The final frontier: the driveway borders

Though we created a unified design for our entire garden before any actual work began, we constructed it from the back lot line out to the front. Now we're about to begin the last major construction project — one that Mark can't do on his own with a little help from me.

We're having an informal rock wall built into the sloping side of the driveway with stone steps leading up into the main front garden. This images shows the front end of the slope out toward the street.

This image shows the higher end of the slope which is closest to the house. (This view with the pile of stones is from our path project in 2009.)

Once the wall is finished it will be followed by the construction of a new driveway made of paving bricks. 

But before construction could begin we needed to dig out any plants that I wanted to save from the long border on the opposite side of the driveway. 

Landscaper Matt Wieneke, who's doing the work for us, suggested it would be safest to remove the first two feet of plants the entire length of the driveway which is easily 60 feet long (18.288 meters).

Mark put up a string line so I could clearly see what had to go. I dug out quite a few plants but he helped me with the big swath of Epimedium rubrum which was a solid block of roots. 

The next step was to put all these plants into temporary holding beds — not something most of us gardeners tend to have. Luckily we had already made the decision to redo the moss bed under the apple trees this summer so it seemed like the perfect spot to create holding beds.

Mark had already taken down the dying apple tree. Now he put down rows of newspapers held in place with bricks. Then he piled on commercial topsoil. We began with two planting rows.

Many of the plants, like Allium senescent 'Glauccum', tended to break into lots of pieces when I dug them out. Thus it didn't take long to see that we had enough plants to fill twice that space. So Mark created two more planting rows and I started putting the transplants closer together. 

The beds have Alliums, Epimediums, Hostas, Carex, Heucheras and more. I topped them off with a bag of Locust leaves I raked up last fall. I figured the slightest rain would wash the dirt away otherwise.

We ended up with five rows of plants. We dug out the last few things just before the big equipment got delivered last Friday morning. The first delivery of boulders arrived on the weekend. Can't wait for the work to begin!

Comments

[Lisa at Greenbow]

You are finishing this garden just in the nick of time. You can then purchase the house that is for sale with the big empty canvas. ;) Take lots of photos. I want to see all the goings on. It will be fun.

[Rock Rose]

I love the way you say final frontier. How wonderful to see the end in sight. I have doubts I will ever reach that point but it will be more about the planting than the hardscape. You must have felt a sense of relief to have a place to put your holding plants.

[Linda from Each Little World]

​Lisa — we will be taking lots of photos and doing many postings. Project is supposed to take 3-4 weeks. Once upon a time I would have actually fantasized about buying a neighboring lot to enlarge the garden, but now I know that a half acre is just about all two people can handle with no staff!

Jenny — I think we are really only seeing the "end" of major construction! Still some projects on the list and then we will have to start figuring out how to lower the maintenance of all of it.