Street side perennials.

I tore out my front garden to make way for a new waterline from the city waterworks.
Turned out I didn't really need to , they drilled horizontally under everything , directly into my basement.
Ah well

I'm rebuilding, and planning on low growing perennials right up front, between the berry bushes and the sidewalk.
So far I want rhubarb, horseradish, potatoes onions, dwarf sunchokes, mint root, day lilies, and gobo.
Low growing, self sustaining food plants

Do y'all have any suggestions?

Strawberries are great companions to rhubarb and onions. I planted an entire swale with all of these and asparagus. Once established it was zero work except for the harvest.

I would add some herbs if they work in your ecosystem. Marjoram and Oregano might need containment as they can take over in some ecosystems. Parsley is biennial but it self seeds well in my environment.

Do sunchokes bloom in your environment? Otherwise, I would consider a few flowers that support pollinators even if you can't eat them. Pretty flowers can lift people's spirits.

Hosta can be creatively used as both a physical barrier plant and a mulch. They spread slowly and can be split annually to expand.

Mine tolerate street/crosswalk side living and grow steadily.

I second the hosta and low growing herbs like oregano and thyme (which double as pollinator food). As far as dwarf sunchokes - in my experience, the "dwarf" sunchokes I planted ended up being 3 to 5 feet tall (as opposed to the regular ones, which grow about 8-10 feet here).

Great suggestions!
I'm torn about the strawberries, none that I've plant have thrived, but it's perfect for the local kids.
5' is far from dwarf, but they are easy to prune(we have a bunny, sunchoke greens are highly valued).

Hostas are a really great idea! They’re also edible and delicious. How much sun would they receive in this new garden?
I love herbs like thyme, rosemary and lavender but only for dry/poor soil conditions. These herbs grow with ease in a neglected environment. If the soil is any good at all they may not survive.
I used to own a 16 acre permaculture farm. I planted the herbs I listed on rocky outcroppings where nothing else would grow.

I’m guessing it might be good to focus on berries and seeds and fruits more so than greens and roots, since they are said to uptake less… from the street. Compost plants could be good too. My major suggestion to look into is perennial ground cherry. They are hardy and cold tolerant , and tend to prefer rich soils on the slightly wetter side. The local plants here are growing by an old cattle watering hole, surrounded by reed canary grass, wild oregano, yarrow, manna grass, orchard grass, vervain, boneset, and other rich moist pasture plants.

Ok, it seems  hostas are quite well thought of!
Slow growing isn't my usual jam, but I love giving plants a home.
Even if it is just a nursery spot where I cultivate plants to give away, they will be welcome.

The herb garden is at the top of our little hillside.
The soil is probably a little too rich if anything.
The house is to the south, so it blocks the winter sun.
In the mornings, a large evergreen on the east side shades most of the front yard.
The whole front yard gets sun from noon till dusk in the summer time.

William Bronson wrote:Ok, it seems  hostas are quite well thought of!

I have heard that some taste better than others, so you may have to experiment with different varieties. I've also heard that the ones that taste better to humans, also taste better to rabbits and deer,  which is an issue in my ecosystem, but may not be in yours!

Timothy Norton wrote:Hosta can be creatively used as both a physical barrier plant and a mulch.

I've been looking for mulch ideas for my new tree spots and other garden areas. Seems like everything has a downside (straw often still has seed, wood will lock up nitrogen, etc) - hosta idea intrigues me. I'm transplanting a new hosta to the ground soon, will probably get one or two more. Is the idea to occasionally prune/harvest big leaves from the hosta and lay 'em down whole wherever you want your mulch?

J Lovejoy wrote: Is the idea to occasionally prune/harvest big leaves from the hosta and lay 'em down whole wherever you want your mulch?

I am still early in my fiddling with hosta, so please bear with me not having an exact answer but I will give you a few things I either do or am planning on doing.

Current State

I utilize hosta during Spring, Summer, Fall as a living mulch as it blocks a lot of light with its leaves. The plants die back with winter approaching and then the leaves can be utilized as a more traditional mulch for the plant and around it. I use Hosta as a static placeholder in a space I don't want plant competition. It is easy enough to dig and remove the hosta if I want to utilize the space in the future.

Experiment

I'm planning on seeing how much 'abuse' hosta can take in the form of pruning. I have heard that Hosta will regrow after aggressive pruning but to be careful around the fall time so that the plant can have enough energy to overwinter effectively. My focus originally as going to be on the larger leafed plants but I'm curious if a smaller plant might regenerate faster.

Excellent! Much appreciated, Timothy, thank you. Dig the idea of using it as a living mulch; so may be a good idea to plant some hosta varieties around the bases of my trees after the trees get a bit taller and leaf out, etc. Will take any excuse to plant more hosta varieties, especially if they will be useful. I'll happily join you in this experiment!

My mother has hostas she will give me,so like most of my gardening, availability will shape my choices more than anything.

One row of plants back from the street I want to plant child friendly berries.
I already have raspberries within reach of the street, Id like to add something else.
I have a josta berry plant in my "nursery ".
It's setting fruit for the first time this year,and they are apparently easy to propagate?
I was considering Aronia, but there are mixed reviews about eating them fresh.

I had to look into the herbs, I had assumed they we wouldn't be cold hearty.
Quite wrong I see.
I look forward to these herbs running rampant in my gardens along side the mint and purple dead nettle!

William Bronson wrote: One row of plants back from the street I want to plant child friendly berries.

My (somewhat limited) experience with children is that both their ability to determine "ripeness" and their "patience with waiting for ripeness" can both be limited. That's easier to teach within a family than within neighborhoods, but will be *highly* variable. There are tons of factors affecting it.

Point is, I would plant berries that won't scare them off if they eat some unripe. Blueberries if you can have an acid area, ground cherries if your season is long enough (they self-seed in Ontario, but rarely ripen where I live) but it's easy to teach that when the little lantern falls off the plant, they're ready to eat. I would have a wander through the berries forum and if you propose some possibilities, I expect people will speak up with their experiences!

Personally, if you're willing to add a few annuals, a couple of mini-tomato plants would be a great way to hook children and give them the idea of simple foods to grow that can be eaten right off a plant!

You make excellent points!
I have a cadre of little visitors who are already educated and enthusiastic about raspberries and cherry tomatoes.
Keeping to berries that advertise the their ripeness makes a lot of sense .
The cherry tomatoes are mostly the volunteers, but considering the amount amount of soil disturbance that has occurred, they might not come back in force.

While I'm not a big fan of the taste of  ground cherries, it's their failure to produce for me that makes me sceptical of planting them for the kids.
Maybe I'll transplant some black berries.
My wife misses ours, which were moved to another lot to make room for annuals.

Maybe I'll just plant just more raspberries,new varieties, but still familiar.

If your street gets salted, Rugosa Roses are wonderful.  They originated from shorelines.  I had great success at my last place; the snow plows did much of the pruning.  The hips are ~2-3 cm wide and good for jelly.

I would put some herbs both for humans and insects : oregano, mint and sage too although they all spread quite a lot. Chives have pretty flowers too.