25 years ago I had to choose between stone dust and sand when laying a brick patio using standard sized bricks. The underlying ground here in Virginia is fairly high content clay, I can absolutely state that stone dust is the way to go.... here are a few pointers; 1. Use a rigid but moderately flexible edge guard to define the area. I used aluminum about 4 inches tall. Don's use something softer like plastic or nylon as it will flex and your bricks will start to migrate all over the place no matter whether you use sand or stone dust. 2 . Use 4 inches of stone dust, but apply 2 inches first...then compact it with a manual or mechanical tamper....then thoroughly soak with water and wait a couple of days before applying the 2nd layer of stone dust and tamping and watering again. (BTW, I really don't understand the comments about stone dust not draining well....you will see the water soak quickly through the stone dust.) 3. Make the area as level as possible using a screed (look it up :) 4. Install some water permeable landscaping membrane on a fairly well leveled area. This will promote drainage and stop weeds from infiltrating from below. I will also make it easier to slide the bricks into place. 5. Install the brick. Either full size bricks or the thinner pavers. I used full size bricks which are more stable. To ensure that the bricks are level with one another, place a piece of piece of wood (approx 3" x 8" by 3/4" ) across the surfaces of the brick you are working on and its adjoining bricks...then hammer it with a large mallet until they all the bricks are even. Give then some good wacks...full-sized bricks can take it so long as you use wood as a buffer. Be gentler with the thinner pavers. 6. Depending upon your personal preference, you can butt the bricks directly up against one another or place a think spacer between them. I use pieces of asphalt roofing shingles to maintain uniform spacing. I like the look and using spacers allowed me to adjust the alignment for bricks which may not be uniform size. 7. Regardless of which way you go on item 6, sweep stone dust into the joints between the bricks. Wet the area, let it dry and repeat again. The irregular shapes of the stone dust will lock the bricks into position much better than sand, which is more round. Sand will not get into some of the smaller joints between bricks. 28 years later I am still VERY happy with my results. Occasionally a nearby tree root will distort things a bit but that will happen with either sand or stone dust. I just remove a few bricks and cut out the root. The only periodic maintenance I need to do is sweep new stone dust in the spaces between the bricks one ever 4-5 years. Good luck.

Hello Yovan, best to start a new thread if you want to ask specific questions regarding your plants, that way, you will get more attention and answers than you will by tagging it onto a thread with another subject line. Plus this thread is old as I started it when the forum had just begun. It now has many posts so takes an age to load on some devices. Just go to the main Adenium page and commence a new thread with an appropriate title that catches people's eye and you will get some replies....have a go! :-) also, please add some location info after your name, that will help give better advise as we then have an idea of your climate/conditions. Gill

From an email... There is still a lot of good in this country and here is a very nice remembrance for those who served and are no longer with us. God bless the USA and for what it stands. Arlington National Cemetery at Christmas Rest easy, sleep well my brothers. Know the line has held, your job is done. Rest easy, sleep well. Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held. Peace, peace, and farewell.

Where we are in the Northeast, we will put down a 6"-8" base of what we call quarry process stone or QP. Some areas locally call it Item #1, #2 or #3. It's a mix of small gravel (3/8"), larger gravel 1/2"-3/4") and stone dust/cinders. Best illustration I give to clients is it's like granola. It compacts very well with a plate compactor to provide a stable base. We use stone dust/cinders on top to "fine tune" the height, and then the pavers are set. Using sand or stone dust directly over clean gravel is not a good idea. Either of these will eventually work their way into a gravel base over time from water and the paver stones will lose their support system. A filter fabric could be put in between to retain the sand but it's an extra step and expense not needed. We sweep clean mason sand into the pavers upon completion or the best is a polymeric sand which will not wash out and moves with the pavers. It's aids in preventing weed growth also. It's important your patio is pitched to prevent any standing water-1/4" per foot is the norm. If it's possible to pitch the clay soil beneath, any moisture that goes through the bases will still wick away from the patio. Clay is an expansive soil so in freeze/thaw regions, wet clay soil will expand and heave. Even in non-freeze/thaw regions it can move.