Another new path

Towards the end of the season a friend gave us some path stones. As there weren't enough to complete a path I was fortunate to be able to locate a granite company that was willing to let us take scrap granite to supplement the stone we were given. When we had renovated our home some years back we had a granite top installed on our kitchen island. The supplier let us take granite scraps with the proviso that we only use it on the wrong side outdoors. He had had a customer who used it shiny side up, slipped on it and sued him! So at that time we took scrap pieces and used them for paths in the gardens. This path is the one right by the front Butterfly Bush, which leads to our faucets. It has been in for several years and the granite pieces have settled in nicely amid bits of various ground covers. As this had worked out so well I decided to use this method in other areas.



And as my hubby had agreed it is time to downsize out lawn, I started working on the area next to our garage. It was a very easy decision for this to be the first area I worked on as our great Spice bush had always been overgrowing the lawn and it was a constant battle to keep hubby from pruning it back too much year after year. And besides, we never use that area for anything, so why not let the Spicebush have its way. Also, the planting in the area have always been growing into the lawn, so it was a natural choice to just let them all have their way and get rid of the obstacle of the lawn!!


I positioned the stones down through the area after removing the lawn, which I used as part of the sheet layering mulch in my front gardens. As you can see I extended the lawn removal beyond the side of the path to allow room for transplanting ground cover. As it was before the frost I was able to move some creeping Veronica to start getting it established. It is a wonderful groundcover, doing well in both sun and shade and filling in very quickly wherever I have used it around the gardens. It has a beautiful small blue flower in the early spring. This area has a lot of Violets growing in the lawn, so it will be an easy process to remove the lawn whenever I can get around to it next year. There is Myrtle, Spirea and Columbine growing along the border which will now be able to fill in the area over the years.




To the left of the path I removed all the lawn. The garden in that area has Forget-me-not as the ground cover. This also has been seeding into the lawn.




I filled in the area with more creeping Veronica and as I was able to just slice large sections of it from other areas, it took root immediately.




You can see how I used thin lengths of granite to border the other stone.




And when I ran out of that I just used granite for the rest of the length of it. It will lead directly into a new patio area which is also in the works.




Need to get moving along as Paula and I are working on getting Mia's bedroom repainted. Now that she is in high school she needs a room update. I've been working steadily on Christmas preparation, so haven't had as much time for the blog. Paula goes back to work this coming week, so I will be adding day care provider to my labels. My son in law has a promising job offer, so we are waiting on that. It has been two months that they have been struggling. It is good to finally see some end in sight for them. Hope all are well and enjoying this holiday preparation time.