Try mixing in a few ornamental grasses. They look great in summer when nothing else does and you cut them back in spring just as the bulb show is at its best. There are some that stay on the shorter side like Ruby Savannah and Mexican Feather Grass. Zebra grass is literally a show stopper and my favorite. The first time I saw it in a median strip, I slowed down to get a better look at those horizontal stripes. This fall I noticed cars doing the same thing here. It was probably the overall effect of the improvements we made to a long neglected yard, but I like to think the Zebra Grass is the star of the show.

Russian Sage works too because it blooms in the heat and nothing seems to bother it.

Here's a post about my Inferno issues and how I'm dealing with it.

Here is a link that might be useful: The H-Strip

red yucca

orange Profusion daisies (there are pink & white varieties, but they turn a dirty-gray color as they fade; the orange ones stay *orange*)

sweet potato vine

culinary sage-it stays short!

various yuccas or succulents such as sedum

artemesias-there are a number of varieties

rosemary

I love these suggestions! Zebra grass would be really fun. Your Russian Sage is gorgeous.

rosemary, I have a sedum that multiplies and stays short. I don't know why I hadn't thought about transplanting some of that. I know I could manage sweet potato vine too.

This morning another neighbor stopped to say he enjoys the curb side show of moon flowers. The new neighbor who just bought the house facing mine Said: thank you for the view! He adult son said I love a house with lots of vegetaion. The other neighbors have said many times how much they enjoy it and the whole garden.

Sooo, the houses immediately around mine the tally is 1 crabby neighbor and 10 who want to see it continue. Since violations are complaint driven and there is a restriction on plants over a curb....if there is a complaint...it looks like the complainer wins.

Now I'm thinking about zebra grass. Better put a name tag and pedigree on it because she will call it a weed.

I have teucrium, calirhoe involcrata, calylopholus ,heterotheca villosa
(that I collected from the Wichita mountains). I just collected some more varieties from a roadside west of Rosewell NM that I am interested in testing out. It is very thick with yellow blossoms.As you can tell, I like natives.

will these natives take off like datura and want to roll over the curb? I love natives too.

c

I'm not sure about Arlington, but Lewisville's code compliance department told me that they do NOT have a definition of what a "weed" is, so anything that I actually/intentionally plant will not be classified as a weed. I'm sure I annoyed him to no end with my pressing for a definition of "weed" but I needed to know what I could and could not plant.

Maybe you can move the moonflower back from the curb? I'd be tempted to talk to the code compliance department and explain the full situation -- *1* neighbor is being pissy and you want to retain the landscape that the rest of the neighborhood enjoys while staying in compliance with the codes, what is the best compromise?

Finding a way to keep the moonflowers would be nice since the neighbors are voting for it. Maybe a plant to give it structure would help to keep it off the curb.

I never even thought about the possibility of complaints when I planted the grasses. Here in San Antonio there's such an emphasis on water wise and native plantings that a complaint about ornamental grasses would probably get a good laugh. We do have neighbors who would prefer we had a traditional lawn, but they are coming around now that things are shaping up.

A nice selection of ornamental grasses planted together can look really stunning, especially in the late summer and early fall.

Thanks y'all
The rule is vegetation cannot come over the curb. Bottom line. I started with the plants further back, BUUUUT they do reach for the sun and ended up where they are really happy in bazing hot sun with a passiflora carulea and the china rose Mutablis behind them.

To edge the moonflowers would mean me out there cutting off the brances with buds all summer.

I've dug out the roots of the older plants, there will be younger plants from remaining seeds. But as sad as it makes me, I'll dig them out. I always give some away, so hopefully I'll find more homes for them.

New neighbor really enjoys the view but the city program is simply put complaint driven. To keep her from complaining I could offer NOT to complain that her new section of fence that is 10 ft tall is out of code or I could offer NOT to turn her in for allowing her yard crew to leave bags of trash out a day or two before trash day. Code says they can only be out at 7pm day before. But I really don't want to engage in that.

Sooo, I see zebra grass and sedum in my future and Moon flower give away too. I moved the big old roots into the back yard. I guess it's time to change the show.

grateful for all the great ideas!
cynthia

Oh, come on Cynthia, engage! Try it one more year - see if your crabby neighbor was just having a bad day last year. The city cites us every year for our street trees being too low. They are crape myrtles that tend to hang low when they are full of flowers and seed heads. When we get the citation, we go out and cut off the seed heads, and the branches that hang low, but we always wait till they cite us. The rest of the neighbors love the shade in the summer - they are always parking in front of my house under the trees. I say give it another go.

debndal
I love you! I know there'll be plenty of volunteers next spring. I might be up to it then. Nice to know that I'm in good company.

great grins and cheer

c

Your H-strip is very narrow-- what, 1 foot to 18" wide?

Things I don't water that stay put-- dutch iris and elephant garlic. These both put up flowers at portions of the year.

Thing I don't water that doesn't exactly stay put but has beautiful flowers-- garlic chives

Can't remember-- do you have morning glory vines on your fence?

I do have a perennial, evergreen clumping grass that is in my h-strip. Will find the name; it isn't exactly showy and might be too wide for your spot.