 At this Menlo Park home, a once badly worn asphalt driveway is now a primary feature of the garden. Edged in Connecticut bluestone, the new driveway curves to include the front entrance in a natural sweep. Its irregular borders evoke the image of a riverbed, with slabs of bluestone and bluestones placed randomly  within the gravel surface.
Once the driveway became a focal point, the side gate needed to be something special.  Inserting this little window was a lovely and inexpensive way to dress it up.
The patio is made of Arizona flagstone. There is no concrete or mortar. Set on a bed of baserock and sand, a mixture  of decomposed granite is layered between the pieces.
The seat wall, made of a tumbled  Arizona flagstone is mortared, but it is so deeply recessed that it looks dry-laid.
A serpentine gravel path wanders to the studio in the back, past a woodland bed. The mulch in the bed is oak leaves that fall from the tree canopy above.
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