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Tag: Gravel

  • Gravel Gardens: Everything You Need to Know About Dry Gardens

    Gravel Gardens: Everything You Need to Know About Dry Gardens

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    What happens beneath the gravel is key. Paths need to be built on a strong permeable sub-base of at least four inches. Most firms selling these products have a calculator so you can work out how many tonnes you’ll need. Once your sub-base material is spread out, you will need to use a vibrating plate to firm it up and make a stable surface. Gravel or other stones can then be spread on top of this stable base and around the plants as an additional mulch.

    6. You may miss out on spring—unless you plan for it.

    Above: Basalt stepping stones through a gravel garden designed by Annie Guilfoyle.

    An additional layer of planting using bulbs will ensure that in spring and early summer, before many perennials have hit their stride, you can still have a good display. Choose a range of bulbs that will flower in succession, and will need little maintenance such as narcissi, Iris reticulata, Allium cristophii, and bearded iris, which will love the free-draining, sunny conditions of the dry garden.

    7. Gravel gardens can be pollinator heavens.

    Above: Richly layered planting around a graveled area at Tattinghall Hall in Cheshire, England. Photograph by Clare Coulson.

    One of the most joyful benefits of a gravel garden full of bee-friendly planting is that it will be alive with insects, bees, ladybirds, moths, and butterflies all summer. By carefully combining plants and ensuring a succession of flowering you can boost this further; alongside summer-flowering perennials (such as buddleia, verbena, hebes) and herbs (like marjoram or oregano), add later flowering perennials, too, including sedums, eupatorium, gaura, and monarda to keep pollinators buzzing right through autumn.

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  • Naturalistic Permeable Driveways:Tips on Creating a Beautiful Place to Park Your Car

    Naturalistic Permeable Driveways:Tips on Creating a Beautiful Place to Park Your Car

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    What if your driveway were beautiful? If you have a typical American stretch of asphalt for a driveway, this question might come off as an absurd provocation, but Andrea Hurd, the founder of Mariposa Gardening & Design, has proven over and over that a beautiful place to park your car is possible. Her Bay Area firm uses their expertise in stonework and horticulture to create driveways that are an attractive addition to the landscape. Hurd’s interest in reimagining driveways doesn’t stem solely from aesthetic ambitions, though.

    Trained in permaculture, Hurd worked with the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners in the 1990s. There, she learned that the water that runs over your driveway picks up oil and gas that has leaked from cars. “That polluted water goes into storm drains that go straight to the Bay,” says Hurd. One solution to manage this problem is to replace conventional driveways with permeable ones, which allow stormwater to be filtered through the soil, keeping pollutants out of natural bodies of water.

    The benefits of a permeable driveway don’t end there. By keeping rainwater on a homeowner’s property, the water soaks into the ground to recharge the groundwater table. Ripping out concrete can also reduce the heat island effect, as concrete reflects the sun’s heat. And if you add plants to your new permeable driveway, you can create habitat for pollinators—not to mention improved curb appeal. Perhaps best of all? Your newly beautified driveway can be used as garden space when your car is not parked there.

    Here’s what you need to know to create your own beautiful, permeable parking spot:

    Photography by Saxon Holt, unless otherwise noted.

    Remove the concrete.

    Before and after—Mariposa Gardening & Design replaced this concrete driveway in Berkeley with a permeable design that created room for many new plants, including a mixture of creeping thymes and native strawberries.
    Above: Before and after—Mariposa Gardening & Design replaced this concrete driveway in Berkeley with a permeable design that created room for many new plants, including a mixture of creeping thymes and native strawberries.

    The first step to creating a permeable driveway is to remove non-permeable concrete or asphalt surfaces. Unless you’re handy with a jackhammer, this is probably a job for a pro. “Hopefully you have a driveway that was built to code, which means you’ve got a sufficient amount of base material underneath the concrete pour,” says Hurd. But if that is not the case, your contractors will need to regrade the driveway so that water slopes away from the foundation of the house.

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  • Newport Beach Backyard by Molly Wood Garden Design

    Newport Beach Backyard by Molly Wood Garden Design

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    A scroll through landscape designer Molly Wood’s portfolio reveals gorgeous, rambling properties and infinity pools with views of forever, but it was a recent project on a much more modest scale that caught our eye.

    Wood’s clients, a family in Newport Beach, had a ranch house on a lot measured in feet not acres, to which they hoped to add a pool, room to entertain, and more. “There was just an old entry pathway and some weedy grass on site when I got there,” says Wood of the yard. But Wood, who has been designing gardens in California since 1995, was undaunted by the constraints of the space, noting, “I always say, ‘This is California real estate: Let’s maximize it. Let’s use it.’ ”

    But how? Here, she explains how to design a small, stylish outdoor space that takes advantage of every inch.

    Photography by Lane J. Dittoe, courtesy of Molly Wood Garden Design.

    1. Define the functions.

    A pair of chaise lounges and a scalloped umbrella offer a shady place to lounge on the far end of the pool. White sage softens the division between the entry courtyard and the pool.
    Above: A pair of chaise lounges and a scalloped umbrella offer a shady place to lounge on the far end of the pool. White sage softens the division between the entry courtyard and the pool.

    “My first question is usually, ‘What do you want to do out here?’” says Wood. For this family, adding a pool was the top priority, but they also requested space to grill, eat outside, and entertain. Wood maps out the yard by function before she starts to even think about plants and hardscape materials. 

    2. Use the pivot point.

    The cabana is completely open to the outdoors. The home’s interior designer Mindy Gayer collaborated with Wood on the outdoor furnishings.
    Above: The cabana is completely open to the outdoors. The home’s interior designer Mindy Gayer collaborated with Wood on the outdoor furnishings.

    To maximize the yard’s L-shape, Wood placed the pool cabana at the pivot point of the L, so it can be seen (and accessed) from both the far end of the pool and the dining area on the opposite side. You may not want or need to build a whole structure in your pivot point, but consider how the corner can serve both sides of your yard.

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