Decomposed Granite

There are some landscape materials I cannot get enough of.  Decomposed granite is a material comprised of pieces of granite 3/8ths of an inch across, and smaller.  The smaller pieces are known as “fines”.  The fines sift down in between the 3/8 inch pieces, and interlock the decomposed granite.  This makes for a surface that delivers that beautiful sound with every step that says garden, dead ahead.  Decomposed granite looks like sand when it is delivered.  I have taken plenty of panic stricken phone calls from clients.  But once it is laid down, graded, compacted and washed, it is a surface that won’t give no matter how high those heels are.  I have no love for asphalt as a surface; does it not seem like a symbol of all those places we have paved over without cause?  Concrete is a great material, as long as it is used with architecture that asks for it.  Concrete aggregate is beautiful for modern or contemporary landscapes-I hate to see it used by a client who really wanted gravel, but was too afraid.  My mentor and dear friend Al Goldner, told me once his only regret as a designer was that he was not bold enough; be bold!  

Decomposed granite, properly installed, makes for a driveway impervious to tire marks.  In this landscape, the driveway flowed seamlessly into paths for  a vegetable and cutting garden.

A driveway of decomposed granite requires an expert installation.  GP Enterprises does these drives for me.  They are so careful to install with a careful eye to grade and drainage.  They compact the granite with the same machinery that compacts asphalt. 

Decomposed granite makes a great mulch for comtemporary landscapes.  This landscape did not ask for mulch-that granite completed a thought. 

Decomposed granite can finish a formal planting, as well as a contemporary one.  It is clean, fresh, and crisp.  It is easy to make shapes, and moves; it does a great job of giving the eye a place to rest.

I have done many a terrace in decomposed granite.  It is a clean surface, not so demanding of attention as stone. This garden makes much of the pots and the furniture-the granite is a quietly beautiful  surface. It is the color of nature, a texture that celebrates all that is set on it. 

This material is useful for more than driveways and paths.  Some plantings need a special space of their own.

Wherever people may be in a landscape, I wonder if this surface will play a part. The granite did a great job of featuring the stone from the 1920’s original to this garden. 

Some materials are so versatile, which makes decomposed granite  a major player in my palette of hard surfaces.  Great for driveways, friendly to plants-amazing how it can work in contemporary landscapes as well as vintage ones.