Best traffic circle ever


During a recent walk at Steven's Creek Trail, I couldn't quite believe my eyes when I saw the amazing plantings that the City of Mountain View had put in at a traffic circle near the Rengstorff House.

The eye catching ceanothus - I think that's Dark Star in the back, and a groundcover ceanothus toward the front - drew me in right away.


Coming closer, I also saw some tall mallows and salvias, just starting to bloom. Happy bees and bumblebees were enjoying the feast.


And I'm quite sure that this planting saves the city some water. What I appreciate is that the city plants more traditional annuals and perennials in the traffic circle downtown, where I'm sure people prefer the bolder colors and rotation of plants. But here, close to places for walking and biking, it's a great idea to use plants that are attractive, drought tolerant, and good for wildlife. It just made me smile. 

Comments

Jason said…
Your California Ceanothus really is a wondrous plant, makes our Ceanothus americanus look rather drab.
Country Mouse said…
Lovely circle - lovely photos!
ryan said…
That looks great. Berkeley has some nice traffic circles with all natives in a few and natives mixed with other mediterranean plants in others. I think they're maintained by people in the neighborhood, they get varying degrees of maintenance and varying amounts of weeds, but they always look really nice this time of year and so much more interesting than an empty four way intersection. I wish they were more common.