Wildflowers, plant the seeds in fall and lightly step them into the ground. Don't cover them with earth.

Lorna

My yard is all heavy clay and dry here in So. Cal. Try some succulent plants like jade. It grows slow to moderate and flowers in winter.

Um, but they won't work if you get snow there .

How big? Take a look at Maximillian's Daisy if you have some space. It flowers in the fall too which may or may not be a plus. Perennial.

Do you mean Maximillian sunflowers, flattie? I have three stands of Maximillians. The two oldest are six feet tall. The flowers are incredibly striking, so yellow that from a distance they appear to glow.

Here is a photo I took last week. Several Painted Lady butterflies were feeding on my Maximillians. There are two butterflies in the photo.

{{gwi:595688}}

Lorna

I just love your maximilian sunflowers!!! Thanks , i am going to do the wildflowers to .

This is a late follow-up, but in the fall you might want
to plant some small bulbs in your parking strip. Snow
irises start blooming in my parking strip in Layton
around President's Day. Species crocuses and tulips
like it hot and dry when they're dormant in the summer too.
Then the sunflowers and other perennials will take over.

Now that it is getting time to plan Spring planting, for a great idea for a hot sunny parking strip, check out the High Country Gardens website. The "Inferno Strip", a preplanned garden designed by Laura Springer, is awesome. You would have to amend the soil if it is clay, of course, but is low water, low maintenance and beautiful. I used one of these in a hot narrow strip at a friend's place, and it has been a reliable performer.

I'm from the Salt Lake area. There are a number of plants that will do well in a park strip. If you've driven through some of the older neighborhoods in Sugarhouse, the Avenues, or West Capitol Hill you can see a number of low care flower gardens. Some of my favorite plants hardy in SLC are: hardy ice plant, blanket flower, snow in summer, russian sage, blue fescue ornamental grass, wormwood (artemisia), oregano, chicks and hens, coreopsis, utah sedum, etc. If you will be watering regularly, I also suggest Agastache 'blue fortune'! It's one of my favorites:D I also recommend scattering wildflower seeds. Clay soil is good in Utah. All you will need to do is add compost and other organic matter to help improve the soil structure. I could go on and on with plants!!! I no longer grow much of the same plants in Las Vegas as I did in Salt Lake. Annuals are the same but I usually grow them during the winter months.

Thanks to all of you! :)