Defining the edges of your garden path

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To me, a garden should be wonderful, soft, soothing place. Garish decoration, colorful gnomes, etc. are repellant to my sense of aesthetics. Subtlety is what I like. But there is one place where you don't want to be subtle, and that is where you want to keep feet out of the garden.

Telling people where to step by using signs, or, God forbid, telling them is impractical, and downright rude. But telling people where to step with design takes a bit of forcefulness, which I had been neglecting, and am now going to upgrade.

If you've ever stepped in something, uh, unpleasant, especially if you own a dog, you know that even the most careful people sometimes fail to watch their step. And if you misstepped, there is a good chance that you were looking elsewhere while you planted your feet. This is how people walk normally. Unless you are inching along the edge of The Grand Canyon, you don't pay that much attention to your feet. You glance, or you see what you need from the corner of your eye.

This is where the pointy rocks come in. Originally, I had river rocks along the edge of the paths. Unfortunately, small smooth rocks and large flat rocks look, at at glance, to be part of the path. I made the mistake of planting small plants there and watched with horror as well-meaning guests strayed off the path and onto these plants. It was my mistake.

In the photo above, you can see how I've created an edge to the path. But this is no time to be subtle! The edges should be bold, as you can see by the nice piece of quartz that I have placed there in the center. And they should be a rock that is light in color, so that it is very visible, even at night. Creating something that your guests can't see, especially if they are looking at their cell phone, is an invitation to injury, both to your guests, and to the garden. I really don't want any of my guests falling into my garden!

I am going to continue scrounging for nice pointy rocks, and will continue to define the edge of the garden path.

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