What to Plant Along a Garden Walkway

Whether it guides you to a meditative place in the garden or simply leads you to your front door, a well-designed walkway is a desirable element in a home landscape. Shrubs, herbaceous flowering perennials and ground covers lining a path brighten, soften and help to define it.

When choosing plants for along a walkway, consider their mature heights if you don't want them to obscure views. Also avoid spiny and thorny plants with the potential to injure people who use the walkway. Although many herbs make fragrant edging for a path, most also have flowers that attract bees, which may be problematic for the path's pedestrians.

With heights ranging from 8 inches to 15 feet, boxwood varieties (Buxus spp.) are shrubs that suit almost any walkway site. U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones differ among the varieties. Boxwood is evergreen and tolerant of being shaped. It grows best in average, well-drained soil in full sun to partial shade.

Growing to a height and width of only 1 1/2 to 2 feet, the boxwood cultivar 'Green Gem' (Buxus 'Green Gem') is hardy in USDA zones 4 through 9 and can be used as low-maintenance edging along a walkway. A taller and wider option is 'Green Velvet' boxwood (Buxus 'Green Velvet,' USDA zones 5 through 8), which reaches up to 4 feet in height with an equal spread.

Less formal than boxwood, azaleas (Rhododendron spp.) are spring-flowering shrubs that can be planted along a walkway receiving filtered sunlight or afternoon shade. Azaleas grow best in acidic, moist, well-drained soil.

Dwarf azalea varieties such as 'Red Ruffles' (Rhododendron 'Red Ruffles,' USDA zones 8 through 9) and 'Fashion' azalea (Rhododendron x 'Fashion,' USDA zones 6 through 9) are evergreen, compact growers. 'Red Ruffles' becomes 2 to 4 feet tall and wide while 'Fashion' reaches a height of 2 to 4 feet and spreads 3 to 5 feet wide.

Plant dwarf azaleas at least 3 feet out from a walkway.

When used to flank a garden path, herbaceous perennials with colorful flowers can transform a routine walk through the yard. Among the numerous perennials to choose from, 'Caradonna' sage (Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna,' USDA zones 4 through 8 or zones 5 through 9) stands out in late spring with spikes of blue-violet flowers above the plant's green foliage. Drought tolerant 'Cardonna' sage grows in well-drained soils in full sun and reaches a height of 2 feet.

Coral bells (Heuchera spp.), which combines colorful flowers with colorful foliage, can be used as an edging plant for a sunny or shady pathway. Coral bells' flowers are usually pink, and its foliage ranges from chartreuse to purple, depending upon the variety. For instance, the cultivar 'Marmalade' coral bells (Heuchera 'Marmalade,' USDA zones 4 through 8) has amber foliage and reddish-brown flowers that appear in late spring to early summer. It grows into a clump 8 to 18 inches tall and wide.

In areas with hot summers, coral bells plants do best with afternoon shade. In all areas, the plants require rich, moist soils.

When planted beside a path or between its paving stones, many kinds of ground-cover plants soften the walkway's appearance.

A popular ground cover for a sunny site with well-drained soil, woolly thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus, USDA zones 5 through 8) tolerates foot traffic and, when trod upon, emits a fragrance considered pleasant. Although its spring blooms attract bees, woolly thyme becomes a gray-green mat that grows 1 inch high and spreads to 1 foot.

Corsican mint (Mentha requienii, USDA zones 6 through 9) has tiny, green, aromatic leaves. Growing 1/2 inch to 1 inch high, it can creep 1 foot or farther. It does not tolerate dry soil, and it requires afternoon shade in hot-summer areas. Corsican mint can naturalize; however, the paving along a walkway helps to limit its spread.

Establishing ground-cover plants between flagstones in a newly laid walkway requires only a few tasks. Ensure the ground covers have a short mature height so you don't have to trim them.

Measuring tape

Trowel

Decomposed granite

Compost

Watering device

Measure the gaps between the flagstones of a newly laid walkway. Move flagstones as needed to make each gap 1/2 to 1 inch wide between the stones.

Plant ground-cover plants in the gaps, leaving 6 to 8 inches between plants. Place each plant at the same soil depth at which it grew in its nursery container, taking the flagstones' height into account when figuring soil depth. The plants' soil, or growing medium, will extend to the top of the flagstones.

Fill the spaces around and between the gaps' plants with a mixture of decomposed granite and compost. The mixture is the growing medium.

Water the plants immediately until the growing medium is moist. Help the plants establish their root systems by watering the growing medium weekly during the first month. During periods of hot weather, watering twice each week may be necessary.