Will the area get snow plowed on top of the plants in the winter? Will there be road salt? (The plants that are there look pretty healthy, but it appears that they are on the parking lot side of the area).

I would assume there would be at least some of that. Again, that would be the City's thing. I actually think the parking side would be prone to more plowed snow.

You might want to consider posting the issue on the Landscape Design forum....

Is there a reason why that paver section is there? It's very messy-looking with the weeds coming up between the pavers. It would look a lot neater if the grass ran right to the concrete curb and to the sidewalk. The large boulder things look like they would be impediments when mowing the grass. Moving them doesn't look like it would be easy but it might make more sense if they maybe were grouped to be ranged behind the planting bed area along the parking lot - or remove them entirely.

What is the white-flowered plant to the right of the ninebark(?) shrub? If that shrub is a ninebark it will likely get quite large. Have you identified all the plants to give you an inventory of what you're starting with? Have you measured and created a scale drawing of the area? That would be useful to figure out whether and how the mature size of the plants will fit into the space.

Mass plantings in a designated bed zone with lawn grass behind is likely the simplest and easiest to maintain and look good. Have you looked at other parking lot plantings to get ideas and decide which you think look best? There are some nice parking lot gardens using ornamental grasses. Maybe you could create an 'idea book' to help you by taking photos of other local parking lot plantings....?

I think this is probably the best forum for your question. The Landscape forum is for landscaping--not plant choices.

Look into the Persicarias--both P. amplexicaulis and P. affine. They are tough, spread, highly weed resistant, and have interesting bloom. They are not, however, drought resistant. Another option would be Geraniums 'Biokovo' or 'Karmina'--all the same traits but drought resistant and also semi-evergreen.

And yet another idea would be a mass of ornamental grasses--I very much like the look of Little Bluestem--Schizachirium scoparium. They're small grasses, but very striking throughout the season. They would, however, need to be cut back in spring. And might require some weeding. They would also look interesting with another perennial scattered among them. I use Salvia 'Windwalker' but Sedum 'Autumn Joy' would also work (different shape and texture).

Note that the current plants are all set along the back of the bed, on the parking lot side. While your end result doesn't need to be quite so far set back from the road, it does need to consider sight lines exiting the parking lot, and so anything that isn't short needs to set well back so that traffic on the road and in the driveway of the parking lot are clearly visible.

It looks like a large area. Are you considering trying to plant the whole area? If not, consider how the bed will be edged to keep the grass out. Plan on using quite a bit of mulch, so be sure that the town will supply it, since otherwise the budget has to accommodate that along with plants. Will you and the rest of the group be willing to get together for periodic maintenance, perhaps once each in spring and fall and once a month in between? Or could you find a service group such as scouts that could work with supervision or even plan to supervise a day with a town crew? I just don't see this as successful if there isn't a commitment from someone to do more maintenance than just mowing. I know there is a group that plants and maintains the mixed shrub/perennial beds in public parks in Peterborough, NH, so it can be done that way. There are a few traffic triangles in my area planted and maintained by garden clubs, but I see folks out there working on them periodically. I just have a vision of dead leaves, spent flower stalks, and encroaching weeds if there isn't a commitment from someone to do maintenance beyond mowing.

Like Woody, I see the rocks as an issue of maintenance. Do you want to have the beds in the center and completely surrounding the rocks and the sign, or in the back half of the area, or what? Whatever you plant, I would plan on creating large blocks of the same plant for effectiveness, and choose plants that look good all season regardless of blooms, so nothing with foliage that dies back, for instance, unless it will be well covered by another plant such as some spring bulbs. At least some of it might be low growing shrubs that are fairly bulletproof such as low Hydrangea paniculata varieties, perhaps some gold foliaged Spiraea, etc., depending on what does well in your area. I would check out issues of snow placement in winter and find out if associated salt will need to be considered. Does the block walkway get snow blown off it and salt added, and is the parking lot salted?

I feel like I am providing only negative comments, but I do want you to go into this with your eyes wide open. Poorly maintained plantings in municipal settings are to my eye less appealing than mown grass, and I am not a fan of mown grass. If you can figure out the maintenance issues to suit whatever you choose for plants, then it could be lovely, with plants that are beautiful to the eye but also provide a little slice of habitat for pollinators.

As for what does well, you might focus on prairie plants since they often will have deep enough roots and general resilience to weather the ups and downs of temperature and moisture fluctuations. Regardless of what you plant, it will need water the first year unless perhaps if you plant in the fall and have good rain the following spring. Something like a pickup truck with a 50 gallon tank might do the trick.

There are already two gold leaved Spiraeas so they would clearly do well there.

I agree wholeheartedly with NHBabs that you don't need a planting plan nearly as much as you need a maintenance plan. What is there doesn't look so much bad as horribly neglected, and it is going to be hard to come up with something more resistant to no maintenance. than the current shrubs. It is going to be harder because of the herbicide bans in Ontario. That walk is just going to be horrible unless you can get hold of a steam weeder, or whatever they call that thing.

I would..... focus on the weeds first. I think I see bindweed and there's no hope for your sanity (or long term maintenance) until that's taken care of.

The white flowers on the yucca are nice, it's sort of a native there, and removing it will be more work than it's worth, so I'd keep it. The ninebarks are too close to the parking, I would keep them but transplant to a spot where they can grow (6 feet tall(2m?), 6 wide probably as a minimum) yet not block the sign. The feather reed grass will look great all season so I'd keep that as well but then get rid of the rest... except maybe keep the salvia, but they might look rundown towards the fall.

I saw something about an herbicide ban... good luck :)

have them lose the "lawn", maybe they can move the rocks closer to the edges so they can still be seen when everything is grown up, have them mulch everything, and then plant.

Divide the feather reed grass, add more maybe and use it to accent lower masses of butterfly weed. I'd fill nearly the whole area with butterfly weed and between that, the grasses, and dark of the nine bark I think it would look great most of the summer and be low maintenance.

Daffodils for the spring and maybe a few sedum for autumn? I'd keep it simple so that all the city has to do it weedwack it down in the spring and maybe mulch. You can just sit back then and keep on whatever weeds return. With the daffodils towards the center you won't notice their leftover foliage once everything else begins to grow up.

Keep it simple (only a few all season varieties) and good luck!

Another vote for coneflowers, butterfly weed, and sedum plus Joe Pye weed and coreopsis. You need several different perennials to cover the whole season from June thru September.

If the area is moist enough, dwarf evergreens would add nice texture and color year-round. Be sure they're true dwarfs since some evergreens are rampant growers who can take over quite a bit of real estate..

Before you start construction you should ask the city to treat the weeds growing up between the pavers with an herbicide followed by a weed preventer.

This site has the
potential to be a very pretty flower bed and a butterfly habitat too. I agree
with the other comments, maintenance is time consuming and the site must be as
‘low maintenance’ as possible!

I suggest you
replace the grass area and rocks with a large flower bed, with a strip of lawn
and path around the edge of the bed. Choose ‘native’ plants, shrubs, grasses
and groundcovers that tolerate full sun. Native plants are indigenous to your
area and thrive once they are established, although be prepared to water them
in the 1st year. Shrubs and groundcover plants prevent weeds because
they cover the area with their foliage, so choose low-growing shrubs/ground
covers as a foundation and add a few flowering perennials and grasses. Most
indigenous plants are habitat for butterflies or other insects.

There’s lots if
information online about native plants for Hamilton Ontario, plant lists,
advice and specialist suppliers. You could also check with your local nursery
because a lot of them stock native plants now. Check the ‘maxium height and
width’ on the plant label, some shrubs will grow too tall for this location.

Around the edge of
the bed, install lawn edging, this stops lawn grass growing into the bed and
keeps soil and mulch in place. It also looks tidy.

I think the paved
path is fine and I wouldn’t use herbicides on it because they are toxic.

I wanted to thank everybody who responded to this thread. Sorry that i didn't get back to everyone earlier - the whole project became much more time consuming than I ever thought it would, and there was a LOT of back and forth. But your input was certainly helpful as we worked through the many ideas and levels of politics.

But I am very pleased to say that things have moved along, and this past weekend we completed Part 1 of the project - the clearing away of the weed ridden grass and MOST of the plants. A group of 10 of us dug into the back-breaking work around 9 in the morning, and came out 4 hours later with the bed prepped.

Next week will be Part 2 - the planting. We have more volunteers who want to make themselves available for that (everybody wants the easy stuff!), but the President is thinking we won't need more people, and if the initial group who did the hard work is available, then we should be the ones to see it through :-)

Anyway, just wanted to share some pictures from Saturday. I will come back next week to discuss the process and show pictures of the end result!

The City Councillor for the ward even showed up and did some digging before heading off to an Annual General Meeting...

It looks like a lot of hard work has been done - pat yourselves on your (sore no doubt!) backs. It'll be interesting to see what the next phase produces.....