Pathways create practical beauty in the garden

Pathways can make a garden beautiful (Photo by Jane Gates)

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Everybody knows a pathway is a way to get from one place to another. But if you design your pathways right you can get where you’re going while making your garden into something artistic. Here are some tips on how you can create practical pathways that will make your garden truly beautiful.

DRAW WITH YOUR PATHS
Paths are a fine way to define different areas of the garden. If you have a narrow piece of land you can divide it up into different areas. Paths can be used to surround garden planters as edgings that also lead from one place to the next. Use a pathway to draw the eye up to a decorative seating area or a focal point like a statue or a pond. Another powerful way to use a path is to snake it up a hillside in random curves or interesting angles. Don’t waste a great decorative chance like this with a boring stairway in a straight line. The path or stairway will be useful to access the hillside for maintenance or to lead a wanderer to something interesting up at the top.

The best way to make your pathways flow in your landscape design is by drawing out your garden area on paper and playing around with different pathway routes. You can easily change your ideas on a drawing rather than trying hit-and-miss on site where labor is far greater. You can also get a better overview of how the path will function and how it will look in relationship to the rest of the landscape if you sketch it out first. For some really interesting ideas, invite in a gardening coach or a landscape designer for help.

USE INTERESTING MATERIALS
You can lay a garden path with decomposed granite, gravel, brick, wood, stone, bark, pavers, concrete or any other material or combination. You can line edges with a different material or create cross bands of contrasting colors or textures. You can make a path into a work of art with designs, textures and colors or keep it simple with a natural looking strewn-top dressing. Or you can build a straight-forward, formal walkway with plain, colored or stamped concrete. Then again you can be smart and use a selection of permeable paving ideas to create something attractive yet eco-friendly. Or you might want to go for recycling chipped up dead trees or recycled shredded tires.

Pathways are practical elements in the landscape. But they are also opportunities to add powerful design elements to the landscape. Don’t miss the chance to create practical beauty in your garden using paths.