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Cottage

PAVE IT BLACK

June 12, 2014

We didn’t plan it this way, but this year has become the year of the back yard. Between the renovation of the gardens there and fixing up the garage, I think we’re finally taking care of some of the things that have needed attention since we bought the house 12 years ago.

 
 
This is the before, farther down the driveway.
 

far the biggest change to the yard that we made was having the driveway paved. We’ve put this off for years for a few reasons. Not only is it an expensive project, I’ve also had some trepidation about the look of an asphalt driveway. I would have done concrete in a heartbeat, but we didn’t even bother getting quotes for that because we knew it would be well out of our range. 

 
As an aside, this is a good reminder to get lots of quotes. The first quote we got to asphalt the driveway was more than twice the amount of the quote we ended up going with. I think the first company just didn’t want the job so they purposely inflated the quote. 
 
A bigger concern for me was the look. I don’t particularly love the look of a fresh black driveway. I think gravel is charming and more in keeping with our house and the area (our road, which is a private road owned and maintained by all the homeowners, is also gravel). And if I lived in an area where there wasn’t much snow or ice, I think it would probably be perfect. But our driveway is big enough that it has to be plowed, and plowing a gravel driveway creates a huge mess. Every spring we’d have to scrap gravel out of the grass and the flower beds and the driveway sort of creeped into the lawn. 
 
To make matters worse, it was a huge ice rink that rarely thawed until late April. All in all, it was a pain. So, although I think I like the look of gravel more, the downsides were just too great. And I’ll be honest here, Mr. Much More Patient really wanted it paved (far more than I did) and sometimes he has to get what he wants too.
This was taken at the end of the driveway last year when we had a couple of large spruces cut down by the electric company.

 

 

Anyway, the process of having the driveway paved was really simple. They came on a Saturday and graded our existing gravel, parked all their machinery there on Monday and were there at 8 a.m. Tuesday to pour the asphalt. They were finished by 2 p.m.

 
We will fill in around the driveway to level the lawn out with it, which will be a very nice improvement, and although I feel like it’s a little black right now, I’m sure in a month I’ll be saying I wish we had done it sooner.

We’ll fill in the lawn up to the level of the asphalt so areas like this should look better in a couple months.

Even though we didn’t really mean to concentrate on fixing up the yard this year, I might as well share the to-do list that has developed:

  1. Re-roof the garage.
  2. Paint the garage.
  3. Install a pergola over the garage doors.
  4. Have the driveway paved.
  5. Regrade the lawn around the driveway to even it out.
  6. Paint the garage doors (temporary solution until we can replace them in the future).
  7. Redo side/back garden beds (partially finished).

     

back yard driveway
by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
3 Comments

About Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

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Comments

  1. Ms. Wis./Each Little World says: June 13, 2014 at 1:31 am

    The to-do list outdoors always is endless. We have concrete and need to replace it but not until we landscape the slope that abuts it. I love the look of gravel, brick etc. – all the things that won't work in our climate. Nice to see the views from both ends of the drive to get a sense of your lot. Really lovely looking location.

    Reply
  2. Libby says: June 13, 2014 at 1:53 am

    I totally agree with you about asphalt. Gravel is the best looking choice, for sure, but it just isn't practical. Your very black top will….eventually…gray out! It does look nice, really! And once you fill in around the edges, all will be fine!

    Reply
  3. Heather - New House New Home says: June 13, 2014 at 11:34 am

    Although I like the rustic look of a country gravel drive, I think your paved driveway makes your yard look "finished".
    Your list is daunting, but you're made some headway for sure.

    Reply

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The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

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Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener
I fell in love with gardening through container de I fell in love with gardening through container design and it’s probably still my favorite type of gardening. My trip to Philadelphia area gardens was full of so many excellent ideas. For several years I’ve been enamored with clustered pots, but in my opinion they work best when they are able to stand alone in a space. And you probably know me well enough by now to know that as far as I’m concerned, the bigger the pot, the better. Feast your eyes on these beauties and use your zooming fingers to really get into those nooks and crannies. 

Don’t forget to save your favorites because you know you’re going to be looking for them come next spring. 😀

Photos 1 & 2: Amazing container cluster at @longwoodgardens  that works particularly well because of the restraint used in the design. Also how many different ways is the universe going to tell me I need to grow agave before I actually listen?

Photo 3: This was probably favorite display I saw the whole time and of course it’s from the masters at @chanticleergarden This is a master class in texture. It’s also probably not attainable for the average home gardener because it relies heavily on tropicals that need proper overwintering in order to reach a good size. But there’s no reason why I (or you) couldn’t use this as inspiration to create a similar feel with other plants. 

Photo 4: Strappy foliage, bright orange and colorful pots create such a good doorway collection at @chanticleergarden 

Photo 5, 6 & 7: Similar colors were used at a patio doorway at Steve and Ann Hutton’s Owl Creek Farm home garden. A pot is perfectly framed by an arbor off a side patio. The front entrance has a pink theme (and an amazing feature pot that I couldn’t show here because all my shots are vertical). 

Photo 8: Back to @chanticleergarden where I could have studied this container planting for an hour just to soak up all the detail. 

Photo 9: And while I love a pot with a lot going on, never underestimate the power of a simply planted, gorgeous pot, like this one at @abunting64 garden Belvidere. 

#gbfling2023
I think every garden probably needs a little bit o I think every garden probably needs a little bit of water, even if it’s just a bird bath. All of the fabulous gardens I saw recently in the Philadelphia area incorporated water into them. Here are just a few examples of how lovely these water features were. 

@paxsonhillfarm @northviewgarden @brandywinecottage @longwoodgardens #gbfling2023
Gardens must have places to relax and enjoy the vi Gardens must have places to relax and enjoy the view even though we all know that most of us rarely take the opportunity to use them. The seating I saw in gardens in the Philadelphia area reflected their gardens and all were special. 

Make sure to share your favorite!

Photo 1:  I adored these perfectly lichen-covered chairs at @brandywinecottage

Photo 2: Great lichen game on this bench at Wayne Guymon’s mind-blowing garden WynEden. 

Photo 3: Perhaps my favorite seating moment of the whole trip was this chair in @jennyrosecarey @northviewgarden . Not only was it perfectly lichen covered (are you sensing a theme here?) but a volunteer cleome was growing right up through the middle of it. Unfortunately this photo of it isn’t grata because by this point in the trip my phone (I didn’t want to use my DSLR in the middle of the tropical storm so I switched to my phone) was getting very grumpy about the rain. 

Photo 4: I’d be happy to hang out on these chairs in @abunting64 ‘s gorgeous garden Belvidere. I loved this space. 

Photo 5: Color was the name of the game on this patio at Steve and Ann Hutton’s Owl Creek Farm. 

Photo 6: The most original table and benches I saw were at @abunting64 garden. This was a portion of the garden that was actually on the neighbors’ property adjacent to Andrew’s. It had been a vegetable garden but is getting a bit too shady so it will soon have a new life. 

Photo 7: We visited Barbara Tiffany’s Mill Fleurs in a deluge, which is a shame, and dotted throughout the property are examples of her husband Tiff’s amazing furniture. This was, called the Centipede was upholstered and quite different from the others. All were amazing works of art. 

Photos 8 and 9: The @scott_arboretum at @swarthmorecollege had some excellent seating, from brand new @deebenarc chairs to more lichen-covered charmers.

#gbfling2023
*** I can already see that some people do not unde *** I can already see that some people do not understand humor so let me just say this: 1. I was fully aware of the escaped convict situation (I’m an avid follower of the news, which is common for us journalists). 2. It’s ok to laugh about the fact that I’ve missed the Longwood meadow twice through weird circumstances while being a rational adult and realizing that I’m not making light of the situation that led to the meadow being mown. ***

I missed seeing @longwoodgardens beautiful meadow the first time I visited so I was excited to see it the second time. Not so fast! Turns out it had to be mown down during the search for an escaped convict who was hiding out there (at least that’s what I was told was the reason for the mowing). He’ll never see goldenrod the same way again! 😀

That whole situation was really unfortunate for @longwoodgardens (not to mention everyone who lives in the area), which had to be closed for about a week while the hunt was on!
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