Garden Paths: Ideas and Design Suggestions

Garden paths can compliment the total visual effect of your garden. Pathways and walks give personality and a sense of movement to the garden. In addition, if you combine them with other parts of the garden, paths can provide an overall theme to your outdoor decor.

Garden paths can be a normal width or especially wide. This will depend on the size of your land. They can offer a certain dynamic effect. Generally, paths can be laid to connect two or more points within the same space. You could create garden paths to connect the following:

• The front entrance of your land to the entry to your home
• The principal house to a second house
• Your house to the kids’ treehouse
• The house and the pool
• Your house to the kitchen garden or vegetable garden
• The house to a section of the garden created to rest and relax in

These and many more alternatives to create garden paths can be very practical. They can also be pretty if you want to create consistency and a dynamic atmosphere in your outside living space. Pathways can be straight, have curves, or be circular.

Below, we’ll show you some different ways to use and combine various materials to lay your garden paths.

Garden paths with stones or rocks

Stones and rocks are the most commonly used materials for making garden paths. You could create your path by placing large stones or rocks in the ground, separated by a short distance – about one footstep or less. A very common and pretty option is to plant grass in the spaces between the rocks. This will make the feel of the path flow better.

Using stones or rocks is an interesting option for homes that have rustic decor. The different sizes, irregular shapes, and varying colors can blend in well with the rest of the garden.

Use small stones

Small stones or crushed gravel are another option for making garden paths. Make sure you create some kind of border, using another material so that the small stones or gravel don’t move out of place, thereby making the path messy and out of shape.

Steps made with stones

If you have land with a slight incline, you could take advantage and create a path with steps using large stones. According to the slope and the path you want to create, you could set various steps into different sections of the path.

Garden paths with bricks

Bricks are also a very popular and useful material for the construction of outdoor paths. If your house is made with bricks, using this versatile material to create your garden paths will complement the total outdoor decor of your home.

You could lay the bricks all going the same way, the same as in the walls of your house. Or you could alternate them vertically and horizontally to create visual effects on the surface of your path.

Garden paths with sections of tree trunk

If you use tree stumps, it will give a rustic effect to your outdoor decor. If you have a log cabin style house and you like using timber outdoors as well as indoors, creating your garden path using tree stumps could be a pretty and interesting option. You could also add grass in between the tree stumps.

Materials to use in the borders of your paths

Is the most important thing for the construction of your garden paths the appearance of the surface where you walk? Give your paths a special touch using borders. It will make the paths neater and can help you tie them into the general theme of your decor. There are a huge variety of materials and many interesting combinations you could try.

Use flowerbeds made with concrete

An interesting option could be to make your path out of bricks and combine them with flowerbeds for borders. Use concrete to make the flowerbeds.

You could plant these with beautiful flowers to create a colorful display. Or you could choose bigger plants with varying shades of green. This will depend on the type of plants you already have in your garden to keep a continuous theme going throughout.

Use bricks for borders

If you want to create a garden path with gravel, you could add a line of bricks of different colors. You should bury the bottom of the bricks in the earth a little to make sure they don’t move out of line.

Doing this means you can combine two different materials. At the same time, you will be creating a border for the stones or gravel so they don’t spill out of the path.

Complement your path with wood

On the other hand, if your path is made of rocks or large stones, it would be ideal to combine these with timber as a border. Wood and stone are two natural materials with distinct characteristics. The warmth of the timber will tone down the coldness of the stone.

You could use, for example, short pieces of a tree trunk as a border in your path. But be careful! If you are going to use the path at night, you should add some lighting to the borders since it would be very easy to trip over the tree trunks.

Add lighting to your paths

Outdoor lighting is extremely important, especially if the area will be used at night. There are many different options for artificial lighting in outdoor areas. An attractive option could be to install solar lamps. These come in many different sizes and designs.

Solar lamps or lights are recharged using solar energy during the day, and at night, they light up the garden. This is a great alternative to avoid electric installations outside. You will also be saving energy and contributing to the environment.

Garden paths are something you can create yourself according to your tastes. You also could consult a professional, such as a landscaper or even an architect. They can help you and assess the distribution of the outdoor space available, the construction, and the ideal materials for your garden.