Thanks, annz. This will definitely be done after the house is built. I have months and months of planning, but this is one of the few things my mind keeps coming back to. I don't believe garbage trucks will make the drive in (which means we'll have to drag the garbage aaall the way out- fun!), we don't generally have deliveries as we have a P.O. Box but there's always a first, and I didn't really consider gas, etc. Maybe an arbor isn't the best route. Le sigh.

No pics with me unfortunatly, but just picture a 10' wide driveway, with a house approximately 20' (?) on either side of the driveway. If I get some taken I'll post.

Without seeing it, maybe instead of an arbor, how about a couple of substantial pillars to mark the entrance to the driveway? Do you own the driveway, or is it a right-of-way? If you could purchase more space at the sides for a reasonable price, or if the neighbors will allow it without a formal transfer of ownership, a hedge that separates the drive from the flanking properties might be enough to add some separation. Whether you need to "decorate" the driveway is another question.

I was also thinking of something like some abbreviated low stone walls or some other marker that doesn't go over the top of the driveway. A hedge is another good option, can be low and narrow but does the job. But I would like something clear like a pillar on which you can put your address, since I imagine visitors will have some trouble finding it. Lighting might be an idea - you'd have to think of wiring.

I would also think less of the opening than of the delineation of the whole driveway itself. it is a 3D thing.

By the way whatever you build, someone will hit. If possible you might make a flaring line of stones or hedge or whatever to make it easier to navigate the opening.

The legal property division is an issue, as is what preferences the neighbours have for their separation from a driveway running up the side of their house. This sounds like a decision best made in consultation, and if it is to be plants, the maintenance and eventual root spread should be planned for.

All in all, however much your mind is dwelling on this, it is a decision to be deferred, except for preparing for what your needs out there might be. If you think lights or an intercom or some such thing will ever be needed, an electrical conduit just might be worth incorporating.

In making your plans, think of the function of the area, not just the look. When you've driven it a hundred times and seen all manner of vehicles do it, when you've directed a whole bunch of people there and heard whether they had trouble finding it, when you've come late at night and tried to drive in in the dark... then you'll know what to do.

KarinL

We have an old customer that had the exact same issue that you're having. All they did was place a couple of old-fashioned light poles surrounded by bricks half way up them. (You know the type I mean, the ones you see in old London - used to be gas fired and lit by hand?) Then they put some perennial plantings around them with black mulch. Looks really nice.

The electrical conduit from the house to the entrance is a GREAT suggestion that KarinL made! Nothing fancy is needed for that.. all you need would be a line of 4" underground PVC run on each side of the drive... great idea to do it while building as you will probably want some sort of light down there once the house is built.

HTH
ttfn
Mystic.

It sounds like the driveway easement is currently unfenced? Would you or your neighbors want to add a fence to give them more privacy? If so, a wire fence with vines could go a long ways to enclose/define the space without encroaching upon it. I wouldn't suggest an arbor over the entry, either, as you will at the very least, want to be able to provide clearance for a moving truck/van to get nearer the house.

Simple accent plantings of ornamentals such as clumps of Phormiums, Dwarf Pampas Grass or Astelia chathamica at intervals along the driveway could help delineate the drive, without getting too large or needing pruning like other woody shrubs or trees would. Narrow columnar growing things like Italian Cypress are often used here in California, but are a bit too formal for my own taste. A row of Trachycarpus fortunei palms could look really cool, and are probably hardy in your area, although they might need summer irrigation.