Beginner Gardening: Ideas for walkway / landscape around a deck , 1 by NancyGroutsis

NancyGroutsis wrote:
Fatima, excellent idea to create one path with oxford steppers! I was thinking along the lines of many paths with smaller stones so it's easier to navigate around the plants when it's raining. However, the larger stones are better at stopping weeds. I created two stone paths in my south garden which has prevented a lot of the weeds from growing back.

I'm glad there's a faucet available. The above ground drip irrigation conserves water and you only need to turn on the faucet and turn it off unless you have a timer for that, but in the northeast where we live the weather is unpredictable so a timer would have to be reset all the time which is why my system doesn't have one. Below-ground irrigation always gets clogged and sprinklers waste water and make it difficult to garden when they're on, and soaker hoses kink and often have uneven water at the end, so that's why I figured since you're starting new you might as well get the best now especially since they're so inexpensive. The DIG irrigation and Rain Bird are good brands, and one set is less expensive than a quality hose.

Since the area in front of your home will be a garden, I suggest designing an evergreen garden first that will look good in the winter and then fill the extra spaces with flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants. Consider whether you want privacy or a showcase garden for the neighbors to admire. If the area near the fence is mostly shade I recommend Quick Fire hydrangea which grows to 8 ft. x 8 ft. because it does well in your zone, provides light-colored flowers (white, pink) that stand out in the shade, it doesn't have to be staked because it's the paniculata type, and it blooms at least four months:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/133907/#b

I've attached a photo of the one I got last year. The photo was taken yesterday and the flowers are turning pink for autumn. I didn't protect it during last year's polar vortex and it survived in good condition. The All Summer Beauty hydrangea next to it is a big-leaf (macrophylla) type which doesn't tolerate spring freezes well, and all the buds died so it had to grow from the ground up but it is 3 ft. high though it hasn't flowered (2nd year plant grown from 8" size).

Nancy G.