Living in Los Angeles County, within the West San Fernando Valley, we are particularly blessed with a landscape of single family homes with front and back yards. With urbanization hanging over our heads, we are holding onto our yards, gardens, and that thing between the sidewalk and the street in front of our house, aptly named a “parkway”.
Los Angeles County defines a parkway as, “the area of the street between the back of the curb and the sidewalk that is typically planted or landscaped”. Many people don’t know that you are responsible for this area even though it’s owned by the city.
Most of you have only one parkway to contend with, while others living on a corner lot may have two. Some home owners have taken to simply planting grass in this strip, which isn’t quite “water wise” as the LADWP may put it. I took to the internet and found the City of Los Angeles Residential Parkway Landscaping Guidelines and this helpful pamphlet here from Treepeople.org which gives examples of drought resistant ground cover.
My parkways are both grass with one parkway that had partial grass and hard packed dirt. Not attractive. So I took to tearing out the grass one day as you’ll see below. I wanted to plant some native wildflowers here. I was inspired by reading about Mary Orcutt and her vision of beautification that you can read in one of my last posts here.
Planting wildflowers can help the bee population as well as the butterfly population. Read about a project Cal State Northridge is doing now.
Before you start planting cactus here, the first paragraph is probably the most important!
I. Preferred Parkway Planting Material(s): Preferred parkway planting materials (other than street trees) include drought-tolerant turf substitute groundcovers or drought-tolerant turf (grass). Drought-tolerant turf-substitute groundcovers and/or drought-tolerant turf are preferred parkway planting materials because they:
● provide open and free passage between the street and sidewalk for pedestrians; ● provide a commonly accepted, uniform walking surface;
● have the ability to tolerate foot traffic; and
● maintain an open line of sight between the street and abutting property.City of Los Angeles, Residential Parkway Landscaping Guidelines
Be aware that planting a tree in a parkway involves getting a permit so read through the City of Los Angeles, Residential Parkway Landscaping Guidelines above to ensure you are in compliance. You can go to Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services website to research and access services like requesting a tree permit here or click here for free trees from cityplants.org.
For inspiration, took to Pinterest and of course, Instagram and will be going to Green Thumb in Canoga Park. I also found this great resource from Las Virgenes Municipal Water District which give an extensive list and examples of drought tolerant plants native to Southern California and our area.
You can also find more ideas on drought tolerant plants on dpw.lacounty.org.
I will update this post at some point once I landscape the parkway I’m working on. Below are some examples I thought would be easy to do and add value and curb appeal to our neighborhood and home. Share what you’ve done too. I would love hear and see what you might have done to change your parkway.
West SFV Lifestyle 
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