Sometimes a walkway just needs to be a way to get from point A to point B but it doesn’t necessarily need to be boring. This concrete walkway was capped with flagstone and then a landing was added on either side to make it not only more attractive but also to add some off street space while gathering the mail.
The flagstone landing on either side of this traditional “straight-shot” sidewalk also creates space for folks getting in and out of vehicles in front of the house. We took the creativity up one more notch when adding the bed off to the side of the mailbox for some added color with the Pride of Barbados and Blue Plumbago.
Probably the most interesting aspect of this landing however is the manhole cover that you can’t see. Underneath the flagstone slab topped with a terracotta planter is indeed a fairly large, raised utility access point. We used large Colorado River stones to hide the raised part of the utility box and then topped it with the planter. The Society Garlic in the planter is very drought tolerant and deer resistant so it’s a perfect fit for this very exposed planter.
It seems that even in landscaping you can make lemonade out of lemons just by using some out of the box thinking.