That's funny - it's an argument my husband and I have had for the 15 years we've been stuck mid-reno: I say exactly that: why clean/organize/tidy a construction zone? He says, why finish anything if it is going to be a mess anyway? While we were arguing, the kids grew up in spite of the mess/half-finished house, and now we have more time and energy. I'm not at all familiar with your climate or with Bermuda grass, but have been a keen student of hellstrips and custodian of one of my own for a long time. Some thoughts: If people park there at all you should make areas for passenger exit from cars, because people sometimes want to park badly enough that they will trample your plants. Perhaps you can actually control where people will park by creating mulch or paver areas to accommodate them (depends on how competitive parking is around there). Anyway, I would begin your plan by laying out the bones for such walkways, along the curb and from curb to sidewalk, just as you might for any garden design project. I have seen some that put a pathway along the entire roadside, but this is one narrow strip so that may not be do-able. The other thing you can do to give this space something other than a linear character is to use other hardscape instead of all plants - boulders? stumps? a trellis down at the wide end where it wouldn't block the stop sign? garden junk? (I have some old sinks that contain my aggressive spreaders in my hellstrip). As an aside, hard things discourage parking just a bit more assertively than plants do, although single occupant vehicles won't notice and others can always pick-up/drop-off their passengers at the corner.... What kind of root zone was left when the city poured the sidewalk? If there is just a shallow trench of dirt, your plants are going to have a hard go of it, but if it is truly an opening into deep soil, trees might have a chance. You could put up columnar types a safe distance from the stop sign or prune the canopies to ensure stop sign visibility. Shrubs, in contrast, will mature and broaden at the wrong heights for most types of vehicles. As far as plant selection is concerned, I could be worse than useless given my zone (I can identify perhaps three of the plants Bahia has listed for you!), but in general terms I have some preferences based on the public nature of such a strip. In my "urban renewal" environment, littering is endemic and there is a risk (thankfully quite low) of litter of a particular unpleasant nature. For that reason, I like to be able to see the area quite bare at least once per year. So the only evergreen plants I like are those that are ground-hugging that no garbage can hide under, and the stuff that bulks up a lot is perennial - it either dies back or I cut it back (quite carefully) when it's done. Tree trunks excepted, obviously. An option that would work for me if your hellstrip were in front of my house would be to use some ground cover succulents (my experience is limited to sedums and sempervivums) that may be evergreen, offset with some hardscape and funnel-shaped pathways crossing the strip, and punctuated with either blooming perennials (such as those poppies) or manageable trees. In fact, this would be really awesome just planted with sempervivums from one end to the other! KarinL

Thanks to everyone for posting a reply! :) I've been really busy with work all week. ideasshare, thanks for taking time to edit and post the photo. I've included another photo showing a pile of rocks that I have salvaged from my property when I moved here. I'm intending on using them somewhere...some in the frontyard and some in the backyard. It'd be neat if I can have some moss too like you suggested. gardendoll, i too realized that I have to consider that the areas around the sidewalk would have to withstand winter salt and doggy waste. I don't want to rely much on perennials as they won't be around all year long. I wouldn't mind few but I'm mainly aiming for evergreens. Do you have a thread going for your new garden plan? woodyoak, I really thought hard about your suggestion and you really made me realize that my squiggly paths are pretty silly! I tried again and posted an updated plan below. It hasn't snowed here yet but I did some walking around and found out that you were correct about only curving when going around corners. Yes, your assumption is correct in that there will be gates on each side of the house...as shown on the updated plan. berndnyz5, you are correct. Before removing the Mulberry tree, I knew there'd be a trade-off with loosing shade but the trade-off was easy considering that the tree was a female and the mess that the fruit made was unbearable. The tree was also an eyesore in my eyes as it was stumpy and hacked by previous owners. It also had a split in one of its trunks which was an accident waiting to happen. Since the house faces west though, when I walk out the front door at about 6 PM in the summertime, I get practically blinded by the sun :S I am aware of the metal brackets that you are referring to and those are what I intend on using for my wood posts. As far as I thought cedar or pressure treated wood will eventually rot. I have until the spring to decide on which type of wood regardless :) There is an old lady who has lived across the street for the past 50-some years and told me that the hedges that I removed had been there for around 40 years. She also told me other neat things like how the driveway used to be by the south-west corner of the property. Anyway, the hedge did provide some privacy and noise barrier but at the expense of being ugly (especially in winter) and super high maintenance in the summer. It was too linear for me and I just couldn't take it any longer. I was surprised after I took it down that I haven't caught one person cutting across the front but regardless, I agree with you and am planning on having something near the NW corner. I was thinking about possibly a small berm/rock garden near the corner but I am unsure how I could link that to the bed beside the driveway. I'm thinking about having taller matter on the NW side and lower matter on the SW side as technically my house address is for the street on the SW side (i.e. the side that I'm planning on putting the new main walkway). Thanks for pointing out about a mulch walkway would be a never ending cycle of tracking it inside the house. I'm going to have to rethink the material for the secondary walkways. I'm planning for the main one to be 4 feet wide and the secondary ones to be 3 feet wide. I'm okay with spending more money on the main one (i.e. tumbled pavers) but need the secondary walkways to be a complementing less expensive material because the walkway are going to be so long. As for the conifers, I'm planning on choosing ones that are appropriate scale for the property and that are slow growing. Since they will grow slowly, if any pruning is eventually necessary, it don't see it as being nuisance at all.

The SFA sale was so much fun! As usual, I bought way more than I intended to, but they have so many unusual things there you cant get at most nurseries. They had only 5 House Eaters and I got one! Also got an Enchantress, an own root Nacogdoches, a found rose by Gregg Grant, Big Momma's Musk, among other things like lavender salvia greggii, a couple of young dogwoods [going to try yet again to get these things o live!], 3 kinds of phlox, 3 Phlox Pink native azaleas, blue Baptista, several different kinds of tomatoes trialed by Texas A&M, Chinese fringe trees, Clematis Sugar-Sweet Blue and Stars & Stripes Pentas. As is that wasn't enough, went to Cook's Nursery - got lady banksia for a fenceline, Chrysler Imperial and Pink Peace and some annuals to go in big pots. Suffice it to say - I was a glutton! What fun we had - then ate at Clear Springs, so finished off my gluttonous day with a great meal. Today - I am planting! Hope some of you might have gotten to the sale - they had a reggae band playing, lots of people and beautiful plants. They have a fall sale around the first of October with more great plants. I have a question about the Flores St. House Eater - does it bloom all year or just once? Mine is in bad need of repotting out of its gallon pot - going to leave it in a pot until I figure out a good place to put it.

I agree that for the most part, what trees you like are a matter of taste. That said, there are some trees that, while having some nice ornamental properties are highly invasive. Chinaberry, Ligustrum and Chinese Tallow (another "evil" one) are extremely invasive around here, displacing native species. I think most of us can agree that's a bad thing. I also agree with Lou that over planting any variety of tree, native or not can be a bad thing. Ask anyone in the northern part of the country where American Elm was the dominant boulevard tree if a little more variety wouldn't have been nice when the majority of them succumbed to Dutch Elm disease in the 80's. Like the Live Oak around here, it was a quality, native tree that was just over-used. I hope our neighborhood never experiences Oak Wilt since the builder planted Live Oaks almost exclusively and they are mostly now 20' to 30' trees, along with some mature ones that were preserved. I'm seeing Monterrey Oaks planted more and more, which I find encouraging as they are supposed to be wilt resistant and are also evergreen or nearly so. Bug-the reason I dislike AZ Ash, above all else, is the root system. We have a neighbor that has one on the west side of their house that's about 25' tall, so it's giving off nice shade. The problem is the roots are on top of the ground everywhere, including large ones pushing up against their foundation. I can't see that situation getting any better... If in doubt, go over to Dave's Garden and check out some of the pictures and reviews of AZ Ash. I think if TX Ash was more widely available and it was more well known it would help. People are going to keep planting AZ Ash and its cultivars if nurseries and the big boxes keep selling them. After all, they wouldn't be selling it if it was a "trash" tree, would they? ;^)