LandscapeAdvisor

Stone steps come in all styles.  Essentially their role is to get you from one level to another.

In good landscape design, how stone steps look is as important as how they function.  Frankly, that should be the case of every element in a well-designed landscape.

When we speak of the function for steps, it’s important to realize if these steps are the only option to get from one level to another.  Or, are there alternative ways in the design.

And if there are alternative ways, what role of importance will these particular steps provide? [...]

Conduit could be any device or material that allows something else to pass through it.  In landscape contracting we’re most commonly using conduits made of PVC, but poly pipe (polyethylene) can work well too.

PVC Conduit

The rigid, Sch. 40 PVC pipe shown in this picture is most often used for electrical wire -  like  THHN conductor wire that cannot be buried directly in the ground.  However, there’s no reason you can’t run other types of wire (and things) through this conduit too.

Rigid PVC conduit like this comes in various diameters along with numerous types of “fittings” and connectors to accommodate most any situation.  With a combination of these fittings and special PVC glue you can create a sealed environment to protect the wires and splices inside.

Earlier I mentioned the use of poly pipe as a conduit.  I’m referring to the black poly pipe used in underground sprinkler work. [...]

Cherry Laurel is one of those functional plants that does what it’s supposed to and looks good while it’s doing it.

How often we look at a situation and think, “I just need a mounded-form plant that’s nice and full; that I can rely on.”  (It sounds like what a plant would request with a dating service.) [...]

In the previous article on watering to the core, we looked at the importance of maintaining moisture at the center of a plant’s root ball.

The soaker hose provided one method to efficiently water plants by concentrating water over the root system.  This is essentially what drip irrigation does.

Drip irrigation is typically installed on the surface or slightly below.  The water is delivered by pipe and/or tubing and then dispersed through various types of emitters.  Often, drip irrigation zones are part of automatic systems with programmable controllers.

The basic, store-bought soaker hose we talked about in the last article can be installed as a simple and inexpensive drip-system.

The following pictures will help you visualize the process.  Click on any of them to get a larger version. [...]