I have many spots I love in my garden but one of my favorites is my pergola. I talked about pergolas in a previous article but today I wanted to talk to you about what’s underneath it. This garden design tip is all about flagstone.
Flagstone is obviously a type of stone but what many people don’t know is it’s basically a type of quartz. Where I come from we just call it flagstone but you may know it by its other common name; Pennsylvania Bluestone.
Flagstone is pretty much flat and comes in a wide range of sizes. From huge slabs that can be used as an outdoor table to smaller 1 foot diameter sizes like I’ve used under my pergola.
When used in a patio type setting it should be about 2 inches think. The base material is usually sand and should have a depth of at least 4 inched. After building and squaring an outer frame, fill it with sand making sure you compact it well.
Next you should screed along the outer edges of your frame to level and re-distribute the sand from high spots to low areas.
The fun part is laying out the flagstone. When I built mine, I had purchased about double the needed square footage. I then laid out every piece on my lawn in front of the area choosing one piece at a time to fit perfectly into the framed area.
The process of actually laying the flagstone took a lot of time and trial and error. Don’t rush this process as you will have to live with the final result for a very long time.
Finally you will need extra sand on top which is swept into the ¼ to ½ spaces left between the flagstone edges.
Thomas Green is an amateur gardener/landscaper and enjoys passing along his garden design tips. You can find him over on his blog at http://www.gardendesigntips.net
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