My current project is to landscape the area inside the driveway. I call it the Circle Drive. I have taken some "before" pictures from several angles of the circle which I have attached. I also took a few pictures of the progress I made today. The concept is to make large beds using green metal landscaping strips which will create paths between the beds. I am using 3/4 inch limestone gravel in the paths which is what the driveway is made of. The limestone in the new paths looks a little brighter than the driveway because it is still fresh and clean. Unfortunately, nothing stays fresh and clean looking over time! Once the leaves fall from the trees I will shred them and use the shredded leaves in most of the beds. The ground in this area is a thick mat of roots that is basically impenetrable. You have to want to plant in this kind of area really, really, really badly if you want to create a garden. I did that once in the Shade Garden, and I'm not inclined to try it again. I will prepare a few of the beds for planting, but the rest of the beds will be filled with shredded leaves and/or mulch, and that will be that.
So, the brightness of the gravel will eventually fade a bit and look like the surrounding driveway surface. I have to say, this will be an enormous improvement from what this area used to look like. I would say I am 20% complete. I estimate this to be 5 more days of work. It would be four more days of work, but I will be slowed down by having to dig up bulbs and move them to other spots because some of my Hurricane Lilies and Philippine Lilies are right where several of the paths will be situated.
I have made three beds with 12 landscaping edges ($10 apiece). And I have used a little less than one and a half yards of limestone gravel ($61). That is $180 dollars. Based on the estimate that I am at 20% completion (not including the cost of soil and mulch), the cost of landscaping this area will be $900. And I'm doing all the labor myself! Whew! Everything is so expensive.
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