Create an enticing garden path

It's curvy, fragrant and quick to build―and fringed with all the right plants

  • Share
  • Yahoo BuzzFacebookTwitterDigg
  • |
  • Print
  • |
  • Email
  • |
  • Add Comment
  • |
Text size:AAA

Great path

Photo: E. Spencer Toy

Click to Enlarge

  • Great path

    Step 1

    Outline the path by laying down rope or garden hoses; adjust them to get the shape you want. 

  • Great path

    Step 2

    Dig a 3-in.-deep path channel and edge it with benderboard. Fill with crushed gravel. 

Two days is all you need to install the pretty little path shown above. (The plantings mature in about nine months.)

What makes the scene so inviting? The gently curving path, designed to invite you to stroll among the plants, leads to a small circular patio, and the color scheme for the plants on either side is both fresh and lively.

Drifts of chartreuse euphorbias repeat throughout the borders, while clusters of blue and white flowers add accents.

Soft grasses, aromatic herbs, and silvery foliage fill in between them, softening the path’s edges.

TIPS FOR CREATING A GREAT GARDEN PATH

Shape: Unless your path is in a formal garden, a curve will look more inviting.

Destination: Enlarge the path’s end to accommodate a chair and a small tea table, a bench, or even a birdbath.

Fringe: For a natural look, make the path 40 inches wide, and plant groundcovers densely (1 foot or less from benderboard) to cascade over its edges.

Fragrance: Plant aromatic herbs or perfumed flowers along the path to sweeten the journey.

THE PLANTINGS

Arrange potted plants to your liking, then dig holes and plant

Grasses

1. Sedge (Carex albula ‘Frosty Curls’) 

2. Berkeley sedge (Carex divulsa)

3. New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax

Next: plants for fillers and fringe

 

PAGE:12


  • Loading comments...

Add your comment

The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. An asterisk * indicates a required field.

500 characters remaining

Sunset > To Go
  • Subscribe
  • Give a Gift
  • Newsletters
  • Plant Finder
Add Sunset to:
My Yahoo! My Google My MSN My AOL

Advertisement



 

JavaScript must be enabled to use this Calendar module.

Most Popular > Sunset
1
16 ways with headboards

Ready to give your bed a fresh new look? Sink into our slide show of headboard designs

fabric headboard