Here is the "utility" path, with the rose allee
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And this is the front path. Not very wide, but the yard is small and we don't really use this path much. Normally people come up from the driveway, which is the same style of path, just a few inches wider.

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GGG

Oh, what pretty gardens you have, girlgroupgirl! I love the purple fence. What do you have growing between the stones in the first picture? I tried some thyme last year, but it got cooked by mid July.

Here's part of some stone paths I laid a couple of years ago:
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Treelover, those are really nice looking paths!
I use recycled concrete (from my old walkways) for the path through my rosebeds (with bark mulch) and path across the garden (with small river rock/gravel).

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For the path between the front and back of the house, I had a 4' concrete path poured.

Anne

Anne: I recycled the stones I used, too. They were lining the borders of the beds out front when I moved in and just made it difficult to mow. I did have to buy a half pallet to finish the job, though.

Your combination of concrete and river rock looks great! Do the smaller stones stay put?

It is hard to see, but my main paths are like Anne's. I got the pea gravel to "stick" after a year. Some soil will get in there and keep it all together, eventually.
A bit of my "rock" is purchased, mostly I use broken concrete.
I love your paths Treehugger! Yes, that is thyme between the paths. Only certain ones do really well. Try to find golden Archer's thyme. It can stand up. Also think about dwarf oreganos. They also hold well in the heat. In July and August here I spray with water lightly once or twice a week. They are short rooted so that is plenty. We don't get rain during those months, but the rest of the "time" it does fine.

Will Georgia Blue veronica do for you too?

GGG

GGG: That Georgia Blue is pretty. I think the thyme might be better in my paths, but I'm sure I could find another spot for it. I know I've seen the Archer's somewhere around here and will look for it again. Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm inspired by your fence and tempted to do something wild with the horrible looking thing I have.

(Sorry about the humongous photos...didn't realize they were that big.)

It seems as if I'm adding new paths every year to my garden. Last year I added two brick pathways that joined by way of a brick circle (think traditional English gardens), the year before that we had a new path poured leading towards the front door, the year before that a small stone path leading from the back gate to the lawn. This year, of course, is no exception.

After the planting season is done, I'm going to dig out a pathway running through the shade garden, emptying into the rose/herbal garden. I'm not sure what material I will use, but I've been leaning towards mulch.

We live on a small urban lot in a hilly area, so it slopes rather steeply downhill. Half the property was already hardscaped, so it was a matter of "connecting the dots" between what was already there - there were definitely some 'missing pieces' that made it hard to use the backyard!

We started first on the front, however, for curb appeal reasons. The front walkway to the door was ripped out and redesigned in aggregate and brick. This is taken from the front porch, looking back towards the street. We had the front stairs widened with a more shallow rise (4 stairs up instead of 3):
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In the backyard, the original concrete was now faded to a reddish-pink(!!) color. Some previous homeowner had installed a now-cracked square concrete patio and a long stretch of concrete path that ended abruptly nowhere. Unfortunately, since we relocated the backstairs, we had no way to get from the new stairs to the original patio. This little problem took us quite a few years to solve! My husband eventually came up with a good-looking solution of concrete blocks, gravel and flagstones.
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In the photo above, if you locate the small clump of dark-leaved canna lilies under the wrought-iron trellis, that will give you the reference point for this photo: here is the path that leads from the backstairs' concrete 'landing pad' to access around the corner of the house. The edging is just concrete rubble from a retaining wall we replaced in the frontyard.
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In the furthest part of the backyard we installed a second patio, two long curved beds, and I still had a big planting area remaining alongside the fence that lines the perimeter of our property. I decided to install a mulch path, edging it with some of the leftover concrete blocks. It doesn't lead anywhere, just deadends after about 15' where I planted several flowering shrubs to mark the property line between our neighbor's lot and ours.
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What a wonderful array of pathways. jkom, that last picture is just lovely. You and your DH have really put in some hard work and so worth it. Your yard is very pretty. Treelover, yours too. Your paths are so cottagey! My path is red brick from the house to the yard gate in a sweeping curve. I can not believe that for 100 years it was just a dirt path. I'll never know how the previous owners put up with all that mud for all those years!
MeMo

Treelover, you fit those flagstones so perfectly! You must have cut them rather than just try the jigsaw puzzle approach. I wish I had your patience.

jkom, what a lovely front entry, I really like that style, much better than a plain concrete entry.

GGG - it looks like you've got herbs growing between your flagstones, I'll bet it smells nice when walking on them. I tried something like that, but the weeds were taking over. Maybe next year I'll try again, it really softens the look of the path.

My DH and I laid 5 tons of flagstone to create paths. It was hard work but I love the results.

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That's my black miniature Schnauzer, Daisy. She's a good gardener.

bloominganne

Thanks foxearth for thinking of this post. I'm changing my garden around a bit and was just wondering what to replace my wood chip paths with. Thanks everyone for some food for thought.

You gals sure do nice work! I love them all!

I had bricks set in soil just for little access paths through the beds, but I found they crushed the soil underneath and created some drainage problems for the plants next to them. I still have the bricks and have been thinking about whether I should redo them or not.

The rest of my paths are grass in the backyatd and concrete with pea gravel over them leading from the front to the back ala Anne/Homenovice. Does the gravel stay put? Yes and no. Does the grass look nice with all the foot traffic? Yes and no. Mostly no.

Lime

Almost missed this thread.
Most of my paths are Pea gravel, with random steppers placed throughout for access. I have Flagstone seating areas in the South yard, with a mulch path leading to them from the gate.
I like the pea gravel because it is very neutral and natural looking. Same with the flagstone. A pathway should never be a feature. It is there to serve a function, yet adding permenance and structure in the process. My one exception is my clay paver front walk and stoop, which I added last spring. The old concrete looked terrible and HAD to go. I like the tradition and feel of clay, so my choice was clear.
Front path, right side:
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Front path, left side:
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Front path, left side, reverse view:
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treelover, love your flagstone paths, they have such a natural look, obviously you have a lot of talent, flagstone paths are not an easy thing to do. Your paths make me want to walk along them and peek around the corner, see what other treasures you have planted.
mrmorton, your gravel paths have such a natural flow to them too, they also look sooo inviting, I have gravel for my walks as well, but in my small garden the way it has been laid out I'm stuck with a lot of straight lines which have a cold look. I love looking at the photo's on this forum, so many talented people, and such beautiful gardens.

A......

Oh, Everyone!

I am so impressed and amazed at the variety and beauty I see in your pictures. (Puts mine to pure shame) Looks like you guys spend a small fortune and have plenty of muscle. Alas. I have neither of those at my disposal.

GGG, I really like your lilac fence. How charming and colourful. I am going to an Herb Festival up near Tulsa on the 20th. We attend it every year - missed going last year because I was so ill. I intend to look for that Golden Archer Thyme you mentioned. Thanks for the suggestions.

I planted Creeping Lemon Thyme from seed last Spring between broken concrete stepping stones up in the Potager on the hill. It is doing remarkably well considering for the most part I had to pretty much leave it to survive on its own once it came up, and we had that horrible drought to boot. I expect it to fill in this year, especially if we continue to get the moisture we are getting this year so far. I am so thrilled. It is having to compete with that horribly invasive Silver King Artmesia. How am I to ever get rid of that stuff - good golly! It has taken over half of the potager!

Anyway, lovely, lovely paths everyone. You've inspired me again. I've got a lot of work to do to get my gardens back up to their former beauty, let alone compare to anything you all have. Wow!

~Annie

I have a bunch of concrete blocks and I don't know what to do with them. How do you deal with something so big and heavy and what are they useful for in a small garden ? Thanks for the beautiful pics of your paths.

jkom,
All of your paths are just gorgeous, but I LOVE the photo of your back garden most of all! I have never seen such huge Nasturtiums! Tell me your secret, please? Mine are always small - pretty, but small. Is there some variety that is gigantic like that? I want 'em!
And what are those huge white trumpet flowers in the back?
I love paths that go nowhere. :)

~Annie

sweetannie4u, I had several packets of different nasturtium mixes, so unfortunately I can't tell you exactly which one has the larger leaves except that it has bright orange flowers with a darker red throat. Here's a closeup of them:
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The tall white flowers are callas, Zantedeschia aethiopica. They are evergreen here as long as the soil stays cool.

SweetAnnie, you have gorgeous gardens of all kinds. Do not be discouraged, the drought had such a devastating effect on things in your gardens last year. This year will be better, for you and your gardens. Have faith.

MeMo

Those are CALLAS?????
Why, they are immense! What do you feed them?!!!

Mother's Callas never grew any taller than three feet that I can recall. We lived on a rancho in Southern California. She grew them on the south side of the house in a brick flowerbed under the diningroom windows on the front entry courtyard. There were brick steps that led up from the courtyard out to the circle drive where two beautiful acacias grew. Their bark was smooth and gray and cool to the touch. In spring they were covered in flowers made up of tiny fuzzy balls. On the east end of the courtyard there was a veranda that was completely enveloped with Pink Fairy roses that climbed high up on the tiled roof of the house. The white, waxen callas were so lovely. I quite expected to see faeries dance out of those blooms at any moment, so I spent many summer hours sitting patiently beside them on the cool, damp brickwork watching...waiting. Sometimes my cousin would join me and we would sit huddled together, giggling softly so as not to frighten them. We sniffed and sniffed the Callas heady perfume until we were almost sick from their intense fragrance.
Mother always knew what I had been doing out there, for my pixie-like nose would be dusted with the their yellow pollen. Happy childhood memories of Calla lilies.
~Annie

Annie, there's a larger version of the white Z. aethiopica variety called "Hercules" - it's noticeably bigger than the standard white calla. Downside is, there's little fragrance nowadays in most of the calla varieties.

Flagstone with polymeric sand in joints as "front walk":

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"Chapel Hill grit" path along roses:

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Stepping stones (flagstone) through mulch:

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wonbyherwits,
Your garden is very cottagey indeed! Me like!
The solar lamps on hooks are a very nice touch along the paths.
In the last phot I would swear it was taken in England, list and all.
What are the evergreen shrubs along the fence by the garden bench and what are the small trees in the last photo?
All very inviting.
The red roses are beautiful. They look like Knock Out.
~Annie

Annie-- the evergreens outside the fence by the bench are oakleaf hollies. There is a buddleia to the left of the bench on the inside of the fence. The light green shrub to the far left outside the fence is osmanthus fragrans. There is a willow tree to the right of the bench outside the fence.

Those are Knock Out shrub roses. They start out red and then turn magenta/red as the weather heats up. They bloom from May through Thanksgiving here in North Carolina.

In the last photo, those are Indian Hawthorne 'Snow White' in front of the chimney in a U shape. I am contemplating a climbing rose for the chimney behind the hawthornes (there was lavender phlox in this photo and those are moved now). The weeping cherry to the right of the stepping stones was eaten by Japanese Beetles in this photo. Those are abelia just this side of the weeping cherry. The Kwansan cherry is outside the fence at the end.

Thanks for the compliments. It's very much a "lived in" garden. We spend more time out there than we do in the house. I was out there from 9:00am until 4:30pm today tending the garden. So nice to be retired!

BTW, the solar lights glow YELLOW like candles instead of blue like most solars. We got them at Lowe's Hardware.

Cameron

Annie -- I forgot to mention that all of those photos were taken in October, so the flower bed opposite the roses was already cleared of the annuals.

These are all so pretty and should be a Garden Path Calendar. when my yard/ponds was torn up(for over a year)I looked all over for just such photos. They were what inspired me to hang on. There is just something soooooooooo inviting about garden paths.

We started relandscaping our backyard a almost two years ago and still aren't done yet....but we did add pathways. One is straight and runs along the east side of the house....dh and I cleared everything out, graded it and he installed flagstone over a concrete pad he poured. The flagstone is set in mortar, now he just needs to grout it, but that might not ever happen....lol. The rest of the yard is divided into planting beds, a half circle of grass (still growing in as I type this, we planted it in late Oct. last year) and a curved gravel and flagstone pathway.
This was taken more than a year ago, when the plantings were relatively new:
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This is how it looked a month or so ago, before we added some spring annuals:
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Gravel pathways and planting beds (beds newly planted):
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