Retaining wall installed

We finished up the retaining wall installation.  But of course the project is not yet completed.

The main blocks are stacked on top of one another and back filled with gravel for drainage.  The caps are glued on with Loctite adhesive for stone and granite.  The adhesive takes at least 24 hours to cure so check your weather forecast so you have at least a 48 hour window of dry weather.  We also waited until later in the day when the sun was behind the trees before we used the adhesive.  This gave the blocks a chance to cool off before we applied the adhesive.

The next day we planted the area around the mailbox.  This can be a difficult area if you don't use hardy plants that can withstand the heat, cold, and road salt.  In an attempt to keep costs low for this project we used plants from elsewhere in the yard.

 

I have an abundance of spiderwort in three different colors.  I chose two spiderwort plants in the Concord Grape color.  I also added an Autumn Joy sedum, Pink Cone flower, and a iris of unknown color that was given to me several weeks ago. I could have used the day lilies that were planted around the old mailbox but I wanted plants that would give me early, mid, and late summer color.  The day  lilies are a one shot burst of color and then it's over.  I still need to dig up those daylilies but first I have to find some place to plant them.