Aging Parent Appreciation Post+Young and Clueless Question: Low-Maintenance Options for Shoulder/Verge/Berm
Let’s start off with I have few skills so no answer to this question is going to be too obvious.
My parents have this lovely 8 foot stone wall around a portion of their parcel. At the base of the wall is a state-owned two lane road. It’s a pretty typical 35 mph residential road, which means that people drive 55 (… guilty).
Hard to see in this picture, but the land at the top of the wall is a pretty significant slope for about 6 feet. While mowing the slope last year, my dad FELL OFF THE WALL - harrowing (for his kids), broken pelvis, but a full-recovery after PT - and so that really jolted us into thinking that we’ve gotta implement low-maintenance changes that are unlikely entice senior citizens to get close to edges. The grassy slopes were tilled and replanted with a native groundcover and that is growing well this summer.
BUT - Between the paved road and the base of the wall, there is a shoulder/strip of unpaved land that is roughly three feet wide. In addition to the slope on the top of the walls, my parents always meticulously and laboriously push-mowed this, which was an incredible commitment that I, uhhhhhh, did not grasp.
I’m on the hunt for low- (but not necessarily no-) maintenance options for this strip that would sustain or even improve drainage. This isn’t in even a 500 year floodplain because it’s on the top of a hill… but at the bottom of the hill it’s a 5 year flood situation, so we definitely want to keep every possible bit of permeable space.
My parents feel it’s “too dangerous” for the neighborhood teen who does the rest of the grass to mow the strip, I don’t want my parents to do it, and I feel like there has to be something else out there to attempt before I permanently assume the mantle.
I do get targeted ads from Romex Hardscaping now, and I’m not opposed to that, but it feels a little “paved paradise” after my parents kept it green for decades. I guess my dream would be to plant something incredibly hardy (bc of the road proximity), perennial, native (northeast US), weed-choking, fast growing, that won’t climb the wall and degrade the mortar… impossible?
If anyone has handled a shoulder/strip/berm before and is happy with it, or has general suggestions, I’d love to hear! Thanks!
Originally by u/lynnhall on Reddit:
https://tinyurl.com/2ctfw8vgAging Parent Appreciation Post+Young and Clueless Question: Low-Maintenance Options for Shoulder/Verge/Berm
Let’s start off with I have few skills so no answer to this question is going to be too obvious.
My parents have this lovely 8 foot stone wall around a portion of their parcel. At the base of the wall is a state-owned two lane road. It’s a pretty typical 35 mph residential road, which means that people drive 55 (… guilty).
Hard to see in this picture, but the land at the top of the wall is a pretty significant slope for about 6 feet. While mowing the slope last year, my dad FELL OFF THE WALL - harrowing (for his kids), broken pelvis, but a full-recovery after PT - and so that really jolted us into thinking that we’ve gotta implement low-maintenance changes that are unlikely entice senior citizens to get close to edges. The grassy slopes were tilled and replanted with a native groundcover and that is growing well this summer.
BUT - Between the paved road and the base of the wall, there is a shoulder/strip of unpaved land that is roughly three feet wide. In addition to the slope on the top of the walls, my parents always meticulously and laboriously push-mowed this, which was an incredible commitment that I, uhhhhhh, did not grasp.
I’m on the hunt for low- (but not necessarily no-) maintenance options for this strip that would sustain or even improve drainage. This isn’t in even a 500 year floodplain because it’s on the top of a hill… but at the bottom of the hill it’s a 5 year flood situation, so we definitely want to keep every possible bit of permeable space.
My parents feel it’s “too dangerous” for the neighborhood teen who does the rest of the grass to mow the strip, I don’t want my parents to do it, and I feel like there has to be something else out there to attempt before I permanently assume the mantle.
I do get targeted ads from Romex Hardscaping now, and I’m not opposed to that, but it feels a little “paved paradise” after my parents kept it green for decades. I guess my dream would be to plant something incredibly hardy (bc of the road proximity), perennial, native (northeast US), weed-choking, fast growing, that won’t climb the wall and degrade the mortar… impossible?
If anyone has handled a shoulder/strip/berm before and is happy with it, or has general suggestions, I’d love to hear! Thanks!
Originally by u/lynnhall on Reddit: https://tinyurl.com/2ctfw8vg
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