Tips for Brightening & Sprucing Up Garden Pathways

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Once the last snow melts and sunny days outnumber the cloudy ones, garden pathways can look a bit bedraggled. Often, our clients’ pathways need more sprucing up than their plant and flower beds do.

Photo: Lifescape Colorado. via Houzz

Tips for Updating Garden Paths and Walkways

Whether you are doing a little post-winter maintenance and repair or are looking to expand your garden path and walkway design, we have a few tips and considerations to share with you.

Choose the right material(s). Don’t just lay down the material you like the best on sight. Consider how a path is used and the level of maintenance you are interested in providing. Pea gravel or rocks are attractive, versatile, and makes a satisfying crunch underfoot, but they can scatter and will require tidying up and replacement from time to time. Decomposed granite is durable, affordable, and works well for natural Colorado landscapes, however, it will need to be weeded throughout spring and summer because established weeds are difficult to remove.

Work with a landscape designer who can balance the aesthetics you want with the reality of your lifestyle. The Lifescape team is always available to assist with landscape maintenance as well, which can allow you to select whatever pathway material you like.

Replant if necessary. You may have found plants you used as path and walkway borders didn’t work as well as anticipated. Perhaps they overgrew the path too quickly, were sticky or prickly, or shed messy fruit or blossoms that stuck to shoe soles and feet. Spring is the time to transplant these offenders to a better site, and select plants that are better suited to the environment. If it’s a high-traffic area or you have small children, plant low-growing plants that can take a beating. Plants like creeping thyme or Corsican mint fit the bill, plus they release a delicious fragrance when crushed.

Add lighting. Pathways are much safer if you add attractive lighting to pathway borders. It keeps them functional after the sun sets and will also add to your landscape’s ambiance. Consider solar lanterns to spare the expense of electrical work.

Are your garden pathways ready for a little makeover? Schedule a consultation with the Lifescape design team.