Garden Path Inspiration

If you need some inspiration for a new garden path or two, I found the perfect article that includes many links to tutorials for some some awesome paths!

Click here to go to the article!

read more

DIY Stepping Stones and Paths

One of my favorite outdoor projects is playing in concrete and making my own stepping stones.  Your creativity mixed with some basic knowledge is all you need to come up with some awesome and unusual paths for your garden.

Click here for some inspiration, ideas and tutorials.

Click here for more inspiration!

read more

Secret garden

This part of Westbury Gardens in Vermont reminds me of a secret garden.  I've always wanted a little pathway that leads to a secret garden in my garden and in my mind, it looks very similar to this one . . . except mine would have more color and maybe a water feature along the side.

Very cool idea for a large property!

For more photos featured on the Fine Gardening website click here.

Click here to visit Westbury Gardens' website.

read more

What to do with a fallen tree?

When nature hands you lemons . . . thank God you and your family are safe and you still have a roof over your head.

I don't remember such a rainy summer with fierce lightening that travels with the thunderstorms.

These thunderstorms were too much for our huge oak tree that is dangerously close to the house.  One of the monsterously huge limbs must have gotten too heavy from all the rain and old age.  The trunk is as big around as a normal oak tree.  I always wanted to hang a swing from it, figuring it was sturdy and never going anywhere.  Wrong!  

The casualty is the back storage shed and outdoor patio.  The building itself and the patio roof looks crumpled like an accordion.  My heart is broken . . . I love that outdoor patio, not to mention we don't know what is going on inside, where so many of my treasures and memories live.  We are still dealing with the shock of that huge tree limb falling . . . the damage that has been done inside is already done, so I guess it has to be one shock at a time.  

I'm so grateful it did not fall on the house and we are safe.

Photos of the fallen tree and damage will be posted on the blog "My Florida Paradise" . . . this post is about solutions.  

We plan on using as much of the wood as we can on various projects and lots of material for the compost pile.  I went on an internet search expedition and found the most awesome path I have ever seen!  Along with lots of tables and benches, this will be one of the projects for sure.  I'll be listing more projects as I find them so we will have the instructions and ideas handy and hopefully help someone else who was handed lemons from nature.

Click here for the original blog post

Click here for an update a year later

read more

Elegant Garden

The elegance of this garden immediately caught my attention when I was browsing through Fine Gardening's garden photo section for some garden inspiration.  

Photo: Courtesy of Barbara Nuffer via Fine Gardening

Since our property is so large and we really don't want to be a slave to the garden as I have been in the past, the general thinking has been to design raised beds around large paths.  Barbara's garden in upstate New York is exactly what has been going through my mind.  Click on the Fine Gardening link to read the entire article featuring her garden and more photos.

An excerpt from the article . . .

"This garden is a raised bed. The shape is a 20-foot-diameter circle with a gravel path at ground level leading to a fountain in the center of the circle, and continuing to a bench. The outer perimeter of the garden is a 2-foot-tall stone wall. The interior wall is pressure treated 1 x 6s cut into 3-foot lengths and sunk into the ground 12 inches. Since portions of this wall are curved, we used metal strapping nailed to the back of the pieces of wood to hold it in place. They are slanted slightly back towards the bed. The shape is really pretty in winter as the sun sets behind it. A natural stream is down the hill behind the garden so you hear running water as a backdrop.

We lined the bed with black plastic with some drainage holes punched in it. My soil mixture included 6 cubic foot bags of coarse texture vermiculite. We mixed this with potting soil that contained lots of peat. This was suitable because I was planning to use acid-loving plants. We also mixed in two parts of topsoil. The proportions were one part vermiculite to one part potting soil to two parts topsoil. The bed was well moistened and mulched with finely ground cedar bark."

Awesome inspiration!

read more

The Path to Serenity

There is something about paths in the garden that can transform a garden into a serene sanctuary that creates the mystery of where the path leads, especially when connected with secluded garden rooms.

I love the randomness of the pattern and diversity of materials used in the featured path.  Very clever idea for stretching out the more expensive pavers by mixing them with less expensive items.  Very cool!

Click here to go to the story behind this path!

What an awesome path that can be duplicated with relatively inexpensive items.  

For those who love to create with concrete like me, the pavers would be so easy to make!  

I'm ready to mix some concrete :)

read more