Solving drainage issues can be a great way to add a creative and attractive focal point to your landscape. It’s a fact that in the Texas Hill Country there are just going to be drainage issues that show up unexpectedly…most of the time after one of infamous “gully-washers”. Sometimes those issues seem to be overwhelming problems but often times they can become true gems in a landscape if approached creatively.
In this situation water was doing what it always does…running down-hill. To avoid having the water wash out the soil along the existing concrete walkway and then continuing to erode soil and grass on its way to the native portion of the landscape we needed to come up with path for it to move easily and without damage. We created a dry creek bed that runs along the sidewalk, converges with a flagstone landing and then eventually becomes the lower part of the walkway.
As always there is non-woven weed control fabric under all the river rock so that erosion is prevented as well as weed growth. By combining some large flagstone slabs on the bottom half of this dry creek bed it easily becomes an attractive path to the lower part of the yard while still effectively moving water down the slope. We added some plantings and boulders to add a realistic creek bed look and soften the overall appearance.
This dry creek bed is a hardscape that was needed to solve a drainage issue but also became a necessary walkway while creating a focal point for the whole landscape down the side of the house. It’s all a matter of perspective!
