Landscaping/bordering

We have an area about 28' in diameter around an oak tree under which we plan a flower bed. This area is surrounded by a circular driveway. It is elevated an average of 12-16 inches. We are not interested in RR ties or landscape timbers. We would like to make this real attractive since it is in the driveway and very visible. Looked at the local Lowes and found that the "stones" they offered were going to run into quite a lot of money for all the material we need.
Just wondering if anyone has any good ideas on what to use as a border.
Thanks

Your profile doesn't say where your from so I'm going to shoot in the dark here..

Why not use rocks from your area ? Here in Tenn, we have a lot of flat rock from 2" thick to 6" thick. I'm sure you must have some road work being done near by or construction where rock is being dug up..?

Next would be using block and stucco the face and top. This wouldn't have to be perfect and would retain the dirt just fine.

Thats a real good proposal. I'd add a little dirt between the flat rocks so low flowering trailing plants could be be inserted in the cracks. This is sort of an iffy idea depending on maitenance time available.

Egon

We're planning on doing something similar in front of our house with a fountain in the middle. I think the key phrase you used was <font color="blue"> We would like to make this real attractive since it is in the driveway and very visible. </font color> If that truly is your goal you may have to bite the bullet on the more expensive materials. Add your own labor to keep the costs down. We want something very formal and very elegent. Will likely use clay brick to match the chimney on the house. Expensive, but we don't want to be dissappointed.

Another option is to do something for the interim and plan on a makeover later. Trouble with those plans for me is something else always seems to take priority over that makeover [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Or make your own? homemade rock Now, how many could you get from one bag? [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img] I really do like HGTV, a lot of good ideas. This would take quite a bit of time for a 28' diameter though.

Hootie,

The house I live in had a pretty run down yard when I bought
it. There where some "planting" areas under the trees that
consisted of a little bit of soil and pine straw. What I ended
up doing was going to the quarry and hand picking rip rap.
Rip Rap is the gray stone you will see along roads/highways
to control erosion. I brought in quite a few tons of the stuff
and used it for borders and even built up raised beds up to
18 inches high. Its alot of WORK. But the rock is only 10-15
dollars a ton. I got a 15-16 ton load delivered at my property
and I used about half of it to border my driveway over the
culvert.

For just a simple one layer border get the largest Rip Rap you
can load. It comes in Class A and B but for the life of me I
can't remember which is larger. The larger rock is HEAVY but
it seems to come in more rectangular pieces. For walls I
found a mixture of the two sizes seemed to work. Put the
large size down first and then interleave and stack with the
smaller.

On our 18 inch tall bed I put in a PT boarder at a lower level.
We put bulb plants and ivy in the lower level. The ivy has
grown so that it has covered up much of the rock and it
looks pretty danged good at this point.

If you get the rip rap buy a couple of pairs of gloves. Duct
tape the fingers. The rip rap will tear up a pair of gloves
QUICK. Don't even think of NOT using gloves. Also be
careful of you fingers and feet getting pinched by the rocks.
And watch your back. The bigger stone can easily weigh over
100 pounds.

A tractor can help! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Later,
Dan

I also like HGTV, I haven't seen that idea before...if you just wanted a couple that would be a good project...

hootie,

this may be to late but I haven't logged into CBN for awhile. In my area we have guys that do curbing around flower beds and such. These are relatively "inexpensive" (they just drive their little machine around and fill it with concrete as they go. It looks really nice and makes a great edge. Out here it runs about 4.50 a foot. Not bad really considering you wouldn't have to do anything physically. Works great.