Scott & Catherine Buley. High Tech Turf/LandscapeMakeover.biz. Our Rain Garden Nursery Vine Maple just planted and ready to leaf out. The design concept here was rather counter intuitive. This long strip close to the road was wet, so we installed a river-run rock walkway with drainage and an embedded tumbled stepping stone paver system. By using multiple materials in long strips, including recycled wood chips along the road, the multiple lengthy layers actually adds more '3-dimensionality' to this design, actually making it feel less close to the road. In addition, the light colored wood chips show road dust less, and contrast nicely with the hemlock. This results in less need to replenish or touch up the barkdust as frequently. 3 shrub form cisten plum in this area are just beginning to leaf out, and will add another "layer" of privacy near & opposite these windows as well.