How to create an elegant garden path

The remarkable gardens are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for all plant lovers. The Generalife garden in Granada (Spain) is one of those places where it is good to stroll with a camera slung over your shoulder and a notebook in your pocket to be able to glean some ideas for a garden path or borders to reproduce at home. . Although the climate of this Andalusian city is nothing like most of our climates, some ideas can inspire us, in particular to arrange a beautiful garden path.

Design your path

The main purpose of the paths is to link the different parts of the garden together or, as here, to lead the visitor to the main residence. Be careful that you will also have to hide unpleasant objects such as septic tanks or pond filters. You can use fake empty rocks for this. Visit the Gartendek website to find more.

This slightly curved path guides the eye towards the building. This focal point of view is reinforced by the symmetrical arrangement of the vegetation on either side of the path. The choice of materials used here fell on ocher pebbles which outcrop everywhere on the sides of the nearby Sierra Nevada. But it is also possible to lay paving stones and slate slabs.

If the final aesthetic is remarkable, composing such a calade made of patterns is not an easy exercise! The work requires patience and know-how, which is why it is best to call on the services of a landscaping professional who will be able to use his experience to guide you or carry out the work.

What plants to plant around the path?

Guide the gaze. The alignment of compact cypresses is a great classic of Iberian gardens. These conifers are mainly used here to frame the path with their verticality and further guide the gaze towards the building.

In an oceanic climate, the use of Mediterranean cypresses (Italian or Provence cypress, Cupressus sempervirens) remains possible, but with repeated rains, they tend to grow too high and occupy a large volume. In regions with a colder climate, cypresses can advantageously be replaced by regularly pruned hornbeams or by fastigiated or curtain beeches with green or purple foliage.

Color the edges

The edges of the alley are arranged in tiers of flowering plants. In a hot climate, like here, the choice can be made of flowering perennials (grown in France as annuals), like the hanging pink Petunias that encroach on the aisle.
At the rear, taller red splendens sages offer a vividly colored picture. From the first frosts, however, both will disappear.

In our climates, it is therefore better to bet on robust and rustic perennials: ground geraniums (Cantabriege geranium or Rozanne geranium for example), Spanish grass, low Rudbeckia… can replace hanging petunias when we can install more hardy shrub sage (Graham’s sage, Amistad sage, Salvia nemerosa) in the back in drained soil.