Oh, another thought I just had, was to just plan on using annuals here every year.

Hmm, streetside is always a challenging spot. Do you get continuous snow cover? Just how salty is it?

My best roadside plant these days is 'Pink Drift' rose. That little gal just plugs right along and looks cheerful every day, despite the inhospitable conditions. 'Nearly Wild' rose is another in the same location - it's a little taller but is equally vibrant through thick and thin. You can cut these back to the ground when the snow melts and they bounce back vigorously.

I know you said no shrubs, but I am ignoring you and I'll suggest a dwarf sandcherry called 'Pawnee Buttes.' It is tolerant of hot/dry and alkaline soils. It has a groundcover habit.

Some other thoughts are Greek yarrow or some of the groundcover sedums. Maybe one of the smaller catmints?

Those are some thoughts - I understand how hard it is to find just the right plant for a spot like this!

I'm growing a bunch of smaller varieties of annual zinnias this year, and I really like them, so far. They stay neat and have lots of blooms, and don't need much water. They come in tons of different colors and bloom types, and can be started from seed, if money is tight or you can't find the variety you want at the nursery.

Martha

Karin, most years we get a lot of snow. Last year we didnâÂÂt have much snow at all until almost into March and then we made up for it. So the city plow does plow the street snow, right up on top of this edging. And they salt the streets so that plowed snow would have salt mixed into it. The Mums donâÂÂt seem to mind. I try to water that area really well in the spring to rinse out the salt.

âÂÂPink Driftâ and âÂÂNearly Wildâ sound really nice. I love that they are so hardy too and they look great with your perennials. ItâÂÂs a plus that they can be cut to the ground every spring. They sound like they are worth a try.

That âÂÂPawnee Buttesâ is different than I expected a sand cherry to look like. Have you used it? It sounds indestructible. I like that it has berries for the birds. My soil is sometimes neutral and sometimes on the acid side. My hydrangeas are naturally all blue. That shrub did remind me of a native plant though that looks similar, amsonia which I have thought about using and forgot about.

IâÂÂve tried the sedums and the catmint and moved them out of there already. The catmint always flops on me and sometimes attracts cats. I forget why I moved the sedums.

IâÂÂm liking your rose suggestions and IâÂÂm going to look into those more.

Martha, I have not tried the smaller varieties of zinnias but every time I see a photo someone posts of theirs, I think I should try them. They do well in heat too, I think. Fast to start from seed too.

Do either of you use Mums in the Fall? What do you pair it with?

Thanks for the ideas!

I don't use mums, but I should reconsider after seeing your beautiful orange specimen. I always assume they are annuals so I have never given them much thought. But maybe I should?

Yes, I have lots of 'Pawnee Buttes' as it is the answer to the tough question of how to edge a bed in a low-maintenance, xeric way. It sort of spills out over the edge of a bed, which is exactly what I was going for. But it's not the most ornamental plant. The flowers are fleeting and small and I don't get many berries. So I think of it as more utilitarian than anything.

If the roses can stand up to the salt, I think they'd work for you. Salt is not used on the roads out here so I can't comment about that. Mine get buried in snowplow piles, but in some ways that helps them because they are at a stable temperature all winter long. The first spring I renamed my 'Nearly Wild' to 'Nearly Dead' because they died back almost to the ground. But they don't seem to care - they bounce right back. In some years they don't die back much.

I've only seen the Drift roses at big box stores and they come in lots of colors. I'd be tempted to get some of the other colors to expand my roadside melange of roses.

Another plant I'm trying in this environment is 'Honeybush' honeysuckle, which only gets 2 feet tall. I had a grouping of these that were 100% neglected and they thrived, so I moved them to the roadside to see if they could work there. Too soon to tell, other than that they survived being dug up, divided and moved to an inhospitable spot without complaint, which is more than I can say for most plants. :)

Zinnias and mums sound nice too - I see the makings of a really nice variety of plants brightening the edge of your street!

karin, I enjoy my mums and have no complaints about them. I have been surprised to find enough mums that come back for me every year. IâÂÂve ordered some from Bluestone that have worked out to be pretty hardy, but I donâÂÂt know about zone 4. I just went to the Bluestones Perennial website and see they have a new feature, you can search by zone. I plugged in zone 4 and only three or four mums came up, so there are a couple but not a large variety. IâÂÂm in zone 6 and most people still use mums as annuals here. Do you use asters at all? I see there are a lot more asters to choose from for your zone. I have a couple of asters I'm happy with too.

I can certainly see the use of Pawnee Buttes and I think it has a nice airy quality to it. If you have a photo of a bed thatâÂÂs edged in it, IâÂÂd be interested to see it.

IâÂÂm going to look for those two roses, because IâÂÂm always wanting to try something that performs that well. Good suggestion. I just looked up the Drift rose series and it does have a lot of colors. You have the pink drift, right? The size of the bloom reminds me of a âÂÂFairyâ Rose.

I just looked up that âÂÂHoneybushâ Honeysuckle and I was surprised to see it is a native shrub? Could that be right? The photo I saw is a very cute little shrub. I see it is said to spread to 6ft and get 3ft tall. Does that mean it suckers? Is it fragrant?

IâÂÂm so sick of that side of the bed, I may pull out a lot of what IâÂÂm trying to get rid of and throw in some annuals for the rest of this year. I would rather look for roses in the spring then buy something that has been sitting around the nursery in this heat this year.

Here is a photos of asters I've been happy with. They usually bloom just before the mums and not together with them.

And here is another shot of an aster in the upper right of the photo with a mum next to it, so you can see it's not ready to bloom yet. That same little aster is huge this year, I'll have to get a photo of it. I think this photo was back in 2008. I've only had one year that the weather made a mess of it.