This week our guest blogger is Helen Yoest, owner of Gardening With Confidence.  Helen Yoest is a gardening coach, stylist, writer, speaker and expert.

As a garden writer, she has written for Better Homes and Gardens, Nature’s Garden, Fine Gardening, and Carolina Gardening.  As a field editor for Better Homes and Gardens and their special interest publications, she scouts great gardens as well as presents her work to Martha Stewart Living, Architectural Digest, and other noted publications.

She travels as a  garden speaker to both motivate and teach other enthusiasts on the art of gardening and design.  Her Gardening With Confidence gardening coach service assists clients with all levels of gardening experience to create the design they desire.

This week she is using her wide array of expertise to explain the importance of garden paths and how they can best be created and used.

A journey down the garden path is poetic and practical.

Paths play an important role in the garden. More than a map through, paths fill a void in the garden, particularly in the winter, give sturdy passage, and invite you into the garden.

Chances are, you’ll know where to put a path. Over time, a path will make itself. Cut across the lawn enough times to smell the roses and you will begin to see where a path may go.

Casually sketch your house and garden. Map out where a path might lead. Adding curves will slow the pace and reveal the garden slowly.

Know the purpose of the path and how it may be used. This will help plan the width and path material considerations. Will your path be used by two to journey though or is it for easy access for the wheelbarrow?

Here are five materials to consider when planning a path:

Gravel and Other Loose Material Gravel paths are ideal for budget conscience homeowners. They also provide traction and allow for good drainage. Gravel looks nice too and the sound of the crunch is somehow
reassuring as you journey down the garden path. In more informal areas, paths made of mulch, such as wood chips and bark, will define an area. Paths made from these materials are best in areas not traveled with bare feet.

Brick Brick is probably the most versatile material to use in creating garden paths. Complementing most home styles, brick can be laid in many different patterns and can also accept a gentlearch. Set in sand or mortar, brick is equally suitable for a passage to the front door as it is for a service area. Remember, paths made of brick in moist, heavily shaded areas can retain moisture and form moss, creating a slipping hazard.

Pavers Concrete pavers for paths offer the consumer many options in design. Available in noninterlocking
styles with smooth edges, and interlocking styles with patterned edges to allow the pieces to fit together like a puzzle, as well as, unique shapes needed for complicated patterns. There are circles, hexagons, squares, triangles, and of course, rectangles. Pavers can be laid in sand or mortar making their use versatile and
with many choices to match to your home’s style.

Stone Flagstone and cut stone tile lends a more formal feeling to a garden path. Flagstone is a natural choice to compliment garden plantings. The available colors are naturally subtle, resulting in restful looking paths. Flagstone can be laid in sand or mortar, but if thick enough, flagstone works well laid directly on top of leveled ground. Cobble stone, fieldstone, river rock, and other irregularly shaped stone lend a more relaxed look to the garden path. The use of various sizes in the design allows for some very creative patterns.

Wood Wood can be used as raised decking in the garden or as an edging to other path materials. Boards can be positioned widthwise to visually slow movement or lengthwise to provide a sense of forward movement. A level path can be constructed with wood to line out the dips and valleys irregular surfaces. Left natural, stained or painted, wood lends itself to just about any home style.

Digging Deeper The path width is best determined by its use. If the passage is to only be used as a service area, such as a path from the front yard to back yard, enough space to allow the passage of a single person is all that is
needed; therefore, a width of 2 – 3 feet will be plenty. If the path width is needed for two to travel through, then a width of 4 – 5 feet is needed.

Installing your garden paths this year will be a dream come true for many years to come.

Editor’s Note: Don’t let your garden path rush people out of your pleasant scenery.  A well placed garden bench or patio chair will allow both you and your guests to have a place to stop, rest, and truly enjoy the beautiful garden around them.  If you’re feeling a little bold, try stringing a hammock just off the path for a shaded and serene escape.  Also consider having your garden path lead to more than just through the garden or to the house.  Imagine a rich and long pathway to a secret hide-away in a gazebo or cabana, or under a pergola.  Even a comfortable dining set or patio group would be a fine destination after all of your hard work.

So, gas prices are rising again – just as we knew that they would.  There was no way that they were going to stay below $2.00 per gallon.  In fact, the period just before they dropped was what seems to be a ploy that the oil companies use every time they are planning a big increase; they try to condition us to the new rates.  They do this by first raising prices to ridiculous levels (come on, $4.00+ per gallon?!), then lowering them just long enough to get people feeling confident, then, finally, raising them again, but not quite to where they were at their worst, hoping that the new, higher rates will actually look good to us, and we’ll all say, “Well, at least it’s not $4.00 a gallon anymore!” and not complain about it. 

The worst thing about it is that, even though we’re on to their tricks, there’s not much that we can do about it.  Therefore, in one of the few courses of action available, millions of people are staying home on their vacations, and rediscovering the fun that they can have in their own backyards – literally and figuratively.  The figuratively part is, of course, visiting local parks, museums, restaurants, zoos, and other attractions that they’ve never paid any attention to before.   

The literally part is, well, spending time in their actual backyards, which people are doing like crazy these days.  Indeed, backyards are becoming such popular places to spend time, that they are increasingly being turned into outdoor living rooms, with nearly all of the amenities found indoors, and are being furnished and decorated just as meticulously and comfortably.      

In the schemes of these living spaces, which can be quite elaborate, there is no place for the shoddily built outdoor furniture of old, which was often disposable and collapsible, although, in many cases, not on purpose, and at the worst possible times!  No-o!  Today, the demand is for outdoor furniture that’s as fashionable, comfortable, and durable as that in any room of the house.

Furthermore, people are looking for a wider range of choices in styles, colors, and materials, which is why CedarStore.com has emerged as one of the leading sources of outdoor furniture.  If you haven’t seen all of the new designs that are available, stop in and browse our fabulous collection of wood, metal, and synthetic patio chairs, porch swings and gliders, Adirondack chairs, steamer chairs, chaise lounges, rockers, settees, picnic tables, outdoor dining sets, and much more. 

Actually, it might turn out for the best, because you’ll have a fantastic new outdoor living room, and you’ll get to explore all of the treasures in your figurative backyard.  So, not only will you be putting money back into your community, but, no doubt, you’ll find a ton of fun stuff you’ve been missing in your own hometown.  Hmm – fine advice, coming from someone who grew up in Niagara Falls, but has never even been on the Maid of the Mist!

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy    

While browsing a magazine about outdoor living, I came upon a picture of a beautifully prepared outdoor dining set.  Although it seemed strange that this outside table was set with real china, instead of paper plates, the thing that really struck me was that they were using the good old blue-and-white plates of yesteryear. 

So, I did some research and found that the popularity of blue-and-white ceramic pottery goes back more than three centuries, to the time when Chinese porcelain first arrived in Europe.  Among its earliest admirers was Queen Mary II, in the late 1600’s.  She must have started some kind of trend, because the demand for it became so great that, by the 18th century, blue-and-white china pieces were being shipped to England by the millions.

Even though the craze began with Chinese pieces, it was English potters who were able to mass produce similar items, using a printing technique that was developed around the middle of the 18th century, wherein designs could be transferred, instead of hand-painted, onto the pottery.  This method was so much faster that factories could quickly churn out thousands of blue-and-white “transferware” plates, mugs, tea services, and dinnerware.  

Of course, the blue-and-white tableware became a huge favorite in the United States as well; and, because it’s still popular today, it’s hard to believe that it was actually in its prime between 1815 and 1835. 

Although there were tons of different designs, the Blue Willow pattern, which was introduced in the early 1900’s and sold at stores such as Sears, Roebuck, and Co. and Woolworth’s, was a best-seller.  In fact, the use of this inexpensive tableware became so widespread in restaurants during the Depression, that it led to the term, “blue plate special.”

So, that’s how those familiar blue-and-white plates came to be.  These days, however, there are a lot more color choices available – not just for the plates, but for tables as well.  In fact, if you go to AllPicnicTables.com, you’ll find one of the largest selections of outdoor dining sets and picnic tables available anywhere, in a full spectrum of spectacular colors.              

And what of those transferware plates that were so affordable way back when?  They can now be found in antique stores, running anywhere from $50 for a teacup or saucer of a lighter blue, to $2,000 and above, for larger items, such as pitchers and platters, that have nicer patterns and more intense blues.  That’s one special blue plate!

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy