pathway to nowhere
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22 days ago
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callirhoe123
22 days agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
22 days agoRelated Discussions
35 pathway examples - some stunning
Comments (21)You know, I think one should dispense with the fiction that a lot of these photos propagate about ground covers and about stepping stones, one best addressed with the words "professional gardener." And I say that as someone who just spent two hours outside putting in plugs of ground cover to replace a small area of lawn. There are two primary nightmares in gardening (at least that are top of mind for me at the moment): one is weeds, the other is edges and boundaries. The thing about ground covers is that until they grow in, you have to be vigilant about weeds, a vulnerability of every square inch of uncovered ground. Then once they have grown in, you have to start guarding the edges of their territory to make sure they stay within boundaries. Those stepping stones will eventually disappear under each of those ground cover scenarios, including the checkerboards done with grass, unless someone goes out there and trims them. Plants like thyme also eventually mound up and become something you have to step over going from stone to stone, again unless you trim them down annually. Everything in a yard that is not paved (and believe me, I am judiciously considering the benefits of all paving except beds) needs maintenance, and most of these examples require some tedious work. If you hire out your garden work anywhere, more power to you :-) If you do it yourself, consider the maintenance work in your selection. Those paving stones in grass were probably just edged... every single edge of every single stone. Of course, there is up front work vs. future work. Would you rather do that or place all those stones in the second picture, the mosaic? Karin L...See MoreThe Final Reveal
Comments (7)The putting green was always in the back of our minds. We got bids on that first, but because of the heavy equipment of the concrete dudes, their designs came next, and they were hired first. We didn't want them trashing our new green with all their heavy equipment. Both the concrete contractor and the concrete restoration contractor met with us together to make sure everybody was on the same page prior to starting the job. The putting green dude was not needed at that meeting. The restoration dude wanted the new concrete to be brush finished because his stain would stick better. He showed us several finishes, and we chose random stone shapes taped off, with about 5 different stain colors and a light sprinkle of glitter coat (our granite rocks here always glitter in the sun). Concrete has to cure one month, so we had to wait for it to cure prior to starting the stain process. Once the hard-scape was all done, the putting green was re-measured, price finalized, and work began. If you looked at my Pinterest link, you saw that "creeping elegance" set in, and we extended the green to the edges of the yard AFTER the green was done. Surrounding the putting green and at one end are semi-dwarf blood orange citrus trees (two varieties), and a few roses. In time, they will be larger and more noticeable. They all have real mulch close to them, and for aesthetics, rubber mulch that is a nice dark brown color. Hope that answers your questions. Suzi...See Morebackyard landscape help request
Comments (12)OK, so now we know why you had all the planters - they were hiding that wall, LOL. Nothing wrong with that idea, but make it easy on yourself and create beds with plants that will hide the wall and spill slightly over the top, softening the look from the patio interior. Always make your beds larger than you think - you have the room to pull this off and those beds must be proportionately large to the scale of your property. The tree rings are not a great idea. They visually "break" the trees from the greenery and look rather like white bulls-eye's plunked in your lawn with tree arrows. I think the major trouble is that where your patio is placed, what do you want to look at? Everything seems very scattered around, without any sense of mystery or cohesive integration, which is why it's troubling you so much. Your basic elements are good - everyone has flaws they have to work around - yet you feel something's missing, but don't know what it is. You have ground level (lawn, patio and short plants) and top-level (trees and pergola), but absolutely nothing in the middle-layer to integrate it all together into a whole satisfying mix. Your patio as it sits in the lawn is like a promontory view point in the middle of a desert. It's all flat and laid out for everyone to see. Stand in the middle of the patio, turn 360-degrees and you can see everything in it. There's no sense of "what might be around the next corner?" to add interest. No matter what your style of gardening you need to always integrate the top and bottom layers with a good selection of mid-height shrubs. These will add color and interest to your garden 365 days a year without needing to always depend upon flower bloom. It is where you get the critical balance of leaf color, texture and shape to interest the eye and provide specific "focal points of interest". As it stands now the eye drifts over your garden greens because they're either too much the same color or too isolated to hold interest. It lands on the wrong things; e.g., the whiteness of the stone or the position of the patio. Think of your garden like the outside shell of your house. Whether you stand at your front door or your back door, you can see some of the rooms but not all of them. Walking further inside, you can see more revealed, as well as a hallway or another doorway that obviously leads somewhere else. Your rooms have flooring (ground layer), furniture such as desks, beds, or bookcases (middle layer), and windows and overhead lights (top layer). If your rooms only had a rug on the floor and a hanging light fixture, think how empty that looks! Fill it with an interesting mix of furniture with different textures, textures, colors and shapes - and suddenly you have a pleasing, beautiful room to live in. A garden is similar in concept. It is an exterior shell, into which you place disparate elements to both contrast and complement one another into a visually pleasing whole. Good luck to you going forward!...See MoreWhat About Your Paths?
Comments (28)Those are CALLAS????? Why, they are immense! What do you feed them?!!! Mother's Callas never grew any taller than three feet that I can recall. We lived on a rancho in Southern California. She grew them on the south side of the house in a brick flowerbed under the diningroom windows on the front entry courtyard. There were brick steps that led up from the courtyard out to the circle drive where two beautiful acacias grew. Their bark was smooth and gray and cool to the touch. In spring they were covered in flowers made up of tiny fuzzy balls. On the east end of the courtyard there was a veranda that was completely enveloped with Pink Fairy roses that climbed high up on the tiled roof of the house. The white, waxen callas were so lovely. I quite expected to see faeries dance out of those blooms at any moment, so I spent many summer hours sitting patiently beside them on the cool, damp brickwork watching...waiting. Sometimes my cousin would join me and we would sit huddled together, giggling softly so as not to frighten them. We sniffed and sniffed the Callas heady perfume until we were almost sick from their intense fragrance. Mother always knew what I had been doing out there, for my pixie-like nose would be dusted with the their yellow pollen. Happy childhood memories of Calla lilies. ~Annie...See MoreJAN MOYER
22 days agolast modified: 22 days agodan1888
22 days agoJAN MOYER
22 days agolast modified: 22 days agoPatricia Colwell Consulting
22 days agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
22 days agoJAN MOYER
22 days agolisedv
21 days agoNew Home Owner
20 days agoNew Home Owner
20 days agoSabrina Alfin Interiors
20 days agoNew Home Owner
20 days agoNew Home Owner
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20 days agoNew Home Owner
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20 days agoCelery. Visualization, Rendering images
16 days agoCelery. Visualization, Rendering images
16 days agoCelery. Visualization, Rendering images
16 days ago
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