pathway designs

laying a brick path

landscaping a path

You might think that the purpose of a garden path is to move you from point A to point B. While that is one of function of a path, pathways can add much, much more to a garden. According to Jim Hartung, San Diego garden designer, Sinjen designed paths to draw people into the garden. He favored meandering paths with various points of interest. “It is like walking through the woods,” Jim says of walking along the paths Sinjen designed for his garden, “There are little surprises at each turn in the path.” Those surprises might be as subtle as a single white lily bloom that stands in stark contrast to the deep green foliage that surrounds it, or a huge verdigris gong suspended from branches high above.

Pathway Designs
Curving paths are perfect for informal, naturalistic gardens. Their curves wind out of sight so you never quite know what is coming next. Much like trails, they force the walker to slow down and notice the environment around them. Bark, decomposed granite, gravel, and similar pathway materials enhance their informality.

Angular paths are best suited for formal gardens. In these gardens, straight paths intersect at 90-degree and 45-degree diagonals. Angular paths are typically wide and open, made stone, gravel, brick or concrete. A walk along these paths is often quick and purposeful.

While wide pathways accommodate several people walking together, narrow pathways lend themselves to more intimate experiences. Which style of path best fits your garden? An informal garden might have equally informal pathways of gravel or decomposed granite inset with flagstone and round beach pebbles . An exotic garden might mix things up with narrow, winding paths made of pavers softened by creeping ground cover.

For more ideas on pathway materials, visit your local rock or stone yard.

Laying a Brick Path
Brick path basics:

1. Excavate and level the area to be paved. For a path that is level with the surrounding soil, dig a bed three inches deeper than the thickness of your brick.
2. Edge excavated bed with cut bricks or bender board
3. Lay a 3-inch layer of gravel over the bed and tamp firm
4. Spread a half inch layer of coarse sand over gravel.
5. Level sand
6. Set bricks on sand and tamp them firmly in place.
7. Cover the bricks with sand and sweep into joints to fill.
8. Hose down the walkway to settle everything into place. You may need to add more sand after settling.

Landscaping a Path
The most natural looking paths look almost like the trails that cut through the forest. The same plants grow on either side of the trail – which makes sense since the trail developed after the plants were there. Only the toughest and lowest growing plants survive at the edge of trail. Behind them are clusters of plants, progressively taller and distributed in an irregular pattern.

You can create the same effect with careful planting along your garden path.

Here’s how:

• Place the smallest and toughest plants alongside the edges of the path and in cracks between pavers.
• Cluster plants in odd number multiples (3, 5, 7, etc.).
• Use clusters of the same plants on either side of the path. Stagger thee clusters, don’t place them opposite each other.
• Layer the rest of the plants so the smallest are closest to the path, while the tallest are furthest from the path. This kind of scheme makes even narrow garden beds seem deeper and fuller.

Groundcovers are especially well suited to cracks in between and around garden pavers. There are many groundcovers to choose from. Just keep in mind the growing conditions (light, water, etc), and how much foot traffic each kind of plant can handle.

Here are a few popular groundcovers:

• Dymondia margaretae is a groundcover that is perfect for iflling the cracks and crevices between pavers. Dymondia is one of the toughest groundcovers, making it a great choice for a high traffic area. Plants take full sun, no fertilizer, and little water.
• Dichondra micrantha is a low growing groundcover with a small, round leaf atop a single stem. Sometimes planted as a lawn. Full sun or part shade, ample water. Can handle moderate traffic.
• Thyme, especially lower growing creeping thymes such as elfin thyme and wooly thymes, are dapted to full sun, little water, and handle fairly heavy foot traffic. Tiny, rosy purple flowers are an added bonus.