Hellstrips of New Orleans

"Hell strip" - Gardner slang for the strip of dirt between the sidewalk and the street, notoriously hard to grow plants of any kind in due to several factors: lack of water, heat reflected from paved surfaces, foot traffic, trash, dog crap..etc.

Much of the country has their house, a front yard, a sidewalk and then the "hell strip", much of New Orleans has the front of their house a sidewalk and then the road. This often hellish strip of paved area IS our front yard. And while i have seen many books called "Balconies of New Orleans" I have never seen "Hell Strips of New Orleans" so i thought i would be the first. ( Of course at some point i will post pictures of the beautiful balconies around the city). All and all those awe inspiring balcony gardens that are so photographed are no different to maintain than someones hell strip.

Unlike much of the rest of the country we have ownership of our sidewalks, steming from an old 1800's ordinance when sidewalks were wood planked. Thats why today one sidewalk may be brick, the one next to it slate, followed by a few concrete, followed by a crumbled mess of broken hard materials. I spent the last few days wandering around taking some photos of the sidewalk gardens that are around my house. In the future i will expand out and show some other sidewalk gardens around the city. On the original "american" side of the city people are more apt to have a typical front yard though often times its quite small. I will show this as well.

Things look sort of rough here in the city this year, in fact its funny to start a blog about plants after what has been two of the toughest years to try and grow things. Two winters that were record cold and now a spring that has produced almost no rain. Normally we average around 6+inches a month, this year we have only received maybe 6inches in total. The plants here arent aclimated to that kind of low rainfall. And of course anything in a container is tough to keep looking good without rain. So these front hell strips have been through some hell.


I have always liked this slightly tortured magnolia, not only does the green look great against the purple but it has a beautiful shape it has acquired . I imagine it is a dwarf like "little gem". The owners have cut a square out of the sidewalk to allow this to root directly in the ground. At its base is a wild palmetto that pops up everywhere from seed and below that a trailing rosemary. Three great plants for the sidewalk here.








Along the same lines, this house actually has a proper hell strip which most people do not. And though simple and fairly common you can't beat the pygmy date palms for heat tolerence and drought tolerance. Plus their little stems move in the breeze so easily. And again with a house this color simple green foliage looks impressive.




Simple but attractive mix of dusty miller, magenta geranium, and what looks to be the local variety of "lady banks" rose which blooms a buttery yellow flowers that probally come close to matching the trim. "Lady Banks" rose has been growing in New Orleans since at least the 1830's so it can withstand anything the climate throws at it.

This house is relatively new for the area being built around 1885 i would think, and so it has more of a frontal space than most. Planted in there is not much other than this giant agave. Today we tend to think of agaves and yuccas as desert plants, but if you look at photos of New Orleans from the turn of the century you see they are a common landscape plant. So many black and white photographs show giant 6' agaves and huge multi-branched yuccas as well as various opuntias. New Orleans had close ties with mexico and plant material from there was the easiest exotic to obtain. On the other side of these steps was a Giant white bird of paradise, a native to Africa these also make good street side plantings but when we have a cold winter they can look very ragged if not burned all the way to the ground.

Thinking of historical plantings this is a great grouping here. there are two species of yucca and agave, perennial red salvia(native to Texas and Mexico), yellow osteospermum(native to africa). And then a great historic variety of red rose that is the perfect balance to all those dessert plants. And all of them set against that great chartreuse green.

Vibrant green sweet potato vine looks great against the muted grey blues and wood of this late 1800's shotgun. With the brand new Proven Winners plant - "pretty much picasso" petunia. That has magenta and green flowers with a green that is as vibrant as the sweet potato. This matching pair of containers looked tropical, vibrant and refined all at the same time and a perfect match to this house. Below set into the side walk were podocarpus shrubs trained into topiaries. This bit of formality was a nice contrast to the tropical exuberance around it.








Not only is this a fun house with its arches and twisty columns and big ionic capitols but this rose bush in front never stops. Sure its just a simple rose bush but it always catches my eye. My guess is its a "knock out rose" because its always in bloom. it looks great against the warm peachyness of the house.













These plants got knocked down by this winters freeze, but this color combo of the beautiful shade of yellow ochre, with deep eggplant doors. On what is a very simple 1830's creole cottage. Who ever picked these colors had to have based them on crotons and Ti plants. The foliage is a exact match but also a contrast to each other. The camera had a hard time picking up the colors.. to its "eye" the yellow canceled out the purple, but in person in the sunset it is striking.







With New Orleans following the winding river all of its streets are going every which way. so while the house on one side of the block may be in full sun the house on the other side might only get early afternoon. And of course houses on one side of the street are in sun and on the other side shade. this particular house is always in shade. Please dont stick ti plants in full sun i never see it turn out well they are always pale or worse. truely the same goes for crotons much of the time. I think a rule of thumb is "if you can find it in a house plant department it probably would use some shade at the brightest hour"


There is a common adage you hear around New Orleans, "It's impossible not to garden here" and its true if you do nothing but alittle editing the weeds themselves are kinda beautiful. On the left is the non native invasive "Kalanchoe daigremontiana" but a more variegated local form. These on the left are actually growing in what appears to be the smallest crack where the house meets the sidewalk, they are everywhere here. And though they are weedy they do have a amazing bloom in the winter big stalks of cherry red flowers. The picture on the right is the local native pteris fern. This fern defies watering and soil and will truly grow, right on the surface of a wall. I love these plants here. So much i took a picture and made it the background for the blog heading. They are so lush and tropical and always encrusting ancient red brick walls. A word of advice though, they are dangerous for antique local brickwork as are any plant that gets a hold on your brick wall. its best to spray a pesticide on them rather than try to pull them out, which is only bound to do more damage.



It's to bad this photo didn't come out very crisp for some reason, maybe this lantana monster was to much to focus on. This is what lantana does here... in fact this is nothing lantana could probably eat that shotgun if it wanted to. I love the pale decayed yellow against the crazy vibrant yellow orange of the lantana. Also this giant shrub appears to be growing from a crack in the ground so its not getting water regularly. Lantana in all its forms and colors is a great plant for that full sun front space.. clearly.





Another photo that is less than crisp, this one i might go and retake. This little front area has a great unusual design. It is made up of horsetail and native scrub palmettos. Horsetail transcends so many ideas to be both modern and wild, clean and exuberant. And it loves wet soils and also surprising dry soils.. ultimately it is invasive if you have never planted it. The scrub palmettos wide fan shaped leaves are a great contrast but also can carry the half modern half wild feeling. Neither plant needs care other than some pruning and cleaning and maybe water it we are very dry. Also another great combo of purple walls and apple green foliage. This keeps the simple planting from ever feeling boring.








This was a series of five pots that had a very unusual combo in them but it really worked. the main center plant is an out of bloom poinsettia. Behind it are dark centered snake plants and behind them near black leaf false aralia. The poinsettias were so happy their foliage had turned this deep dark green that worked so well with the other plants. and the lower half of the shotgun was painted a deep dark green as well. It helped to "cool" of the space with its deep forest color pallet. And that little bright yellow edge of each snake plant helped to keep it from being to dark and boring. Plus great thing to do with a out of bloom poinsettia.

Cashmere Bouquet (Clerodendrum bungei) it is one of these great plants that you never actually see for sale here it is passed from gardener to gardener. It blooms here between April and June and has a deep rich smell and it forms a low shrub as you can see. And this one, well it takes some... buds... to plant a pink flowered bush in front of a house this yellow but it sure looks vibrant. In other setting this plant can look more grandmotherly but not here. This plant does need shade BTW and this patch in the picture is growing under the shade of a giant cypress up until sunset. Also it is supposed to be very invasive but I've not seen that personally.















Now this is a unusual front yard planting. Its not unusual to have a spare clawfoot tub laying around your house if you live here. And not knowing what to do with the 300 pound enameled monster many people turn them into little ponds. But this is the one and only i have seen in front of someones shotgun. Complete with gurgling fountain and goldfish. On one end is a very happy papyrus and the other is a common philodendron selloum...which i think is the most common "shrub" in New Orleans. The nice thing about a water garden is.. you don't have to remember to water the plants.





As you can see; like the people here in the Mardi Gras season, gardens here are a very personal, local, creative thing. They spring from all manners of containers and against all odds are maintained year after year, just like the so much of the cities traditions.
This is the first of many posts about gardens in New Orleans. Next time i will show what my "Hell strip" looks like and talk more about what to look for in hellish plants for yo strip.

-Branden