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Building a Gravel Drive and Planting Shrubs

Bob discusses the new gravel drive and shrub plantings with landscaper Susan Hoffer.
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Building a Gravel Drive and Planting Shrubs

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" That is the easiest way to spread all your gravel on the driveway, huh?"

" Well, it places it out nice and thin."

" Yeah. I love the color."

" Right. What kind of stuff is it?"

" This is a twin stone and the plant is very close by."

" Uh huh. It's made up to save [unk]."

" It [unk] which allows us to keep the [unk] down."

" Right."

" And we also chose it because of the color. It's a natural brown color which kind of blend in with its surrounding naturally."

" Oh, it's really beautiful up against the house. Let's talk a little bit about the choice of material here. For example, what's this [unk] that you put in?"

" This here Bob is called the flowing almonds, and we placed it here to provide a nice view for somebody driving up the driveway."

" Uh huh."

" It reaches a height of about 10 feet."

" Yeah."

" It's about [unk] wide. It has a nice oval shape."

" Yes."

" And here, there's a tearing in the hole here. You see the diameter of the hole is about twice the width as it droop all here."

" Right."

" And also, the positioning of the height of the blue [unk] and flooring. One's the top of it to the right on [unk] you'll see [unk]."

" Even with the existing red."

" Even with the red."

" Yeah, that's gonna be real pretty. And what about these things over here?"

" Oh, we have 3 wide cascading dahlia here."

" Uh huh."

" We put 3 together here to produce a nice match here."

" And they're going into these holes?"

" Great."

" Now, is it a good idea to always plan 3's and 5's and odd numbers?"

" Right."

" Where we can achieve a nice match of planting."

" Yeah. That's beautiful."

" And the color is gonna match together."

" That's beautiful."

" So in the final touches on the border here, you see we have some [unk] here where we can plant in between the spaces of the perineals."

" Yeah, so you've got perineals and some herbs, and the idea is rather than put any kind of mulch down there, just fill in the space for some of the----"

" Fill in the space and----"

" Edible goodies."

" Right."

" Partially down there, yeah. Good. Let's take a look at the [unk] that's being installed."

" So Bob, what we wanna do here is 1st thing is hide this ugly meter with a nice plant in front of it."

" Like maybe an Andromeda or something like that?-An Andromeda with the upright habit."

" Yeah."

" Now what we wanna do here is plant something low and not too wide. There's not much space here. There is a tendency to always plant small shrubs without knowing that they do get big, and eventually, will have to be removed and I'll end up spending more money."

" Yeah. Hey, this is really instant gratification though, isn't it?"

" Yes. The beauty of a shaded lawn. It maybe more expensive, but it does give you that instant landscape."

" Uh huh."

" And you see here, the way the men are laying the panels in a staggered fashion. It's real important to have these themes staggered until you want it. The important thing is to have the joints [unk] very tight together."

" Why is that?"

" Because this grow together, and eventually, you'll have 1 mass."

" Okay. Basically, so that you can get those roots to intermesh out."

" Right. And it's important to keep a newly sod lawn watered."

" Sure."

" Because it dries out very quickly."

" Now I also heard that it is a mistake to leave the rolled up sod on the edge overnight. You got to put it all down or also put it up, right?"

" Right. Because it produces a lot of heat."

" Yeah."

" And even if just overnight, you still get burn on the lawn. "

" And you lose it."

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