Planting Along a Sidewalk

For some reason there is one area of a home's landscape that many homeowners overlook during their annual gardening endeavors. That area is almost always found alongside the sidewalk of the home. Whatever the reason, this one area of the landscape is usually left untouched and barren, except for some basic lawn. Planting along a sidewalk can help enhance the beauty and attractiveness of anyone's home. To help get the most out of your sidewalk plantings, keep these general guidelines in mind.

• Know your ordinances. Surprisingly, there are some cities which do not allow you to plant alongside any sidewalks, even if you are responsible for maintaining the grass near them. Be sure that you check your local ordinances to ensure that you are able to do some planting along a sidewalk. Otherwise, if you don't, you may find yourself faced with a fine and needing to remove all your hard work.
• Planters and pots. One option for planting along a sidewalk is to not actually "plant" anything in the traditional sense. Rather you can use planters and pots. This may help you avoid dealing with those pesky ordinances which can limit the type of planting that you do. Be sure that you choose your planters and pots appropriately according to the plant that you are putting into it, as well as matching your current decor.
• Flowers. Flowers are a great way to liven up the area by a sidewalk. Choose flowers that are fairly hardy, easy to maintain, and welcoming in appearance. You want a flower that is hardy since it will be planted alongside a high traffic area, and can therefore be subjected to a lot of abuse. You want flowers that are easy to maintain for the same reason, and annuals are usually a very good choice for this. Welcoming colors are a great way to help decorate your home, as well as making things a bit more bright and open. Some examples are colors like whites, pinks and purples, and some of the best plants are things like marigolds, and the various plants in the Dianthus family.
• Shrubs and bushes. A very simple method for sprucing up the space along a sidewalk is with shrubs and bushes. Typically you will want to keep these bushes lower to the ground and something that will be fairly hardy. For example, evergreen bushes are particularly hardy, and can put up with a lot of abuse and are easy to maintain.