Running Bond Brick Walkway Built in Tanglewood Front Yard Landscaping

We were contacted by a Tanglewood resident who was unhappy with the way her front yard looked. The existing drive was nothing more than a massive concrete slab that took up almost the entire front yard, leaving almost no room for vegetation other than small patches of San Augustine grass. For at least six months out of the year, the grass would die and turn brown, giving the front yard a drab appearance that diminished the Old World architecture of her home. Another major problem with this front yard was a small Magnolia tree growing next to the back wall. If it continued to grow at its present rate, it would begin to push against the bricks and crack the wall over the next few years. The homeowner wanted us to completely change the vegetation and trees in her front yard and replace the bulk of her driveway with a brick walkway. She wanted something more classically European--reminiscent of the horse and carriage days of past centuries.
After careful study of late nineteenth century photographs of brick roads and sidewalks, we decided that the most appropriate pattern for arranging the bricks would be that of a running bond. This pattern involves laying the bricks on their sides so that the narrow parts face upward. It is a very practical style for creating curved walkways that wind in front of homes or bend through gardens. We used some unique construction methods to create this structure and to make it look as historically authentic as possible. We laid down a concrete foundation first in the general shape of the walkway. We did not want to ruin the illusion of antiquity by placing mortar or grout between the bricks, so we spread the mortar over the concrete, and set the bricks with only sand to fill the spaces between them. We sealed the sand with paver seal, so that when it set it created a smooth surface with no cracks or gaps.

Removing the bulk of the driveway had now given us a golden opportunity for landscaping all along the outer edge of the brick walkway and portions of the front yard that were previously dominated by San Augustine grass. The first thing we remove the magnolia tree and plant a line of Japanese yew trees that goes from the street all the way to the wall in the back. This stops the eye from wandering into the neighbor’s yard, and it frames the south side of the landscape with a lush backdrop of dark green. We then varied the color scheme by planting plum delight in front of the Japanese yews. This is a burgundy bush that is very hearty, and maintains its color throughout the year. Boxwoods planted just at the edge of the running bond walkway formed a third layer of vegetation that worked to highlight the bricks like a portrait frame accents a picture, forcing the eye to follow their intricate patterns around the curve to the front of the house. Using boxwoods to frame all or portion of a front yard is a common technique in landscaping. Boxwoods can be used to enclose everything from shrubs to decorative sculptures. When curved, boxwood frames help draw the eye around structures as it did here, where the vegetation keeps the eye moving down the walkway until it lands just square in front of the home.

We then introduced dwarf monkey grass to hide the stalks of the boxwoods and to further frame and highlight the bricks in the sidewalk. We replaced the San Augustine grass throughout the front yard with more drought-resistant zoysia grass. For small front yards, it creates a much plusher lawn that requires little maintenance or rainfall to sustain its emerald color. It also features a much finer blade that encourages you to walk on it.

In the back, on either side of the walkway, we completed our project with a few additional plantings. We introduce camellias to give the home flowers in the winter time between December and February. On the north side of the property, we kept a portion of the original driveway for parking. This left nothing but a small strip of San Augustine between our client’s home and the neighboring property. We planted a linear row of boxwoods and mondo here, and added a row of crepe myrtles to create a natural boundary equivalent to that of the Japanese yews on the other side of the yard.

We completed the project with a full-grown tree on a truck to plant in the very back to balance the expanded front yard and the multiple layers of vegetation that now shaped and contoured the landscape around the running bond brick walkway.