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<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm looking for
information on low-maintenance plant materials and landscaping designs for road
or highway medians that have "stood the test of time". I just got a copy
of the new "Planning the Urban Forest" book and saw a photo of
an interesting median planting in Urbana, Illinois utilizing native plants,
which got me thinking about what other cities might be using for
medians.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial size=2>The City of Kelowna
has been developing more medians in recent years. We've tried a variety of
different designs and plant materials. Medians seem to be among the most
difficult growing sites in terms of maintenance and plant health. Here's
some of the challenges that we have had:</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial
size=2>1) Getting enough soil volume for trees and plants,
particularly in narrower medians</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial size=2>2)
Salt spray due to winter road maintenance in our climate. Some trees
suffer bud dieback due to salt spray. Others might suffer soil toxicity
once the salts get too high. One of the best trees we've found so far
seems to be red oak.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial size=2>3) Sand
accumulations in the planting bed. Even if you have a nicely mulched bed,
after a year or two it all ends up looking like a bed of
sand.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial size=2>4) Worker
safety in order to maintain median plant materials and remove garbage and
maintain irrigation etc.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial size=2>5) Landscaping
medians on highways with higher speeds - the additional wind and salt spray etc
seems to be particularly hard on plants when the traffic speeds are
higher.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial size=2>We have several
different designs that we have tried, depending on situation. We're
starting to move towards a couple of different designs, one is more of a
xeriscape design with trees in a large planting bed and xeriscape plant ground
covers (where we have the space). Where speeds are higher and sand and
salt accumulation is an issue we're trying more hardscape with trees in "pits"
and hard surfacing, but unless we use Silva cells or something similar we
run into the challenge of limited soil volumes.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial size=2>Anybody have some
good designs or ideas that they'd like to share?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=403182520-23032009><FONT face=Arial size=2>thanks,
Ian</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=left>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>Ian Wilson<SPAN
class=457212822-05022008>, RPF, Certified Arborist</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=457212822-05022008>Park Services Manager</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>City of Kelowna</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Park Services</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Civic Operations</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=457212822-05022008><FONT face=Arial size=2>1359 KLO
road,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=457212822-05022008><FONT face=Arial size=2>Kelowna,
BC V1W 3N8</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="mailto:iwilson@kelowna.ca">iwilson@kelowna.ca</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Phone: (250) 469-8842</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Fax: (250) 862-3335</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><IMG alt=BestBlooming hspace=0 src="cid:403182520@23032009-0DAD"
align=left border=0></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
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