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Landscaping And The Driveway Challenge

With the change from the horse and buggy era to the age of the automobile, and the improvement of the automobile to the point where it is no longer considered a fire hazard, the trend has been away from the garage placed in the farthest corner of the property to modern attached garage or carport. Such trend has left its mark on the landscape scene.

Similarly, we have seen what amounts to the disappearance of the front walk that leads directly from the street up through the center of the public area to the front door. Under certain conditions this type of front walk is still the best, but the most common means of getting from the car to the front door is the walk that leads from the driveway to the door paralleling the front of the house.

Driveway Width

Permanent driveway surfaces are expensive, so the usual practice is to keep them of minimum width, that is, 8 or 10 feet wide. A circular drive on a larger property where cars may have to pass one another, would have to be wider - up to 14 or even 18 feet - but we are considering now the short driveway leading directly to the garage.

Under such circumstances a person getting out of a car may be forced to step into a snow bank or wet grass. To avoid this, an additional section of walk can be laid parallel to the driveway where it meets the walk. It should be at least 6 feet long so that the car need not stop at precisely the exact spot each time in order to allow occupants to exit on the extra piece of walk. Occasionally one might want to get something out of the trunk of a car.

If the lawn adjacent to the driveway is appreciably higher, you will have to plan on widening the drive at that point and making a step up so that the car doors can be opened without being jammed against the sidewalk or lawn ( Fig. 157). from it to allow for the proper placing of plants like red cordyline plant so that they will not encroach on the sidewalk.

Walks Near House

It has been said earlier, but will bear repeating, that walks which parallel the edge of a building should be kept at least 6 feet away from it to allow the proper placing of plants so that they will not encroach on the sidewalk.

Article Source: GardenGap.com

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