How to soften hard landscaping

[StillNiceCardigan]

We moved into our current house three months ago and I’m starting to get to grips with having a much larger garden. The previous owner has put a block paved driveway round the back leading to a garage and cart lodge which works well as there is limited access round the front of the house.

As well as the driveway there is also a wide path that leads to the end of the garden and a gate onto a footpath. The path is wide enough for a car and was intended to give access to the field on the other side of the footpath which belonged to the previous owner. The field wasn’t included in our purchase so now we have a very well made wide path through our garden that just leads to a gate. It might be something we take up at some point but for now is there anything that I can do to make it look less obvious. I’ve seem some pictures of thyme growing in a path but I’m not sure if the gaps between the block paving are big enough to grow it. Has anyone tried anything similar?

You could take out a few blocks to create planting pockets. Also in gateway put a seat and arbour , make ot a destination. Or place mirror in gateway to create an illusion with gate kind of half open but it might be an issue for birds depending on where it is.

I did wonder if I could take some blocks out. I’ll investigate how “stuck” they are! We do use the gate as it opens onto a footpath that we walk down and it means we have easy access to the other side of our hedges but it is wider than we need.

Plant things at the edge that will sprawl on to the path. If you choose your sizings and spaces you can make the path appear more winding than it is. Basically go for 18inch or so high shrubs of floppy habit, eg lavender, rock rose, Euphorbia myrsinites.

There’s a natural tendency for things to colonise the path itself. My block paving terrace is full of harebells. First mosses get a foothold, they collect blown dust and create a pocket of soil, then something else grows

Well,I'm seriously jealous and want a picture!

It sounds great! Block paving is usually easy to take some bricks up so you could do that and then plant into the spaces to soften it all. Or like a PP said, plant sprawling plants and shrubs in a staggered fashion down both sides to soften the hard edges. A lot of grasses e.g. ponytail grass work well for this.

As above I like the idea of removing blocks or groups of blocks to form planting pockets.

Hardy geraniums will flop and sprawl quite effectively.

Depending on what's on either side you could also use pots - a row of matching pots up each side would look more formal and regimented, but clusters of pots in alternate sides would make the path more winding and easy enough to move if you don't like it or need access.

Did the deeds for the house include a right of access into the field? If it does you may need to leave a certain width clear.

Here's a pic @Nannyfannybanny!

The previous owner retained the field so there doesn't need to be any access from our house anymore.

I think I'd be buying some big pots and grouping things along it as well - to break it up a bit.

You could put borders along the edge and plant all sorts of floppy stuff in there. It could be a real feature. And maybe a statue, topiary at the end?

That is fabulous, OP! I think I'd plant small trees and shrubs informally along either side of the path to break it up visually and distract the eye up from the path itself. Something on the far left them maybe a group of shrubs on the right closer to the camera, where the path curves.

If you don't need the access anymore, I wouldn't bother spending money now on pots, trees etc. Far better to invest in getting rid of it (and that curve would make an amazing line for a wonderful curve of planting)

Some lovely ideas I particularly like the idea of floppy stuff. The path needs to stay for now as the previous owner has left us a raft of unexpected jobs that need doing before we can start spending on the garden.

Mexican Fleabane will soften edges up and it self seeds.

Love it, I'd make it quite formal and pretend it still leads somewhere. Lovely feature to work from. Trees spaced formally either side, possibly apple or cherry blossom then other soft planting as a contrast underneath. I'd love to have inherited that. Depends how much cash you have though how you do it. Could have an arbour every so often or a long tunnell of something, possibilities endless but restricted by budget.

Daffodils, tulips running along the sides. Feel excited for you.

If you ever get the dosh together turn it into a laburnum or wisteria walkway with arches or pergola….you could start them growing now…laburnum from seed is easy (don’t lick them).

We are planning to make the area to the right at the bottom of the path an informal seating area as that is where the sun is in the afternoon and early evening so the path can lead down to that. A pergola walkway would be lovely (and all the other ideas!). I noticed yesterday that the hawthorn bush next to the gate has started to grow over the “car” bit so I’ll leave that to do it’s stuff as we just use the smaller “person” gate.

There’s a metal arch that has been dumped behind the garage that looks mostly intact so I’m trying to decide where to put that. The previous owner was not a gardener judging by the state of the borders round the patio. Anything that has been planted was put in by his predecessors.