Forgive me if I'm telling you things you already know, but I'll mention it for others, if not for you. Erosion is caused by two things - volume and speed.Anything you can do to reduce either one reduces erosion. The lawn is good because it has a lot of blades that the water has to go around which slows it down and also allows the soil to absorb some (both reducing speed and volume). Also, slope translates to speed. Longer slopes translate into increasing speed. Anything you can do to disperse water rather than concentrating it is reducing volume. Sometimes we combine drainage so that we deal with it in fewer places. But sometimes it is not a good idea because you create a big problem instead of several smaller and easier to deal with problems. Since you mentioned that the path is a convenient way to divert water, it makes me think that it is intercepting water that might be moving across the lawn and concentrating it (making a bigger volume) more or less in a channel that is the path. If it goes downhill on a steady slope, water will build up speed and erode. Interupting the slope with a step every once in a while will flatten the grades between the steps, thus slowing down the water. If the path has a cross slope, the step can divert the water off of the path at that point removing it from joining up with the water that the path is accepting between that and the next step. You may have seen this technique on hiking trails just using logs. Even if the water has to pass over the step, it will be reaching the edge of the step with very little speed. although dropping over the edged of a step will add speed to the water, it has ery little time to accelerate and lands on another slow slope. It never builds momentum. Another good technique is to privide better drainage closer to the source. It seems that you hinted that the driveway may be the biggest source of runoff. I will assume that the water is not channeled in a paved swale that concentrates it, but rather drifts off onto the lawn all along its path. In that case, a narrow deep trench filled with larger stone can hold some volume and provide side and bottom area for the soil to absorb some of it. I would not continue such a trench where the driveway slopes a lot as water would rush along the trench. A retention swale that holds volume and traps it untill the soil absorbs it is an option, but most people don't like to have a puddle or wet area. Some have the space for it and don't mind. Another thing is a detention swale that captures the volume and holds it temporarily by having it drain out in a limited manner such as making the swale drain out of a small pipe that can only handle so much water. It detains the water only to let it go on its way in a controlled release. Compaction of your stone in the path is not really much of a problem for water erosion. Smaller surface stone will wash with less force than larger surface stone. Stone in swales is often refered to as "energy dissipation" material where it takes the force of fast concentrated water coming off of a pavement or from a pipe. It takes the impact and slows the water down in the initial portion of the swale. The slope of the swale will then take over in managing the speed of the water and the stone is no longer necessary. Hopefully, this will give you some insight to help you analyze what is happening on your site and some different ideas on what might be options for your specific situations.

Confederate jasmine is an evergreen vine that should survive winters where you are. It definitely follows the sleep, creep,leap law, so you would have to wait a while. It probably won't bloom well in the shadier area, but I think Mississippi has enough sun for jasmine to grow in a good bit of shade. If you can put up stout trellises, I think akebia might be evergreen for you, and it's fast to grow. Keep in mind though that akebia has been know to lift roof joists, so when I say a stout trellis, I mean stout. There is always good ole eleagnus (ugly agnes as it's also called). It grows fast, fast, fast. You would have to decide which is uglier - the eleagnus or your neighbors, and make a decision based on that. The other thing to consider is holly. Some of them make excellent screens although I don't grow them and can't tell you which ones do best in southern shade. I'm sure there must be a forum here that can tell you all about hollies. I agree with gardengal49 that camellias grow too slowly, but if you're willing to wait, they will do fine in the shade in Mississippi.

Lurker-- Thanks for the help.....i think you helped me when I got my softener a few years back...hopefully you can help me fix my mom's water.... Retested the water..... results are still the same. Low Ph, High Iron. No bacteria. Let me ask a quick question upfront: Are there any health hazards to continue using this water as is? I understand the high iron can cause staining on surfaces (it already has) and the acid can ruin copper pipes (although most of her pipes are PVC or some sort of plastic), but can it cause health problems? Also, this condition of high iron is recent. Over the summer, the water from all taps started sputtering, seemingly cause of air in the lines. The plumber/well guy came out and tried the simple, cost effective solutiuons first. 1. Compressed air in the well to clean the well screen. She has a shallow well. He did this quite a bit. The screen was dirty and we thought that solved the problem....Nope. 2. Changed the pump, retention tank. Nope. 3. Then changed all the piping from the well to the retention tank. The problem in the end was a collapsed pipe that ran from the well to the tank. Could the repeated use of the compressed air down the well (in order to clean the well screen) caused some sort of change in the water, like an influx of iron? The iron (at least to the naked eye) has decreased somewhat since the summer, although it is still there as evidenced by the water test. A couple of months ago the iron would settle out of a cup of tap water within a week....now you put a cup of tap water on the counter and the orange iron sediment settles out in a few weeks. But the water still smells like a cup of loose change....the metal smell. She's had some estimates so far. One local guy came to the house, tested the water and said a "neutralizer and Conditioning system" would be about $1900. CAI online suggested a "chemical injection system with a downstream carbon filter." About $1000 for the equipment, plus the cost of labor for a plumber to install. Like I said in my original post, unfortunately, she doesn't have much disposable income right now. The quotes of $1000 plus caused her some sticker shock....and some serious agita. Pllus, on an aesthetic/practical side, the local guy said he would have to install it in her kitchen pantry (where the water heater and current sediment filter is) and it would cause her to have to remove almost all the storage/food shelving in there.... Ugh. I've gone on long enough. So does she have any options here??? Thanks again. If you need any other info, let me know. mike

My cupboards were wonky/uneven too and I was still able to use subway tile. I just adjusted the difference at the top where the wall meets the cabinet. There is a bit of a gap in one section, but I filled it in with grout caulk. No one will ever see it unless they are specifically hunting for it.