What: A narrow "hell strip" garden, photographed last summer

Where: Dayton Court in Southeast Denver

Gardener/designer: Jennifer Reinbrecht

Type: Xeric perennial garden

Biggest challenge: When Reinbrecht moved to this location 11 years ago, the south sidewalk strip was "a long, half-block of 30-year-old 'rockscape' infested with weeds," she says. "It took me five years to move all the rock. The soil underneath was heavy clay on top of floodplain-deposited sand.

"I worked section by section, removing rock, double digging the clay and planting xeric perennials that could withstand dogs, children, snow plows, salt and sand trucks, reflected heat from concrete, asphalt and full southern exposure."

What makes this garden special: "Some people have been watching me work it since the beginning," Reinbrecht said. "They always stop if they see me to tell me how much they love it. This is very gratifying to my back, which did all the work!"

Highlights: Reinbrecht says that this hell strip has become an evolving project.

"Perennials have a life cycle and plants eventually die and need to be replaced. Or, I'll find a hardy new plant I like. Or we'll have a lot of snow and some plants will die from being buried under the plow piles and mag-chloride residue. Plus I'm always trying to improve on having cycles of something in bloom all the time."

What she likes best: "I love our local nurseries that specialize in xerics that do well in our climate and soils - Nick's, Tagawa, Echter's and Timberline are my haunts, but there are many more small local nurseries that do an excellent job," Reinbrecht said.

"All of this can get prohibitively expensive fast . . . I trade starts, cuttings, splits and seeds with neighbors and friends."

Final thoughts: Reinbrecht is not a fan of the so-called weed barrier, also called landscape fabric, that she found beneath the rockscape she inherited 11 years ago.

"It is not organic or natural to have a barrier in a landscape," Reinbrecht said. "Weeds grow up through it; dirt, dust and soil settle on top of it, then weeds reseed on top and root down through it. If you want to plant or move plants or seed plants, you have to deal with the fabric. Just say no to landscape fabric."