Planting Locations

Plants are subject to myriad factors that impact their health and success, and these factors can differ depending on where within the right-of-way a plant is located. Plants primarily in a roadway, such as a median, must deal with traffic, salt, and limited growing space whereas plants within a plaza enjoy typically larger growing areas, but heavy pedestrian use including from periodic events or gatherings. The following pages provide information on how to account for these varying conditions.

ribbon sidewalk

Roadway Plantings

Roadway plantings are trees, shrubs, groundcovers, perennials, and other vegetation located within the roadbed of a street. Generally, plantings are installed within raised medians or triangles that separate or channelize traffic. Roadway plantings must endure various stresses: salt, wind, drought, pollution, physical damage from vehicles, and limited growing space. These factors all impact plant health and should guide design and plant selection.

 

full sidewalk

Sidewalk Plantings

Sidewalk plantings are trees, shrubs, groundcovers, perennials, and other vegetation located on the sidewalk. Generally, plantings are located within the sidewalk Furnishing Zone – the area where most furnishings are installed and typically abutting the curb. Sidewalk plantings must endure limited growing space, compaction, salt, and damage from people, animals, and vehicles; these factors should guide plant selection.

 

Urban streetscape with wide sidewalks, red café-style seating, street trees in raised planters, and a large mural on a building facade, creating a welcoming pedestrian plaza.

Plaza Plantings

Although plazas tend to consist mostly of hardscape to facilitate pedestrian circulation, seating, and programming, plantings make them more inviting and can help define spaces within them. Plazas allow for larger plants and a greater diversity of species than is possible in more constrained areas such as raised medians or tree beds.

Review Pedestrian Plaza for more information on general plaza design.

 

Trees on the side of a highway

Limited Access Arterial Plantings

Landscapes along limited-access arterial highways feature shade and evergreen trees, understory plantings, and turf grass to provide a green buffer for adjacent communities and enhance the natural environment. These areas are typically much larger and allow for a greater diversity of plants than is possible elsewhere. However, irrigation is rarely provided, and plants must tolerate other urban stresses such as wind and salt.

 

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