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Here are some questions to ask yourself as you plan this garden project: Where are the natural access points? A gate is an easy pick, but perhaps there’s a lot of traffic from the deck to the garage, or from the tree swing to the patio table.
Based on your answers to the first question, what purpose will the path serve? Is it going to a guided tour of your garden? Or will it simply bow to the exigencies of family and pet traffic? (Why fight it? If that’s where the children head when they are leaving the garden, then that is where a path might avoid the frustration of trampled plants.)
Considerations for Your Garden’s Paths
Will there be issues with how your path is used? Might it be difficult for an elderly or disabled person to use an uneven path? Will the path be used by bare feet? How about the width? Is that of importance to its use? Think about rises and hollows in the garden and how the path might maximize these topographical characteristics.
How can your path add a bit of interest in the garden? Could it add texture? Color? Visual variety—curves, zig-zags? Can it draw the wanderer into areas of the garden that might otherwise be overlooked?
By Janice F. Booth
We gardeners are notorious for never being quite satisfied with our gardens. We love to tinker, get our hands into that rich soil, and move or remove our plants. Working in our gardens is fun and frees us, for just a while, from of the complications of daily life. As you look over your summer garden, you might notice that your dogs have beaten their own path to the gate for their walks leaving a muddy trail through the ferns. Elsewhere, you may notice that the lovely array of petunias and zinnia are hardly noticed, off in their lost corner of the garden. They’re off the beaten path, you might say. So, if you want a fun project that you can work on gradually, why not redo your garden’s paths?
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What’s Up? Annapolis | August 2022 | whatsupmag.com
Do you need to budget for this project? If you use a landscape architect or garden designer that you trust, they might suggest a few options with varying prices.
Are there a few warts in your garden that could be disguised by the design or layout of your new paths? Is there a boggy area that building up the path could overcome? How about that place where the tree root makes it impossible to grow plants; could the path disguise or use that bump as part of the design? Why not get an extra benefit from your project?
