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I have a drive-way made of interlocked bricks. Friends and neighbours clear all weeds regularly. I can see that some weeds will damage the brick-work (e.g. large roots).

However I was thinking that some plants will not cause a problem, would look nice, and maybe even displace the bad plants.

  • Traffic: Some walking over it, some parts may get driven over 4 times a day (probably less).
  • Climate: South of England.
  • Maintenance: Needs to be low, but I can spend time setting it up.
  • Current condition: It is a few years old, but good condition. The gaps are very small, no mortar, but sand was swept between the bricks.

Is my reasoning good? What plants? Can I push (good) seeds into the cracks?

ctrl-alt-delor
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  • would be good to say what condition the drive and the bricks are in now. the older and more weathered the bricks might mean different approaches? or perhaps i don't know for sure, but ... :) – flowerbug May 05 '20 at 23:53

3 Answers3

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A big concern about placing plants in a driveway like that might be that any type of plant would possibly risk tearing it up over time. In my years of experience, that is probably what you want to be careful about with your brick driveway - though I don't have any idea if that's a real concern, since I don't know what it looks like and how widely the bricks are placed and things like that. Still, I would really hesitate to put any kind of plants among the bricks without considering that possibility. That particular concern may be the reason friends and neighbors remove all weeds. I myself often remove all weeds for that reason.

That said, I've seen beautiful paths constructed with low lying ground covers like Dichondra - Silver Ponyfoot, for example - and they look stunning. It might be what you're looking for, assuming you do end up trying something.

Best of luck with it.

Jamie Watts
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I love the effect of self-seeders growing in the cracks of paving. However, you might struggle with getting things established between interlocked bricks (do you mean block paving?) if the gaps are very narrow. Just try it and see what works. I picked out some (!) of the mortar from my paving cracks, trickled the seeds in and then overswept with fine topsoil. Seeds to consider are Erigeron karvinskianus (aka Mexican daisy - excellent!), Verbena bonariensis, Thymus longicaulis (or any available thyme), Tanacetum parthenium, Nigella damascena, Acaena inermis 'Purpurea', ox-eye daisy, Sedum acre, forget-me-nots, Welsh poppy, California poppy. And many more. Avoid red valerian as the roots can be damaging.

If you get the chance visit Beth Chatto's garden near Colchester to see her famous gravel garden (lots of self-seeders there, though many will be too big for your situation). If you can't do that, take her look at her book on gravel gardening. Christopher Lloyd was also a big of self-seeders so you might want to take a look at his books as well, or visit his wonderful garden, Great Dixter, in East Sussex.

Peter4075
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Here is Ohio, I use very low creeping thyme and Corsican mint. Corsican mint is one of favorite plants; it comes back from seed every year. The only down side is that it browns out in late summer on me.

Evil Elf
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