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CLOSED because my DH and I decided to add slate to the top to effect a more modern look to go with the house's design.
I will post pics of the "afters."
My patio is about 20 feet below the house above me. It is paved with local stones taken from the site that have turned dark due to the run-off water from the lot above. I'm thinking I might take out some / most of the stones (leaving a path) and create a "rock garden" of sorts.
Has anyone done this?
Anyone have pictures?
Weeds grow in the cracks like crazy...so why not give something a bit more room and plant it??
I'll post pictures to show the orientation and stones in a minute.
Beautiful stonework !
Too bad you do not like them. Up here they are known as builders stone as they are quarried from the earth and is the reason they have that natural earthy coloring.
The lighter landscape stone sells for much more because they are quarried from above ground formations ( cliffs) where nature has worn them to a lighter color.
Why do you think the house is darkening them? Looks like normal stone-age patina to me ...
Connie, I very much like your stone patio. It is an older and more dated look though. I was wondering if you just wanted a new and fresh look. Tearing it up would be a lot of work and expense. It looks like concrete between the stones I was wondering if you stained the concrete between the stones that would give them a new look. It could be the old yellowed concrete that you don't like, more than the stones themselves. Also in the pics you show there aren't any plants in pots sitting around. Groups of potted plants sitting around the patio would also change the look especially in front of the walls. Although you may have them already just not in these shots Have you done anything more with the patio recently?
The stones are almost always moldy, as drainage water from the house above soaks in when it rains, although there is a fancy drain system by the house to keep the water away. The weeds are growing in the cracks, which as so small that I have to allow them to grow quite large so that when I pull them, they don't just break off! (I try not to use any chemicals in my yard.)
So, to answer your question about what we've done...the front of the house is now having a spa and reflection pool installed. The entire area will be covered with slate. Since slate color is so "iffy" we are going to take the culls and install them in the back patio, OVER these stones, says my landscaping guy's sub who came and looked at the patio.
About pots: In a "previous life" (read: townhouses with very small patios/yards) I HAD to garden in pots to get my fill of it. Now that I have a large yard to plant, I try to stay away from pots that will dry out when DH and I travel, as they are not on the watering sys. I do have a few, but not in that area, and don't want to clutter up the area also.
The problem is with the condition/color of the stones, and when I see something as "not right" my "decorator bone" will not allow something else to distract me. I know...it's like a disease. You have to "have it" to know what I'm talking about. My ex-husband and father were both homebuilders, so I have it in the "blood"!! :-)
I think another reason I don't like them is that they are gray, and the entire house is built/ decorated around warm browns/taupes/rust colors. If you enlarge the photo of the rock, you can see that.
Smokey, we have (in the past) bought a sledge hammer (is that the word?) and a pick ax and considered taking out the mortar and planting things between, which I would love. Any suggestions as to the type of greenery that would be durable, considering we walk in the area daily (mainly me gardening).
Connie, Yes pots are labor intensive, I have both pots and window boxes and quite a few house plants, too. So watering is pretty time consuming. As to weeding the stones, you can try pouring boiling water over the weeds that will kill them without the use of chemicals and you won't have to wait for them to get so large. Also you can get them with a weed eater while they are pretty small and eventually they will not return if you can keep after them. There isn't enough green to feed the roots and the plant will die. I have Brick walks and patios so weed control is also an issue for me too. Trying to keep the weeds out without damaging the moss is my goal.
There are many plants that will grow between your rocks I'm just not sure what is good for your Zone. Mosses and creeping thyme are a couple I can think of, The thyme gives great sent when walked on, but there are a lot to chose from. I like the slate idea. Of course, I like the look of Slate and by putting it on top of the stone you will save labor. I wonder if you added slate on top of the stone and left a strip of space between the wall and the slate that you filled in with little pebbles if that would be enough to catch more of the rail water and direct it around the edge of the patio. I'd love to see more pics later.
Connie_W, You might consider spacing the stones apart more to grow a hardy grass or moss in between to add to the serenity of the garden. Natural stone is truly wonderful. I could never refer to any natural stone as ugly. I'd prefer not having cement between the stones because of the weed problems and the cracks. Regular maintenance might allow you to have sand in between but a weed killer would need to be sprayed a few times annually to prevent them from sprouting.
Photographer: Well, that's a great idea BUT my DH has already ordered slate to place over the stones. The stones would look great if our house were an old European style, Spanish style, Italian, etc. but it's modern!
The stones are natural ones collected from the site and have really turned dark from years (30+) of exposure to water, etc.
I guess I'll post this as closed, but WILL post pics of it after the work is done.
Connie_W, It looks as though you have a good solution by integrating the patio into the home's similar modern style. I think I'd be inclined to have the drainage system modified to prevent any other water related problems. Slate is absolutely beautiful of course and you're fortunate to be able to cover the original work with stone once again. Given the circumstances ... you were faced with an expense either way. This choice gives you a fresh matching look with the home and probably a big contrast to the walls of the garden. It ought to be pretty darn fantastic when completed.
Thanks for the encouragement! I'll post pics when it's finished.
We have already had a pretty fancy drainage put in...a drain with grating that runs all along the house's wall. My DH planned it...I think it looks kinda weird, but now that I'm used to it, I don't really see it!
an Update: We ordered enough slate to cover this area but the "slate guys" used up all the slate on the other areas of the house...they had exactly 2 pieces left! Now, I'm inclined to think some of it just "walked off" but the contractor SWEARS the workers would not do that. Hmmm...
Anyhow, NOW I'm going to pull up most of the stones and plant Zoyzia in the other spaces. I guess. Maybe. :-)
If you really want to check up on them (I probably would!), do you have a list of how many slate tiles exactly you ordered? If so you can always go count them...if you're short a few there are always some that break, etc but if you're missing a bunch then you should be able to show that to the contractor and tell him he owes you however many more slate tiles.
Yes, we know how many SF we ordered. However, because the order was huge (around 3,000SF) they claim there was a lot of breakage. Around 200SF. I don't know if less than 10% breakage/ bad pieces is normal...perhaps someone here will.
Slate does break easy, and they do always tell you to order 10% extra on anything so that you make sure you have enough. Personally, I think it's entirely possible that a few boxes grew legs and walked off (200 square feet or a bit less even is enough to make a patio!), but given that they were under 10% that was broken/missing/whatever I think you'd have a tough time proving anything.
