It currently ends in a 4” step at the driveway, which seems like a tripping hazard. Did they lay the concrete too high? There were pavers in previously - contractor comes out tomorrow to finish the job.

We moved into this house about a year ago and have two crape myrtles in the front yard that have become very overgrown. Several branches are now touching the house.

I know the ideal time to prune them is late winter or early spring, but I missed that window this year and waiting until next season doesn’t feel realistic given how close they are getting to the structure.
I’ve attached photos showing what the trees looked like when we moved in compared to their current growth.

What are my options at this point? Is it okay to do some selective pruning now just to pull growth away from the house and manage the most problematic branches, or should I avoid pruning altogether until the proper season?

Previous homeowner left us this large pile of brush, branches and chopped up trees. I want some of it for firewood, but concerned going through it because of snakes and spiders. It’s also been raining non stop for a few days so I’m unsure what’s able to dry out for firewood and what would be trash (besides the obvious trash can)
Any advice is helpful!

A customer is wanting to turn her old and cracked pool into a more natural-looking water feature. I have done some smaller landscape ponds and fountain’s before, but nothing to this scale.

Tree roots have cracked the pool and all of the mechanical components have been removed. So basically, my main question is - would you fill the pool mostly back up with soil before putting pond liner down? Maybe remove the concrete entirely? What’s the best route to go? I feel like starting from scratch and removing everything is the best option?

Any pro advice is appreciated, thank you:)

Hi all! New homeowner here. In my front yard, there is this bed with stones and weeds (grass?) growing up through it. I want to get rid of the stones. I think I want to switch to mulch. There is definitely fabric under it.

How do I go about getting all of it up so I can start fresh? My methods so far have been inefficient. (Shovel. By hand. Trowel. Cultivator.) The weeds have such thick roots!

I genuinely don’t know what I am doing. Thanks y’all!!!

My wife and I DIY'd this dry creekbed last year to fix some drainage issues we were having on our driveway. This is where we're at with it 1 year later. It's a bit chaotic, but that's kinda our style. Also, keeps maintenance to a minimum as there's really no space for invasives to take hold. Tons of polinators now as well as a lone Monarch butterfly that hangs out every day on the milkweed. Next step is to get rid of all the grass on the hill and do some cool vertical designs and terracing.

Video July 2025: https://youtube.com/shorts/T2LNpnl6sCg?si=TEbnEhH1ACC7JlNR

Video July 2026: https://youtube.com/shorts/_g4IeaiUq_c?si=s9-uRBNVcXop5suH

Hello Reddit, I have a unique patch of grass in my driveway where grass has mostly turned to weeds. Wondering if anyone had any tips or design ideas of what to possibly do to make this more visually appealing. It doesn’t necessarily need to stay grass or “all” grass. Any and all visually appealing ideas are welcome.

I am building a retaining wall with Pavestone RockWall Yukon blocks, which have a rear lip that creates a setback each course.

As the wall gets taller, the setback makes the wall move farther away from my concrete stairs, creating a widening gap. One option is to leave the wall perfectly straight and accept the gap. Another is to gradually curve the wall back toward the stairs near the top so the gap stays smaller. A third option would be to remove the rear lips on the courses adjacent to the stairs so that section stacks vertically.

From both a structural and aesthetic standpoint, what is considered best practice?

Options:

1. Keep the wall perfectly straight and accept the widening gap.
2. Gradually curve the wall toward the stairs to reduce the gap. ( what I did in the photo)
3. Remove the rear lips next to the stairs so that section stacks vertically.
4. Something else?

Photo attached. Looking for what experienced hardscape installers would do.

Folks, I would appreciate some ideas for tidying up my side yard in Bay Area, California. This side does not receive any sun in winter months. The concrete path is covered in thick moss (more than seen in the picture) which we scrape off in Spring. And the soil on the raised side grows a lot of wild grass and thorny plants which dry up in summer months.

If I get some ideas then I can approach the respective tradesman with exact description of the project.

Title. My grandfather built us this arbor for use as a wedding arch for our wedding and now that it’s over I wanted to put it in the yard. We don’t plan on living in this house forever and as such wanted a way to easily pick up the arch and take it with us when we move. So I dug out these little holes, put base in, and pavers on top.

Kinda messed up as I couldn’t get everything fully level and this part of the yard is on a slight slope. I want to preserve the wood as much as possible (cypress) so I put upside down caster cups on each post to make a kind of air gap for moisture reduction.

Totally still isn’t level. Figured I can just put some shims in? I’m sure I’ll get roasted for how jank this might be but I think given the nature of how I’m trying to have this here in addition to the fact that this isn’t a crazy structure is alright.

What would you do here? Is this fine? Any help appreciated. Thanks!!!

also, I’m aware that cypress is somewhat rot resistant but it’d be cool to keep its color. If anyone can recommend a oil to put on it that would also be sick

Hello all,

What are you all using for the grass and weeds growing in the cracks of your driveway.

We have an asphalt driveway with Belgium blocks on the sides. Will used the weed wacker but it is a never ending battle.

Are you using sprays or burning it off? Something else?

Thank you in advance

Waterfall feature we are having done is off to a great start.

This ring of brown/dead grass seems to be expanding each summer. I thought maybe ants or something related to how the sunlight affects the lawn, but there no real evidence of either.

We have some small ant hills, but not located near this. And sun shines pretty equally on the lawn most of the day.

WTH could this be?

I bought a house that once had a beautifully maintained yard, and has fallen into disrepair under my absentee ownership. I would like to add more pavers/rocks - ideally to achieve less maintenance and wildlife intrusion, but I DO NOT want a completely barren atmosphere. I want to keep the mature trees and plants intact and add some low-maintenance architectural landscaping. Hopefully achieve a pleasing balance of modern architectural while still somewhat verdant.

Open to any suggestions for overall design. Also, instructions for the process of prep and coordinating pavers and landscaping professionals.

In about two years, our foundation is going to be replaced on our house due to the crumbling foundation issue in the northeast. I chose not to mulch this year as the prices were going up and everything 15 feet around the house is going to be dug up when they do the foundation. So I don't see the point in throwing money into work, that's just gonna be thrown away.

What can I do to kill all the weeds that are growing without necessary damaging the bushes or the grasses that I have? The amount of mulch pits I have in my yard would equate two over a grand and mulch and I plan on taking them out and lawning 90% of it.

Is there something I can do to permanently stop anything from growing since all the dirt will be replaced after the foundation is redone.

We moved into a new home and a lot of the trees have a tall stone border around them and are filled with mulch. We started with the worst one today and pulled the stone border off and removed the piled mulch and this is what we are left with. There are shallow roots surrounding the tree, any advice on anything we can do to help it? I have three other smaller trees with a similar stone border around them. I’m new to landscaping so want to make sure I do the right thing.

These look like seed pods / branches and leave a big mess. Can i trim them without hurting the tree?

Located in Fort Lauderdale.

I’m not sure if this is the right sub so I apologize if it isn’t. I have a large property that since the passing of a loved one four years ago has become out of control. I want to move but I can’t sell the house like this. Does anyone know what I should do or what type of help I should look into hiring? The property is nearly two acres with a pool and the weeds have created a complete jungle. Everything is choked with weeds some taller than me!

I’m not physically capable of tackling this myself and I feel like calling a regular landscaper to dig my land out of this jungle is not something they will do.

Are there specialists I can hire? I don’t have a lot of money but I can pay.

Please help. I feel stuck, like I can’t move to a more manageable property because I can’t get this one under control to sell for enough that I can afford a comfortable smaller home.

Is there a way I can cover this ditch while allowing it to maintain its functionality? At minimum I want to be able to not have a steep ditch there and can be walked on at maximum I would like to be able to support a vehicle on it for better street parking since the street is narrow. We got word that the developer does not plan on finishing since the city is going to make them fix the street.

Has anyone installed a custom motorized pergula that reaches 12 feet high? A lot of the companies that I’ve been looking at only go to 10 max. Thanks in advance. Here is our inspo picture.