Thanks for the reply Lynn. Yes, I thought these tiger striped blocks looked interesting and might blend in better than gray concrete. I like the larger cores for planting too.
We usually have very dry winters here, but March and April snows melting or rain can drown out some plants when the surface foot or two has thawed but the soil beneath that is frozen solid allowing no drainage. Not sure if all the spaces in the gravel would freeze solid with ice or not. Hoping that it would not be cold enough to flash freeze large voids when water may be moving. Spilling a cat's water bowl on the concrete on a cold winter's day creates an immediate lump of ice instead of spreading out. Our biggest challenge is that we usually have no snow cover for insulation, and that is hard on plants drying out in the intense winter sun when it is 20 or 30 below zero with the soil frozen 5 feet down.
I enjoy learning from this forum.
