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Three Ways to Bring Plants onto Your Driveway
When I moved to my new house I was overjoyed, not only in having a bigger garden but of having a driveway. London was a nightmare for parking; I’m a relatively new driver so having to parallel park into the tightest of gaps on my street every day was a nightmare. Suddenly, with a drive to call my own, life seemed a lot brighter. However – what to do with it?
A bland, paved driveway is an eyesore – get some planting in there somewhere.
A lot of front gardens/driveways seem to be forgotten spaces. Perhaps people don’t want to garden out the front where *shock, horror* they might have to talk to passersby. Or maybe it’s simply just become a spot to park your car. But, you can do BOTH and it doesn’t have to be an eyesore.
The first thing I set about was actually creating a drive; knocking down the old brick wall so I could drive the car off the road and onto my property. The bricks were recycled in the back garden as pavers for the path. I then had three main options;
- Fully Paved – Having a fully paved garden is a popular choice for many people as it creates one large driveway for multiple uses. However, it’s fairly expensive to have done (unless you have a little DIY knowledge and don’t mind hours on your knees faffing around with sand, bricks and a spirit level). If you do want to avoid the hard labour yourself, it’s best to get in a landscape specialist like Thompson Garden Services. Remember there will also be some maintenance; paved drives look good for all of six months, after which time plants, weeds and moss start to grow up between the cracks. These are a nightmare to get rid of, even if you’re using weedkiller, so make sure you deal with any greenery as soon as it appears instead of leaving it until the roots have got a good, strong hold. Though you can use a sealant, I’d avoid it because it causes water run-off and can leave a dangerously slippery sheen.
Planting – If you decide to go for a paved drive, design some flower beds into the structure, and not necessarily thin strips running up the edges. A large organic shap in front of the front window, or several formal blocks can create great planting areas. Don’t be tempted to pave the entire thing and put out pots; it’s a false economy. You’ll spend half your life watering, or pulling dead things out from manky, neglected containers.
- Gravelled – A gravelled front garden and driveway can be a great cost saver as the materials are cheap and it’s relatively easy to install yourself. Gravel and other small aggregates cover a multitude of sins; you don’t even need to level the area properly before pouring in the gravel and raking it flat. However, you must make sure you put somethign to suprress the weeds below the gravel. This can be a proper weed suppresent membrane, carpet or plastic <- if you’re using the latter, punch some holes into it to allow drainage. You will need to create some form of barrier between the pavement and your driveway; otherwise in six months time half your stones will have migrated down the road. You’ll also need to regularly rake everything over and pull out a few weeds…nature always finds a way.
Planting – The nice thing about gravel is that you can plant directly through it by slashing a small slot in the suppressant membrane. You could opt for a minimal style with a collection of rocks and small shrubs that are reminiscent of a Japanese garden. Alternatively, plant clumps of complimentary plants for year-round colour; grasses, lavender and osteospermums.
- Planted – To maximise your driveway’s planting you could simply opt to turn the entire thing into a garden with a couple of strips of hard-standing to drive the car onto. You can even plant between the gaps with creeping thyme and camomile for those times you don’t quite turn onto the pavers correctly. Bear in mind, though, these can’t take too much regular traffic so try and stay off them as much as you can. You can utilise stepping stones to create an obvious walkway to your door. However, make sure you make the walking areas of your driveway extremely obvious; otherwise you might find yourself getting infuriated as the postman crushes your beautiful new clover plants without a seconds thought. Also remember that if you’re an unsocial gardener like I am, this is not a wise choice because you’ll be gardening out the front a lot!
Planting – If you going to turn your entire front garden into one large border, there is still the need for structure. Use architectural plants like verbena bonariensis to create height, screening and interest in front of your windows. Bear in mind that areas with lower growing plants are more likely to be used as walkways, so keep fragile specimens out of harms way.
So what did I choose? I went with a gravelled garden as I could do it myself, keep it cheap, cut back on the maintenance and choose exactly where I wanted plants to go. My theme is wildlife formality; I have four cyprus trees on either side of the drive to frame it and add some privacy, but wildlife friendly plants like lavender, japanese anemones and verbena to add colour and interest. I’ve also planted a wisteria to train up the house and, hopefully, hide away some of its terraced 1930’s blandness.
So, if there’s one thing when planning your new driveway, try and incorporate planting. Lots of evergreen foliage, and plants like grasses and phlax are extremely low maintenance, so even if you’re not a gardener, it’s easy to green up your home and add some curb appeal. And, if in doubt, get the professionals in!
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