Flower and shrub gardens permitted on City-owned boulevards
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
The City has revised its Streets by-law allowing residents to plant flower and shrub gardens on City-owned boulevards. Residents are permitted to create boulevard gardens to enhance streetscapes while promoting environmental sustainability.
“Boulevard gardening involves transforming City-owned land between a homeowner’s front property line and the street curb into a vibrant garden. The initiative encourages homeowners and businesses to use alternatives to turfgrass to beautify these areas, promote biodiversity, and help mitigate stormwater runoff,” said Emily Cormier, Environmental Sustainability Coordinator. “By enabling residents to cultivate green spaces, the City aims to increase the number of plants that absorb carbon dioxide, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This initiative supports the creation of more resilient and sustainable communities.”
Key guidelines for boulevard gardening include perennial or annual plants no taller than 75 cm, except within intersection lots where they must not exceed 30 centimeters in height, they cannot include crop-producing plants to prevent attracting wildlife, and noxious weeds and invasive plants are prohibited. Hard surfaces such as asphalt or concrete, as well as items like trees, light fixtures, fences, pillars, signage, little libraries, posts, walls, in-ground irrigation systems, or hard mulches (e.g., pea gravel, small rocks, bricks, concrete slabs), are not permitted without approval.
Any abutting residential or business property owner to a boulevard is responsible for maintaining the boulevard using existing property standards and yard maintenance by-laws, which require grass to be no more than 20 centimeters in height. Residents interested in starting their boulevard gardens should consult the City’s Streets by-law at
saultstemarie.ca/bylaws which outlines the guidelines and regulations to ensure compliance. Also, Clean North’s
Grow Me Instead guide helps select non-invasive plant species suitable for Sault Ste. Marie.