You might want to reconsider gravel. Plants of any kind aren't going to hold up well to driving on and dog-digging. Plus, that dirt looks hard as a rock. This solution might be what you're looking for: http://greenterrafirma.com/grass-pavers.html or http://www.invisiblestructures.com/grasspave2.html They're basically pavers, but you can plant small plants or shade-loving grass in the holes (fill them 3/4 with dirt), and it will grow up and mostly hide the paver. So, it looks green, but the plants don't get demolished the first time a car drives on them because the car is supported by the paver. I dont know how much they cost, but I've seen them and they look pretty good. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/69/173638306_9b177fccae_o.jpg

My husband's creeping phlox bed is over 5 or 6 years old. It's in full sun. We have bought new phlox to fill in some areas that had other plants that we pulled out. All the new stuff and most of the old stuff is green and blooming very nicely. Usually the whole bed is pink and green. This year there are a few spots - mostly in the middle of the beds - that the stems haven't turned green and are not flowering. If I lift them up however, there is green and pink underneath. Is it too old to come back? Should I cut the brown off? Should I pull it out and hope the other stuff fills in? Will it eventually turn green? I don't know what to do with it. Thanks for any help.

I did see this! And yes, I still LOVE it five years later. We still haven't begun the 2nd-floor bathroom, aka the 1925 Hall Bath/Faux Master which is our only bathroom on the bedroom level with a clawfoot tub & a shower ring. So the Starting From Dirt Basement Bathroom is still my favorite place to shower. So here's how to do the Starting From Dirt Basement Bath set up: Hansgrohe Ibox rough in Shower & tub fixtures - Hansgrohe Rain S Showerhead & hand shower S Thermostatic Trim with Volume Control and Diverter (tub to shower) Kohler HydroRail Shower Column and Diverter (showerhead to hand shower) Metris S tub filler The Tub Filler & Hydrorail are tied together at the Ibox by the diverter on the shower trim, the two showerheads switch between each other on the Hydorail. Run it all by your plumber - I don't know if all these parts (especially the hydrorail) are still available! Good luck! Also, here's a link to Part 2 of the Adventure: https://tinyurl.com/ydntvkzc

To follow up, the Juno lights as installed look good so far (although my kitchen is flooded with natural light right now, so I won't know for sure until it's dark out) - I took a chance but I love that there's an off/switch on each of the 3 bars (2 24's and 1 12) on the left hand side and a dimmer dial on the right, plus the on/off switch on the wall for all 3 (which are connected), so we can very much customize the amount of light is on and off each time we turn the switch on and off on the wall. or we can leave the wall switch on and use the on-bar controls. It's a lot more versatility than any other LED light that I've seen. And when on full blast the lights are pretty bright, and when dimmed they are pretty dim, so far. What I might do to get around the problem of having reflections on the shiny (Zodiaq cloud white) countertop, is use the stick-on diffusers provided with the environmental lights package, and put those on the Junos and not return them to environmental lights. One thing re environmental lights - they know their stuff, were VERY helpful and I'd love to work with them. I just prefer a dimmer dial. And Juno's customer service is not 24/7 like some electrical support shops - it's just M-F, which I didn't like as much. And the dimmer-dial LEDs we used aren't even on its website, for whatever reason. I tried to call its customer service line today to ask why they aren't on the website and make sure they still support them before deciding which to install - but they aren't available today (a Sunday). For what it's worth, the Juno bars we installed have a 5 year warranty and the environmental lights have a 3 year warranty. I'm not sure why the difference and it wasn't a big factor in deciding, but worthy of note.