what can you plant on the parking strip in front of your house in maplewood?

any legal limitations? japanese maple? full-on garden? thanks!

Actually, the town will plant a tree there for you, they planted a flowering tree for me a year or so ago. I forget which department I called.

When you plant a tree there, the roots do not grow equally all around to support its weight and the trees fall down in heavy storms in 30 years (does anyone remember Sandy?). They also push up your sidewalks and cause maintenance problems and costs for you later. Not a good idea to plant a tree there. We planted a bunch of ground cover plants (thyme, grass would never take). I've seen people near us plant hostas.

http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/trees-near-sidewalks.shtml

Just remember...in winter the salt trucks go by- most plants don't do well with salt.  Grass is easiest.  If you want a tree, I would plant it on other side of the sidewalk, not the strip for reasons stated above.

The wisdom of doing this depends on your neighborhood.  When I first moved to Maplewood, I planted nice plants, groundcover and a couple of whiskey barrels (for seasonal geraniums) on my berm/utility strip.  My nasty across-the-street neighbors, who considered the front of my house their parking space, routinely stomped on them getting in/out of their cars and even smashed one of the whiskey barrels.  As a result, I let it all go to weed and had someone mow it once a month.  I hope you have better neighbors! 

Be aware of the fact that drivers are permitted to and will park their car in the street adjacent to the strip of grass between your sidewalk and the street and their passengers will need to be able to exit safely from their vehicle.

Planting/positioning things that could be an obstruction will inhibit their ability to do so and as stated above could lead to damage to the plantings/objects you might place there.  This is why a low-growing ground cover that can take being trod upon is most suitable for such spaces.

ArchBroad said:
When you plant a tree there, the roots do not grow equally all around to support its weight and the trees fall down in heavy storms in 30 years (does anyone remember Sandy?). They also push up your sidewalks and cause maintenance problems and costs for you later. Not a good idea to plant a tree there. We planted a bunch of ground cover plants (thyme, grass would never take). I've seen people near us plant hostas.
http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/trees-near-sidewalks.shtml

I believe some of the trees of choice now do not grow as large as the typical mature trees you see around Maplewood. Keep in mind when deciding to not plant a tree in front of your house, that a big part of the beauty of Maplewood is the great lovely trees that line our sidewalks. Without them our town would lose a lot of its appeal. Yes sometimes trees do cause damage, but that is not sufficient in my opinion to not plant one. I would rather live in a street lined with beautiful trees than a bare street. JMHO.

If you want a tree planted on the berm please contact the Shade Tree Division. You can also enter a request online. http://www.twp.maplewood.nj.us/index.aspx?NID=143

They will send you a list of available trees to choose from and they will typically be planted in the fall. 

Also watch out for power lines if you decide to plant a tree. I don't know if you could find a dwarf/short variety (I've seen shortish flowering fruit trees - crabapples? cherries?) that would not require top pruning.  

We have a Bradford pear in front of our home on the berm strip (town planted in in the 70s, I had nothing to do with it and would not recommend this variety). Anyway, it grows fairly tall, it is planted directly under the power lines and PSE&G comes by every few years and hacks off all the branches on the side of the tree under the power lines. It looks really odd with branches only on one side. I also don't know why anyone picked a tree that drops little hard round things all autumn long when the tree is located on a fairly steep hill. I have to sweep up under it pretty much daily just so people don't go sliding down the street on them. 

So, if you do plant a tree, don't plant a Bradford pear. 

Be careful.  A few years back they were recommending the Crimson Maple which is a cultivar/hybrid of Norway Maple. Norway Maples are a no-no.  They are an ecological threat.  They block the sun.  They take up all the water - nothing grows underneath.  Their roots are abysmal.  

http://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=3002

http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/acpl.htm

And this...

cody said:

So, if you do plant a tree, don't plant a Bradford pear. 

We just plant perennials on both sides.

And a climbing plant on our street sign.

Agree about trees making Maplewood what it is. You can also plant the tree on the other side of the sidewalk closer to your home and when fully grown it will still provide shade and canopy.

pmartinezv said:

ArchBroad said:
When you plant a tree there, the roots do not grow equally all around to support its weight and the trees fall down in heavy storms in 30 years (does anyone remember Sandy?). They also push up your sidewalks and cause maintenance problems and costs for you later. Not a good idea to plant a tree there. We planted a bunch of ground cover plants (thyme, grass would never take). I've seen people near us plant hostas.
http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/trees-near-sidewalks.shtml

I believe some of the trees of choice now do not grow as large as the typical mature trees you see around Maplewood. Keep in mind when deciding to not plant a tree in front of your house, that a big part of the beauty of Maplewood is the great lovely trees that line our sidewalks. Without them our town would lose a lot of its appeal. Yes sometimes trees do cause damage, but that is not sufficient in my opinion to not plant one. I would rather live in a street lined with beautiful trees than a bare street. JMHO.

ArchBroad said:
Agree about trees making Maplewood what it is. You can also plant the tree on the other side of the sidewalk closer to your home and when fully grown it will still provide shade and canopy.

pmartinezv said:

ArchBroad said:
When you plant a tree there, the roots do not grow equally all around to support its weight and the trees fall down in heavy storms in 30 years (does anyone remember Sandy?). They also push up your sidewalks and cause maintenance problems and costs for you later. Not a good idea to plant a tree there. We planted a bunch of ground cover plants (thyme, grass would never take). I've seen people near us plant hostas.
http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/trees-near-sidewalks.shtml

I believe some of the trees of choice now do not grow as large as the typical mature trees you see around Maplewood. Keep in mind when deciding to not plant a tree in front of your house, that a big part of the beauty of Maplewood is the great lovely trees that line our sidewalks. Without them our town would lose a lot of its appeal. Yes sometimes trees do cause damage, but that is not sufficient in my opinion to not plant one. I would rather live in a street lined with beautiful trees than a bare street. JMHO.

Yes, but some of us don't have that much of a front lawn to begin with so a tree on the other side of the street may be too close to our homes. I prefer my sidewalk be damaged than my foundation. 

An arborist should be able to tell you which types of trees have roots that tend to grow downward and deep vs. growth that is shallow and outward.  Maplewood's London Planes/Sycamore trees, which are the giant  shade trees in many neighborhoods, have extremely shallow root systems and this is why they are a risk for damaging the sidewalks and also why they tend to fall over when the ground is saturated.

There are certainly better choices for the berm.