By Gail Leidigh, CSU Extension-Denver Master Gardener since 2021
One of my goals this summer was to fix up a small 9’ x 6’ section of the hell strip area that I have ignored for several years while the weeds thrived. Between weeds, trash, and being a favorite spot for the neighborhood doggies, it was quite an eyesore. So, I finally decided to tackle this project and do something that would be sustainable, pleasant to look at, and attract pollinators.
Over the winter I worked on a plan, and first, needed to do some research! Since I live in a historic district, I consulted the guidelines published by the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission, which recommends that homeowners “Maintain grass and/or low-water ground cover in an existing or new tree lawn (the landscaped area between the street and the sidewalk).” Since the tree lawn (isn’t that term so much more charming than hell strip?) was long gone, and I did not wish to irrigate the area, I wanted to go with low-water plantings.
For inspiration, I did lots of reading from various sources, including an earlier post on this blog, Reimagining a Denver Hell Strip, which detailed the process Denver Master Gardeners Elizabeth and Daniel Neufeld used to transform their space. If they happen to read this, I’d love to know how it looks now!
5280 magazine also has a helpful article from 2015 with locally specific suggestions on planting in the hell strip.
I also borrowed the library book Hellstrip Gardening: Create a Paradise Between the Sidewalk and Curb by Evelyn J. Hadden (2014) for some very interesting gardening ideas from around the United States.
Once the weather began warming enough to work outside, I started clearing the area of debris and had a small elm tree that had grown itself from seed dug out. I did not know what to expect as far as soil conditions and anticipated that I’d need to remove and replace loads of dirt. But to my pleasant surprise the soil was quite loose, loamy, and I would be able to plant without amendments!
Naturally, as the weather continued to warm, the weeds were growing like crazy, and I spent many, many, hours digging them out and getting their roots as best I could. I will need to stay on top of these weeds throughout the season this year, and hopefully the healthy new plants will eventually crowd them out.
In choosing plants I looked at information on recommended native plants on the CSU Extension website, and using the wonderful “Find a Plant” feature on the Plant Select website.
Plant choices were narrowed down based on my must-have criteria: safe for kids and pets, low-height (24” or less), low water needs, poor soil (non-composted) tolerant, and overall tough plants that could deal with being in a busy high traffic area.
I ended up selecting Kannah Creek Sulphur Buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum) and Wild blue flax (Linium lewisii). The area is 54 square feet, and I drew up some plans to help with arranging things.
In typical Colorado fashion, as soon as I finished planting everything in mid-May, after I thought the danger of frost had passed, we got one of our wild late spring snowstorms extra late this year.
Thankfully, the snow in our area remained mostly wet slush which prevented most of the heavy build up on plants and trees that causes problems. Unfortunately, other areas were not so lucky: while driving through Washington Park after the storm, I saw significant damage to older trees throughout that neighborhood.
I put a small fence around the area to keep out wandering feet and covered the garden bed with pea gravel (the suggested mulch for these two plants). I have been watering about every 2-3 days by hand, which is more frequent than I would suggest for clay or rich soils, but this small space has exceptionally well-drained soil and I want to make sure to get the plants established during this rather warm and dry spring and summer. All of the plants have shown good growth in the last two months, and for now they appear to be happy in this place!
Denver Gardeners 
The native bed is outrageously good! There are no open areas left, and the weeds are nearly extinct (darn you, stray bindweed!). The Berlandia (chocolate flower), Delosperma (ice plant), Tanacetum (partridge feather), Agastache ( hyssop), and Eriogonom umbellatum (Kannah creek buckwheat) are true winners. I made a couple of mistakes: 1) I thought I needed to cover the plants in winter with leaf mulch— this wiped out the ice plants. 2) I added an Asclepius syriaca (common Milkweed) to the mix 3 years ago— it was on sale! It’s a native! It attracts pollinators! Yes to all they, yet it is the most invasive of anything I’ve ever planted. And messy. Good luck to you and your hell strip!
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Thanks so much for the update, Elizabeth! How great to hear that most of your plants have worked out!
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I’ve been working extensively on a 4×24 and 4×26 hell scape at a community garden for the past two years. The fist year every thing we planted in the sandy soil died. So we heavily amended the soil, and planted bulbs. Only half survived as the community still uses the area as a trash bin. Last year my attempt to box it in resulted in to keep the trash out resulted in some of the materials being stolen over the winter. This years project is to use cinder block to level the area and prevent run off and keep people from using the area as a trash bin.
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Ugh, that’s rough Jessica! That is a lot of time and effort – I hope that it works out for you this time!
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