Landscaping…Day 40

Jay and his crew have been dodging rain drops all morning as they work to complete the paver driveway and front sidewalk. The first photo shows how they almost made it to the street before the skies opened up and soaked both the crew and the last 18” of compacted limestone base. Jay says he is going to get this last little bit dried (or dug…if he has to) out and laid in the next hour. You can see the little dam they made to direct the runoff in the street away from the end of the driveway at the lower right.

In the next photo Jimmy is working to re-arrange pavers in the driveway surface as he breaks up a couple of “lines” Jay considers to be too long. This is a process they have to repeat over and over as the driveway is being built. Jay tells me that he does not want to see any discernable pattern in the three sizes of pavers they are using in the random field (6”x 9”…6” x 6” and the 3” x 6” Twinkies). Including…

• Same sized pavers in the same orientation next to one another
• Straight lines more that a few feet in length
• Sections with not enough color variation between the stones

On top of all this…they work to keep the paver surface oriented in the same direction they started with at the front of the garage. They have torn up a few pretty big sections of pavers to correct problems as this work has continued. I’m going to say it one more time…Jay and his crew have done a magnificent job on the driveway!

The next photo shows the front walkway as it continues toward the porch. Jay got the step installed yesterday and is slowly working pavers up to it. He had to move a few of the plants along the inside edge to make room for the sidewalk which has grown to 78” wide (fewer cut pavers).

We chose to “meander” the walkway (almost 12” to the right) as it moves toward the porch from the driveway surface. There will be an informal rock path to the front yard made up of flagstones that meets the paver sidewalk at the top of the (paver) step and “meanders” through the plantings toward the lawn. The (extreme) panoramic photo below shows some hints of this but a better shot will almost certainly appear in these pages later tonight after jay is finished. The 78” paver walkway and the 5’ wide stairs leading to the front porch should combine to create a very “welcoming” front entry to the “L” Shaped House!