We had a patio installed last year on the back of my house to replace the old deck, and connected it to my old patio around the pool. One thing the installer should have advised (he did build what I wanted), but he should have mentioned water run-off. when it rained hard, the mulch would wash out of the bed between the two patios. So I installed metal edging, added gravel. Two hard rains, and no mulch moved. The only water in the bed has to fall directly on it, so it is doing great. I like the metal edging, very easy to install, looks better than the vinyl rolls, I started with that, but ripped it out and returned it, as it looks so bad, plus it would not be strong enough to hold up the gravel/rocks. Plus a added photo of my front garden for others to get ideas, still need to work on the front garden to the right of the steps though, but it's getting there.