I don’t have suggestions for this particular area, but do consider planting Camellias somewhere. They are evergreen and have beautiful flowers but too wide for a 24” strip.

This phrase caught my attention: “Opposite the sidewalk will be rambling roses“. Ramblers tend to be really good sized, and unless you have quite a lot of space, I would hesitate to plant roses along a sidewalk, especially large ones since they snag clothes and have the potential for scratching folks using the sidewalk.

Arbutus unedo.

The strip is 24" wide

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you have to plant a rather large tree .. to avoid street interference.. as well as sidewalk interference ... i dont see planting a small tree .. and waiting 5 years or so.. for it to grow to size ....

and i dont understand.. how you bring in a 6 to 8 foot large transplant.. and fit it in 2 foot wide hole ...

also.. i dont understand your comment on watering... as a transplant that large.. will need proper watering ... for at least a few years.. before it could grow enough roots to become drought tolerant in the future.. in tree time ...

any chance at a pic of the site??? [use the camera/photo icon below the box you type a reply in]

ken

Arbutus unedo drops fruits and is often low-forking, broad and bushy. Even if trained to a single stem it will still have the same tendencies above where the branches start.

Anyway check with your municipality to see which trees are allowed in street plantings there - you may find that this is in fact regulated by them. That there is a permitting and approval process.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Arbutus unedo is beautiful, but Embothrium is right, the dropping fruit and low-forking habit would be a problem.

We do have the option of having the city plant trees but their selection is very limited. Even though the city-provided trees would be free, we'd like to look at options. The city allows property owners to plant their own trees in the planting strips at their own expense.

NHBabs, you are right, a big rambling rose would be a problem! The roses across the sidewalk would be climbing or bushes, but they wouldn't be huge ramblers that would interfere with the sidewalk and pedestrians. We also have a low fence that would keep roses from taking over. I'm new to roses and didn't realize that a rambling rose was such a large entity of it's own. My mistake!

ken_adrian, we are seeking no- or low- summer water after getting the trees established with necessary watering. The strip should be able to accommodate a 15 gal. transplant according to my neighbor.

Any other suggestions?

I thought fruitless Olive until I noticed you only have a width of two feet. It might be better to plant trees somewhere else.

emmarene9, I would LOVE fruitless olive, but yes, you are right. Those olives get pretty chunky. The width of the strip is fairly limiting.

It isn't Mediterranean but Bottlebrush

( Callistemon citrinis) seems to not get a thick trunk. Well, not where I live anyway.

Some people are annoyed but the flowers dropping though.

They need to be trained to tree shape but it is not difficult.

I'm not certain the cultivar in the picture is citrinis but that is what it looks like.

Citrinus is actually a species name, of course. Notice in your photo how the branch ends bend over and point down, this means pruning for overhead clearance will be a recurring need in a parking strip with this tree.

Since melange apparently knows about Sunset Publishing the plant selection guide near the front of the Western Garden Book includes tables of trees. Ones where the specific Sunset climate zones for each kind are indicated (or can be found in the plant encyclopedia section) - California has a whole bunch of different climate areas, with what trees will grow varying a lot across the full range of them.

"The strip is 24" wide " That is really narrow. I wouldn't even plant a rose bush in a strip that wide.

Since urban trees are often planted in nothing larger than a 24" square in the concrete and with a heavy metal grating surrounding them, I don't see why something similar could not be grown here. Have you tried contacting your county or local municipality for their recommendations? Your county extension service should also have some recommendations.

Hi gardengal48, yes, there are a few trees that are offered by my city, but I'm interested in exploring other options. There are a lot of great trees out there, so I was hoping some enthusiasts could shed light on some ideas that are outside of the mainstream.

hoovb, you'd be surprised, there are a lot of smaller trees suitable for 24" strips. That's the most common size in my town and they are home to many Crape Myrtles, Maytens, Eastern Redbuds, Flowering Crabapples, Trident maples, Tristania Laurina, and standard Photinias (probably my least favorite of the bunch and sadly they happen to be in front of my house). These are the trees offered by my city, so they are everywhere here. The key is it can't be a tree that gets taller than 25 feet.

Interestingly enough, in my own town I've even seen people plant rose standards in these strips, and while I wouldn't choose that, it looks pretty amazing! But a rose bush would not be ideal, you're right about that.

Emmarene9, thanks for the suggestion of bottlebrush. It's a lovely tree! The litter would be a problem for this particular location, but a cool suggestion nonetheless.

Embothrium, I will definitely dig up my old Sunset Garden Book. It's in a box... somewhere... :)

There are not all that many 'unique' trees that will stay within your height limitaton yet will offer a clear trunk and overhead canopy that allows clearance for walkers and parked cars :-) I'd reconsider the strawberry tree. It has no more messy fruit than does a crabapple - birds or squirrels get most of it - and its mature height is just about dead on. There are two planted in quite narrow strips at my local post office, encounter a lot of pedestrian comings and goings and cars and with minimal mess produced.