August in Florida is always as hot as Hell. When it is hot, the area between sidewalks and streetside curbs can be a difficult area to landscape. Hellstrips are five-foot-wide rectangles considered common areas, often left unirrigated with stressed turf and abundant weeds.  

The main point to consider is who will be maintaining it. Residential communities may require these common areas to be grass but also maintained with the homeowners’ landscape. In town, along the streets and highways, these municipal Hellstrips can be turf, landscape beds, or just weeds. Planting shrubs, flowers, or ornamental grasses is not always the best idea, if there is no irrigation or someone to maintain it on a regular basis. The Hellstrip pictured below is an attempt to beautify this area but paraphrasing the 18th century James Boswell saying, “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions” it will not work. Why? Because the area is not wide enough for both ornamental grass and turf. Someone will be required to mow the turf with commercial mowers. This will mean when they mow the grass, they will invertedly decapitate or cut the foliage. It cannot be helped. If they attempt to go around the foliage as it grows to a mature width of five,’ they will not be able to mow underneath the ornamental grass, allowing weeds to become established. It is destined for failure within two years.

Solution? The Hellstrip should either be planted with turf or ornamental grass (or another drought-tolerant shrub). It does not need to be irrigated but if not, should be planted during the rainy season with either Bahiagrass or Zoysiagrass, (not St. Augustine grass) or ornamental grass like Muhly grass or Fakahatchee. I would prefer Lomandra ‘Breeze’ or ‘Lime Tuff’ as it does not need trimmed in the springtime and looks great year-round.

There are many ways to have a beautiful front strip to your home or a landscaped sidewalk along a highway. But the size of the area, the plant’s future mature size, and maintenance need to be taken into consideration.