat tolerant full sun plants to put out there? Also, since I've already blown my plant budget for this year, I'd take donations of boulevard hardy plants if someone needs to divide something later this fall. I'd dig and divide for you as a payment. Thanks! Sue Ponsford Bryant __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
