Now that summer has arrived in Seattle, you can’t walk the streets of Ballard without noticing all of the curbside gardens that have sprung to life.

Not only are they quite unique Seattle attractions, they help to create the feeling of a vibrant neighborhood.

In the place where I grew up, the narrow patch of grass that grew in between the street curb and the sidewalk was for grass only, or, if you were lucky, a city-planted and approved tree. The idea that someone would even plant a single daisy on this strip was unimaginable. Even if you did, the snowplows would inevitably dump several feet of snow on top of these strips so it wasn’t really worth it for the would-be gardener.

When I arrived in Seattle, I was immediately struck by the fact that people had planted all sorts of crazy plants in their curb grass strip- and nobody cared! I honestly did not know what to make of these curbside gardens. They were so pretty and the idea that the property owners had dared to plant them, possibly in defiance of the Seattle city government, and that pedestrians respected these gardens and did not trample the plants made me realize that this was a really interesting place to live.

When you go on a stroll through the streets of Ballard, you are guaranteed to see at least one of these curbside gardens on each block, if not more. These curb gardens are filled with all sorts of flora, fauna, and objets d’ art that reflect the individual creative sensibilities of the owner of the house directly behind it. Forget about neighborhood character; these gardens give each individual block their own sense of character!

When I decided to write this article, I realized that I had to know once and for all whether these gardens were, in fact, legal. Since I did not know what they were officially called, I had a hard time finding information, but eventually I discovered that the areas between the curb and the sidewalk are called planting strips.

These planting strips are under the jurisdiction of the Seattle Department of Transportation and are indeed legal. According to the department, “a street use permit is not required for gardening activities in the planting strip” (planting a tree or doing anything else, however, would require one) but there all sorts of requirements for plant height and clearance to maintain safety on the street.

Indeed, if there is anything negative to say about these gardens, it is that some of their owners get so overzealous that they seem to forget that their garden is on public property and that some of them are so overgrown that it makes it hard to park on the street in front of their house (which may, in fact, be the point).

These curb gardens, which are not creations of the city yet are on their property are ultimately reflections of their gardeners. Whether someone keeps their curb garden beautiful yet safely manicured or an overgrown mess that causes an inconvenience for everyone speaks volumes to the neighborhood about what kind of people they are.

One the one hand, I want to thank the gardeners for helping to make the neighborhoods vibrant places to live. On the other, I want to ask them to remember that they also have a responsibility to the safety of the neighborhood while they are expressing themselves.

Having spoken to people who have lived in Ballard for much longer, these curb gardens are a new phenomenon. The Ballard of yore had curbsides much like my hometown with bland parking strips and the occasional tree.

While Ballard is evolving right now, some of the changes have been for the worse, but on the whole, I believe that these curb gardens are an example of positive change. Here’s to some positive change in Ballard!

Do you have a column suggestion or a comment for Brian LeBlanc? Leave a comment on this story or reach him directly at brianleblanc76@yahoo.com.