Check with your city before you plant those eastern redbuds. Some cities have tree ordinances for street trees. There could also be utilities in that strip. "Call before you Dig" is a hot line you can contact for utilites. Again contact your city and they will mark your water and sewer connection so you won't plant on top of them.

Thanks for the practical tips, tibs! I talked with my landlord who knows about the utilities and he approved the placement. The street ordinance is okay for redbuds.

I remember as city hall was closing after work one day, the city administrator was heading out to, as he said, "check on some illegal tree plantings." Somebody called in a complaint. I think it's a sad and silly thing to make a person an outlaw for planting trees. There are better ways to handle conflicts.

Another practical consideration - where does the snow go when the city clears your street? Can your redbuds stand up to the tons of compacted snow, cinders, and road salts the plow pushes up and over? If you've been through a winter, you should be able to tell what the 15' strip looks like after a few significant snowfalls.

Yes, Duluth, this winter gave us more snow accumulation here than usual, so it was a good time to see what the blades do. They splashed the ice mix about 7 feet onto the strip, with the bulk of it about 4 feet past the curb, so the trees will be safely out of reach of the blast at 10 feet from the curb. The other trees in the strip are also planted 10 feet from the curb, and they did not get plastered.

Redbuds are supposed to tolerate salt so it should be okay, especially since the area drains toward the street.

I feel like I have walked by your house before and not even noticed in fact I am sure of it and the reason I am sure is because I did not see your house,I wonder if the cloaking device was there first,it would be fun to ask the (people)at city hall and watch their eyes glaze over!

As I was going up the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today;
I wish, I wish he'd stay away!!

Cute rhyme, Lynnski!

Yes, JimHardy, it was my house you did not see. Your front yard, on the other hand, jerks people's heads right off their spines when they double-take to look at all the palm trees and cactus there.

One of the skulls from these heads you speak of is a prop in my cactus bed, you do not see it because it is not there to be seen,in your case they do not see because they do not believe,in my case they do not believe what they see!

Here is a link that might be useful:

Swwwweet bones, JimHardy!

My favorite explanation for the cloaking device is that fairies shrouded this place to keep it safe and happy for, as you say, believers.

At your place, you will convert disbelief season by season as people watch your garden survive and thrive. It's good for everybody to stretch disbelievers' concepts of what is possible, making them drop their old confined ways of thinking and open up to a bigger vista of reality.

Maybe eventually, with enough stretching, they'll consider the possibility of fairies and their significance to our planet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fairies