Taking creativity up to the edge

The landmark garden on Veteran Avenue in Westwood -- planted in 1983 and believed to be one of the first xeriscapes in Los Angeles -- didn't impress the neighbors. They said Cornell's blue-flowered ceanothus reduced their view as they exited their driveway. So they called the city.

Cornell and his client stood firm. Faculty from adjacent UCLA, including a horticulture instructor, wrote letters of support for the design and the use of water-sipping native flora. In the end, the city said the ceanothus could stay, but Cornell's client was required to assume, in writing, all liability.

Decades later, street-side gardens are relatively common. Faced with a weedy or barren eyesore, homeowners have the burden of planting and watering the patch of ground themselves. The parking strip, the parkway, the tree lawn -- forget what to call it. Who actually owns it? Are these miniature gardens really allowed? And if so, which plants should be used?

Contrary to popular belief, officials say, the city does not own the parking strip (more on this later). Most cities do regulate trees on the strip and maintain them as staffing allows. In many cases, however, any landscaping beyond those trees -- be it grass, flowers or shrubs -- is left to the homeowner to plant and maintain.

"Some communities have stringent rules, others don't," says Ann Meshekoff, owner of Ground Effects Design Group in Van Nuys. "Some cities demand permits for everything."

Pasadena and Santa Monica promote turf alternatives in the parking strips, though Santa Monica requires a permit. The municipal code of Beverly Hills calls for grass but allows substitutes with approval from the Public Works Department.

Los Angeles' long-standing guidelines state that between curb and sidewalk, homeowners should plant only turf, and a revocable permit is required for deviations, says Lance Oishi, a senior landscape architect for the city.

Though those rules are still on the books, times and tastes have changed.

"In the late 1970s and early 1980s, gardeners started using water-wise, better-suited plants such as common yarrow [Achillea millefolium] in place of turf grass," Oishi says. With thousands of miles of residential roadways and only five landscape architects, the Department of Public Works can't review every parking strip. Instead, Oishi recommends that L.A. residents follow these unofficial guidelines: