Reply To: Looking for advice

Precast is not as bad. If you think it is going to be a problem a light acid wash can be applied, which will help with the leaching.   Sometimes the base materials for the pavers can be a problem if they are limestone gravels/dust (I don’t know about SC, but that is the preferable material here in KY)

Besides the ph, another big issue we have (our soils are clay/silt) is getting the planting soil porosity to match the porosity of the base under the pavers.  If the paver base is too compact, the planting areas tend to flood–if the base is too porous they dry out.  This may not be an issue for you if your soils are sandier and well drained.

You may never get everything just right, so you probably want a reall “workhorse” plant which has broad ph tolerances and takes drought/flooding equally well.   You also may want to avoid the spreading plants, because they can take over if they are happy  We did one with sedum and it completely covered the patio within a few years!