DryStoneGarden

Patio with Laundry

My bloom day photo of what Daffodil Planter called ‘the vine with multi-colored blooms’ reminds me that I took a photo of it in full bloom back in May. We hang-dry our laundry for a variety of practical reasons — it doesn’t use fossil fuels (clothes driers account for 5.8% of residential energy use), line-dried clothing lasts longer, it makes sense in our climate, and, well, we don’t own a dryer — but also I sometimes like the look of it. I remember when I was in Italy I thought the laundry lines between the apartment buildings were very charming, and now looking at two shots of our patio this past spring, I prefer the one with the laundry.

Patio lacking Laundry

I know at least some garden bloggers use a line. Daffodil Planter said she has one. Townmouse has a variety of drying contraptions. It’s getting more fashionable, and there’s, of course, even a blog devoted to the topic.

Arizona peach flagstone patio

Building patios is hard on the body. Too much bending, awkward lifting, and the wide spread of the stone amplifies the weight of the stone; building walls is much easier on your back. I feel like I could build walls until I’m sixty, but there must be a limited number of patios in my back. So a couple of months back I made a decision to build only 40 more flagstone patios in my life. That number is exactly as subjective as it sounds. (more…)

Sunset should have a description for Arizona flagstone: drought-tolerant, best in full sun, tolerates some shade, longer lived in well-draining soils, short-lived in zones that get hard frosts.

It’s from the Southwest, so it likes Southwestern conditions, same as the plants. The stones were all freebies leftover from a project where I was working for another designer who had ordered too much stone. To give the stone proper drainage, it’s best to lay the stone in decomposed granite and gravel, but at our house, a rental, we wanted to keep things cheap, so we laid our flagstone in dirt, and it has done okay for us. It settled more unevenly than it would in DG, several of the thinner flagstones cracked, and the stone didn’t hold its color, but the graying, mossy flagstone patio fits into the rustic aesthetic of our yard so we’re happy enough. Arizona flagstone tolerates shade and clay soil, it just doesn’t thrive in it.

We planted a few different groundcovers in the joints of our patio. The baby’s tears is looking the best these days, during the winter rains. It used to dry out during the summer, but this year we had some pots near it, so it got the water that drained out the bottom of the pots and managed to stay green all year. It’s probably our favorite groundcover for damp, mossy areas.

— Addendum —

Arizona Flagstone Patio

Here’s a photo of the patio in May. The baby’s tears is in the back behind the heuchera flowers.