I'm a newbie gardener and I don't know a whole lot about trees and plants. I just replaced my driveway and wanted to put gardens along at least one side, if not both sides. Looking for ideas on garden shape and what low maintenance plants I could use. I've attached a couple of pictures of the driveway and as you can see there is a water meter on one side which I'd like to make less visible. Thanks for any help you can give me!
It looks like water is sheeting off the drive and washing out the lawn. That is the first thing that needs to be addressed. Potential plant choices and planting styles can be seen at local publicly accessible collections like UBC Botanical Garden and Van Dusen Botanical Display Garden.
It isn't wash out, I just haven't filled in the grass from when the driveway was excavated and the forms removed since I'm thinking of putting a garden in there.
From your picture i guess the driveway length is not very long. So you can try planning flowering plants in the form of flowerbeds along the length of the driveway. This gives a welcoming effect and is good for the overall impression of the garden.
I would dig up that entire strip between the two driveways and mix with manure. Then I would plant a line of small flowering shrubs surrounded with ground covers and flowers, perhaps a mixture of low flowering perennials and annuals. You don't want to cut and water that wee bit of grass all the time. You can use mounding perennials instead of small, low shrubs. A line of feverfew would look good. It makes a nice round mound and blooms all summer long, right up until the mums have finished. Mums would look good there too but only bloom in the late fall. Perhaps you could alternate feverfew with mums since feverfew is white and it would be a nice contrast with a dark burgandy mum in the fall.
