If you have a small space, a grass path is green enough to telegraph the idea of a rolling lawn. And in a large garden, a mown walkway is a low-cost alternative to an expensive stone or brick path (and nothing feels better under bare feet when you're headed toward the beach).
For the cost of a bag of grass seed (and a lawn mower to keep it clipped), you can have a seductive green ribbon running through your garden. Let it lure you toward the horizon.
Here are 11 ideas to design a budget-friendly grass path for summer:
Heaven's Gate
Above: Garden designer Miranda Brooks undercuts the rigid lines of a perfectly straight path with a rustic garden gate made of woven branches. For more of her work, see Dream Landscapes: 10 Perennial Gardens Inspired by Piet Oudolf.
Drought Tolerant
Above: Photograph via Fiona Brokhoff Design.
Edged by billows and pillows of greenery, a scrubby grass path is treated as a hardscape element. You wouldn't water stone pavers or a gravel walkway, and you don't need to irrigate here, either.
Color Story
Above: Designer Tom Stuart-Smith is the dean of modern English landscapes; here he shows restraint with a sure hand. For more of his ideas, see 9 Garden Secrets to Steal from England's Tom Stuart-Smith.
Mowing a swath of high perennial grass exposes the green stems beneath the tassels and creates a pleasing color palette. Scatter seeds of low-growing wildflowers in the low grass for further charm.
To the Lighthouse
Above: Garden designer Edwina von Gal's seaside landscape for Roger Foley includes a mown grass path that follows the lead of the land, with just enough meandering to make it a relaxed journey to the beach.
For more of von Gal's work, see Designer Visit: At Home with Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten in East Hampton.
Blurred Edges
Above: Photograph via Greenlee and Associates in Napa County.
In Northern California's Napa Valley, designer John Greenlee planted a meadow garden, with a grass path edged by tufts of low-growing perennial grasses that are encouraged to breach the borders.
Architectural Digest
Above: Purple lupines and yellow narcissus flank a mown path. Photograph via Don Statham Design.
Landscape designer Don Statham lives on a farm in New York state, where a simple mown path "creates a strong architectural element." Statham keeps the grass on the path low and on either side, "every three weeks, I mow the high grass on the highest level of the lawn mower." In the high grass, wild flowers such as daisies and Indian paintbrush appear each summer.
Between Beds
Above: Complementing the informality of a wattle fence, grass paths surround beds in a Renaissance-style kitchen beds—and keep down the weeds. For more, see Renaissance Garden.
Tinkering With Turf
Above: For more see Gone Wild: Tinkering with Turf. Photograph by Kendra Wilson.
Notes Kendra: "Called 'tinkering with turf' and 'grassy wild gardening' by the garden writer Anna Pavord, gardening in this way brings to mind the ideas of avant-garde Victorian garden writer William Robinson, who loathed formality and bedding in particular. For those of us who already love the meadow style, this is even easier than scrubbing out a border, adjusting the soil conditions, and starting all over again with an annual wildflower meadow (and the promise of years of adjustments ahead)."
A Secret Garden
Above: For more, see A Reader's Secret Garden: Enchanted Burchetts Wood.
On the edge of a large heath land in the county of Surrey in the South of England lives painter and best-selling author Celia Lewis with her chickens and turkeys and sheep—and the occasional pig. They've all made appearances in her books (as well as in her rambling seven-acre garden).
It's the quintessential old-fashioned sprawl of an English country garden, woods and mossy paths that lead to a sunny wildflower meadow.
Well Groomed
Above: Photograph via A Gardening Woman.
A traditional garden in the Cotswolds has velvety green walkways to define the perimeters of bordering flower beds. A tidy ribbon of mown grass provides interesting textural juxtaposition to lollipop alliums.
A Prince's Purview
Above: Photograph by Andrew Butler.
Known for its mown grass paths, Prince Charles' garden at Highgrove turns a simple landscape element into royal walkways. The secret to the transformation? Rich swaths of color and texture offset the velvety paths. For more, see Required Reading: Prince Charles And His Highgrove Garden.
For more easy summer landscaping ideas, see:
- 11 Best Backyard Landscaping Ideas of 2015.
- Lawn Begone: 7 New Ideas for Front Yard Landscaping.
- Hardscaping 101: Design Guide for Edible Gardens.
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