A string of LED lights lights this walkway

Walkways are places where people expect to be able to pass safely. They can offer utilitarian passage or they can take part of the landscape design offering space definition or a linear element. If you put a little thought into building your walkway right with decorative pavers and lighting so it is designed to be both useful and aesthetic, you can have the best of both worlds.

There are many different shapes and designs to pavers you can use in an outdoor passageway. Pavers can be set together to form all kinds of designs and even pictures. Using assembled cast block, natural stone or brick allows space for rain or irrigation water to filter between the pavers creating permeable paving. Permeable paving allows water to seep into the ground naturally rather than washing off and causing erosion. Placing pavers close together can form a surface safe even for high heeled shoes.

The space between the stone, block or brick can be filled with cement, sand, decomposed granite, gravel, low ground-cover plants or even non-tradtonal materials like ceramic beads, tumbled glass or any non-toxic fill that can withstand outdoor weather.

Then you can add lighting that not only allows for safe footing in the dark but can make your passageway into a piece of art. Lights can be embedded between or along the edges of the pavering material. You can have your lights hardwired or use low voltage, solar lights or even LEDs. Simple do-it-yourself lights can be bought and placed along the walkway. You can line a path or embed a strip of LED light-rope or set up interesting fixtures all along your walk.

There is no limit to the inventive effects you can use when desgning your walkway with pavers and lighting. Put your imagination to work. Then create a passageway that adds both beauty and practicality to your landscape.

Originally posted 2011-03-22 09:27:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Rich and green, but Eco-lawn low water: Courtesy of Eco-lawn

No matter whether you are experiencing the effects of a drought or not, with the escalating demands on our current water resources, water is likely to become more and more of an issue as time goes on. Efficient water management needs to become a way of life just about everywhere. Clearly those drier areas of the country are the first to feel the pinch, but good water management is becoming critical worldwide. And all ecological systems on this planet are connected so eventually the treatment of one area is likely to affect the next.

Even if you are not focusing on the environmental impact of growing lawns, you can certainly consider escalating water bills, and all that time and expense you’ll be putting in just for the honor of having to mow your lawn regularly. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to live with the easy maintenance of minimal mowing or no mowing at all?

There are so many ways we can rethink how we design and build our landscapes to keep them beautiful, useful, productive and eco-friendly. You can set your landscape up to collect and recycle rain. Store energy from wind or solar collectors. Build with recycled materials. Or try out so many of the new designs and products on the market. But you can start sustainable gardening gently without spending a lot of money or making major changes in your landscape with one simple step. Start off by converting your high-maintenance lawn into a no mow, easy care , yet decorative part of your yard.

Look into the right kind of lawn to grow in your geographic area. There are lawns that grow with little water and so low that they never need mowing. Two examples would be Buffalo grass (Buchloe) and Blue Grama grass. There are also special lawn mixtures that are now available to create the ideal, eco-friendly grass with minimum water use and easy maintenance. Eco-lawn is one of the fast-growing products that is offering an effective product for people everywhere who want to maintain a well-balanced, water-wise lawn.

Reducing your lawn area to a space where the lawn is actively useful rather than just filling in open spaces with lawn as a default will also help. Or consider replacing your whole lawn with a lovely garden that is well adapted to your local climate, including some of your more showy native plants or filling in open areas with wildflowers. Even large properties can sport designs that factor in areas of lawn complemented by other ground cover and garden areas. Good design can make no-mowing into an asset to your garden. Even smaller-sized gardens can make better use of landscape space by adding herb gardens, play areas, vegetable gardens and flower gardens. Rather than just filling in pars of your landscape with vast stretches of lawn, consider adding permeable paving, paths, eco-friendly and low growing patches of lawn and decorative or productive garden areas. You can make so much more out of your garden by reducing or replacing your high-maintenance lawn with a no-mow alternative.

Then, if you discover you become as fascinated by the all the exciting possibilities of sustainable landscaping, you might want to start learning about some of the many other ways you can adapt your garden to better eco-efficiency.

Example of a no-mow Eco-lawn: unmowed

No-mow drought-tolerant garden: Photo by Jane Gates

Originally posted 2010-07-29 17:28:41. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Gravel driveway

Building a driveway with sand, gravel or grass is an old alternative for paving that has been rejuvenated as landscapes go more eco-friendly. Instead of hard surfaces like asphalt and concrete, these permeable paving choices not only allow for better water penetration and easier repairs, but offer a whole assortment of decorative ideas. Paving with sand, gravel or grass might be the least expensive way to build a driveway.

The concept is simple. To build a driveway with sand, gravel or grass, you will want to construct a flat area with a solid base that can handle the heavy weight of cars and trucks. If you establish a firm sub-surface, these coverings will be long-lasting, easy maintenance and will absorb water so you will be less likely to cause the erosion problem seen with water sheeting off of solid surfaces like concrete.

You can construct a proper support with deep excavation and layers of road base, heavy gravel or another firmly packed drainage material used as a foundation. New building technology now offers a selection of cast polyethylene forms  that allows additional support for containing your sand, gravel or grass without having to create a deep foundation. You can buy these forms and set them into a flexible network that works as a network of light-weight, connected containers for your fill. The network will distribute the weight of heavy vehicles evenly and will eliminate problems with sinking or crushing.

Although there are different designs available, most of these prefabricated forms are thin and are seen on the surface for approximately 10% of the overall area. Once your cover material is applied, they are not easily visible at all. The grid-work keeps gravel and sand from scattering. These prefabricated grid forms are ideal for growing grass or other living ground covers, too. They absorb enough weight to protect the roots of grass yet are low enough to allow for easy mowing.

The pre-cast forms themselves are perforated and light. That makes them easy to install and ideal for drainage, which, unlike cement and asphalt, will not plug up the landscape with dense material. They are even portable enough that you can dig them out and change the design of your driveway in the future. In short, by building a permeable driveway with sand, gravel or grass using the new containment forms, you are minimizing labor and maintenance while offering a much more eco-friendly surface that should reduce erosion problems and avoid water waste. You also will be adding much more flexibility to your designing choices and saving considerably on construction costs. Of course, you can skip using the forms and dig deeper to add your roadbase, broken recycled concrete, or gravel for a foundation. This may prove less expensive but more labor intensive. Either way, you will still have all the benefits of building a driveway with sand, gravel or grass.

Building with permeable materials will look clean and natural and will fit into just about any style landscape design. You can also build sand, gravel and grass pathways, play areas, and patios using the same concepts and materials.

The are many materials you can use in addition to sand, gravel or grass and the ideas for designing are limited only by your imagination. Use permeable paving in a driveway in the form of prefabricated blocks, stone, gravel or even sand, decomposed granite or recycled crushed glass.  You can use all one type of permeable paving or mix materials. You can create designs and patterns or pave it all the same. Consider replacing your lawn with decorative areas of permeable materials for easy maintenance and an artistic effect.

So long as you create a strong, stable foundation for your driveway, the top three to five inches can be covered with the more attractive medium. All materials used in the installation of permeable paving for a driveway allow for air space which will let water to penetrate into the ground below. It’s easy to make the top layer decorative by designing in pictures, designs and patterns. Use prefabricated forms to hold gravel and smaller particulates in place, or contain areas of different colors or textures with block or stone.

There is no limit to the patterns and designs you can use for your driveway. Check out some of the companies offering commercial or residential installations to see if any of their designs appeal to you. Look at ideas used in books, magazines or the internet. Or simply draw out your own driveway designs on paper. Planning ahead will make success more likely.

Remember to keep continuity in your color choices. Select colors that echo your house color theme and any garden decor or structures like fencing or walls. Try to blend your colors and textures with that already exist. If, for example, you have a brick walkway or brick facing on your house, you might want to carry through the idea by using bricks as permeable paving in your driveway as an edging or in the design itself. If you already have a lot of brick in your house, don’t do the whole permeable driveway in brick or the effect will be too overwhelming. But maybe use just a touch of brick to outline the edges.

One last suggestion: keep your designs or patterns simple. A large area like a driveway can offset the look of the house nicely, but you don’t want it to be the focal point of your landscape. Small details are likely to get lost, and designs that are too busy will only look confusing.

Originally posted 2010-05-06 07:39:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Permeable paving design at Lotusland Photo by Jane Gates

In the new movement for sustainable landscaping, permeable paving has become a major part of artistic, practical and efficient garden design. Permeable paving is quite simply the use of materials for paving that allows water to penetrate easily. Gravel, sand, blocks, stone and other materials that are not cemented into a solid surface all qualify as permeable paving. They can be used for patios, walkways, driveways and other flooring areas. Not only are these areas more successful at draining water and more flexible should you want to make changes, but permeable paving is a perfect medium to use for art. Using the wide variety of color, shape, and texture available in permeable paving materials you can create pictures, patterns and designs that are limited only by your imagination.

At the Pacific Horticulture Symposium in Pasadena, permeable paving artist Jeffrey Bale offered a lecture with many pictures of some of the creative designs he has created in landscapes all over the world. Check out ideas on how to use permeable paving as art on sites like Jeffery Bale, Keeyla Meadows, or visit examples used in places like the Lotus Garden in Santa Barbara or the Los Angeles County Arboretum.

Originally posted 2010-10-08 09:54:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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