Q: I'm hosting a family reunion over Labor Day weekend, and the garden isn't at its best. I don't water the lawn in the summer, so that is brown. We'll mostly be outside on the deck for a barbecue. Any ideas for a quick fix to make the garden look festive and also so my guests don't notice the lawn so much?

A: Turn your entire deck into one big focal point. Import stores have paper lanterns you can hang from the trees, a patio umbrella or along the eaves of the house. Wrap tree trunks with little white lights, put out lots of votive candles (even better, citronella candles to ward off insects). You could even splurge on some brightly striped or colored Sunbrella (weather resistant) pillows to make the outdoor furniture more comfortable and colorful.

Add a few big, glazed pots to the deck, or add some fresh shrubs and flowers to your existing containers. Use the party as an excuse to cruise area nurseries to find annuals and perennials that are at their best in late summer.

Is there a planting bed around the deck? If so, you might want to add some late-blooming perennials like Rudbeckia, coneflowers, Boltonia and asters, which would look great for the party, as well as next year and the next.

For maximum effect, buy as many as you can afford of just one or two kinds of perennials and do a mass planting. Your guests won't notice the brown lawn if you have plenty of color and interest on and around the deck.

Q: Our driveway is old and cracked and we want to replace it, but don't like concrete or worse, yet, asphalt. Any ideas?

A: I love gravel driveways for the crunchy noise they make, and because they're permeable for water to flow through. But they can be work to maintain — you want to find a good landscaper who will do the job well so that you have as little weed problem as possible.

You might consider grasscrete, a cellular paving with tufts of grass, which is permeable and looks so much softer than solid paving. A handsome, more expensive alternative is stone cobbles. The Elisabeth C. Miller Library (3501 N.E. 41st St., Seattle; 206-543-0415) has a fine collection of garden design books for inspiration.

Q: Are there any local gardens that are good to visit this time of year? We have out-of-town guests coming who are great gardeners and I want to take them to see gardens, but don't know what would look good now. Can you help?

A: August and September are great garden-touring times in the Northwest. Hop a ferry for Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, which has a Japanese garden that is lovely in all seasons, plus a shady moss garden ideal for respite on a hot day.

The Japanese garden at the Washington Park Arboretum and Kubota Gardens in the Rainier Beach neighborhood don't rely on bloom for their beauty, so are also ideal destinations in late summer. Their quiet serenity is seasonless.

Many of our nurseries are destinations in themselves, with display borders, gift shops and other temptations including spots for lunch or an ice tea. From large nurseries such as Molbak's in Woodinville, where you can enjoy a meal or snack in a contemporary garden setting, to Swanson's, which offers both gift shop and cafe in a tropical conservatory, to smaller nurseries such as Cultus Bay and Chocolate Flower Farm on Whidbey Island or DIG Floral & Garden on Vashon Island, nursery-hopping can be great fun as well as instructive.

Valerie Easton also writes about Plant Life in Sunday's Pacific Northwest Magazine. Write to her at P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111 or e-mail planttalk@seattletimes.com with your questions. Sorry, no personal replies.