Front Gardens

We set large stones from Jeff's old place along the edge of the driveway and lined the front edge of the garage side garden as well. A weeping white pine was set at the front of the garage garden with lily of the valley, hosta and solomon's seal planted around it's base. Ferns, lilies, lime coral bells and another hosta behind impatiens filled the rest of the garden. The left side garden was kept level with the walkway and bermed up in the middle.

Spring

The back patio and front walkway survived the winter with no heaving...so we did it right! The tulips we had planted late in the fall came up bright and colorful. We trimmed up the filter cloth used to hold in screenings and soil and set about preparing the yard for the next step!

Front Porch

The front walkway would be a two level affair as well but only by a couple of inches. 6" thick slabs were used to piece together a large step in front of the porch and garage side door. A second smaller stone was placed directly in front of the porch to create a proper step.
6" thick stone has the same ability to crack under pressure as 3 or 4" stone, however, to get it to crack where you want requires preparation. We couldn't piece these slabs together so easily, so it would need some trimming. Terry cut a groove in the stone with a saw then tapped in wide chisels to create even pressure along the seam and break the edge off.
Jeff finished off the front walkway leaving space on either side for future gardens.