Software
Houzz Logo Print
nico6196

What would you do?

18 years ago

We had our driveway done and now it's a good 6" above the lawn in some places. We want to do something to prevent people from twisting their ankle by falling off the high points. Our original thought are to level the lawn but it would take alot of soil and sod to do it nicely. Another thought is to put a garden along the driveway and join it with the garden by the front porch, which we are planning on making changes to this summer/fall. It would need to contain very hardy items as it will be covered by alot of snow in the winter. Any thoughts on these two ideas? Any other great ideas? Pictures would be helpful. I have photos of the front lawn but don't know how to attach photos here.

Comments (5)

  • 18 years ago

    I did a little reading up on having a driveway done, and something I found said that you could have problems with the edges of your driveway where it is too high.

    "Sometimes a newly built driveway will be one or more inches higher than the adjacent lawn. As
    you drive back and forth you put pressure horizontally as well as vertically on the pavement.
    Because this higher driveway edge is unsupported, it eventually will crack, causing your driveway
    to prematurely deteriorate. You can eliminate this problem by filling dirt in along the unsupported
    areas. Place the dirt and then tamp it down. This will support the driveway's edge, offering
    resistance to horizontal pressures of your car." (taken from http://www.chemsealberks.com/hintsdriveways.pdf)

    I was thinking you could put edging along the driveway to prevent people from taking a wrong step(you would need to with a garden anyways to keep the soil from washing into the driveway.) This could also add to support for the edges of the driveway. With a garden, you could do raised beds, I bet that would look really nice, just keep in mind drainage as well, since water may puddle near the edges depending on the slope of your lawn.

    There are plenty of plants that do well under a blanket of snow, as you know we got just dumped on this winter...and most of my plants amazingly have come back. This includes my lamium, bergenias, turtleheads, daisies(the daisies are perfect for full sun and at least for me, very hardy..from the number of shoots coming up, its going to be triple as big this year). My Tamora rose got no winter protection, was improperly planted(bud union above soil line...I'm a rose newbie) was under about 3 feet of snow for at least two months straight if not longer, was transplanted to the front bed a week and a half ago, and is already sprouting leaves all over. I am still watching her to make sure there isn't damage I'm not seeing yet, but so far she looks to be healthy as a horse. So there are even roses that could stand up to it, though I would reccomend winter protection as I'll be doing this year as I know better!

    To attach photos, just upload your picture to a web-based photo site such as www.photobucket.com, and past the HTML code into your message.

  • 18 years ago

    like artsy, I would put up a raised bed beside the driveway because I'm more concerned of people breaking ankles. You don't have to raise the entire lawn, simply put up a large bed beside the driveway, possibly even slightly higher than the drively. It has to be wide too (so you have flexibilty in plant choices). The reason is well, you have to find suitable plants that can withstand a lot of harsh treatment, like salts during winter or the occasional foot mishaps, drought conditions, etc. There are many type that you can utilize. A straight bed (formal), or a nice flowing border. You could do a alpine rock bed.

  • 18 years ago

    Here are the photos...

    {{gwi:527937}}

    {{gwi:527939}}

    A think a garden along side the driveway is probably the best and easiest way to prevent people from falling off and supporting the driveway. I would rather they trample the garden than twist an ankle getting out of their car. Now to get the time to do it!! Still welcoming any other ideas as well as plant choices.

  • 18 years ago

    What a cutie! That's your daughter?

    You don't have such a difficult problem. Definitely mound some earth on the highest portion of the drive and let the bed curve to a larger bed at the bottom of the driveway. I would guess based on the trailer that you go camping out and therefore are away from home a lot? If so, you need low maintenance plants, including some evergreens. The highpoint of the driveway seems to fall in the shadows. Is this a shady or part shade location? If so, evergreens like boxwood, yews, pines, spruce(not the giant colorado blue spruce), cedars, euonymous flowering shrubs like azaleas and rhododendrons, hydrangeas, flowers like: columbines, daylilies, cotoneasters, some ornamental grasss, trollius, astilbe, hostas, etc...

    Some plants can be considered toxic and so please teach your daughter not to ingest any plant.

    Mulch well, and use different sized rocks and pebbles to provide interesting edging.

  • 18 years ago

    Yes, that is daughter. I should have mentionned this picture was taken last night at around 7PM. The house faces west, so the driveway/front garden is in sun pretty much the whole day.

    Thanks for all the feedback!