7 Path Ideas for Your Contemporary Garden
Stuck for inspiration on how to connect zones in a modern garden? See how these Houzz landscapers have done it
There’s often a geometry to a contemporary outside space that you don’t get in rustic or cottage gardens. As such, it can be easy to fall into boxy or symmetrical failsafe solutions for pathways. Yet, as these garden designers deftly demonstrate, from a carpet of ground cover with stepping stones to planted rills and angular walkways, there are many creative ways to join up the areas in your modern outdoor space.
Disguise with planting
This crisp, contemporary garden created by Germinate Design mixes its angles, spikes and hard surfaces with tactile planting that blurs the edges.
A particularly striking example of this is the pathway that leads to the dining patio. The area feels more like stepping stones than a formal walkway, as you have to pick your way across a lush carpet of the ground-cover plant, vinca, which thrives on all sides of the stones.
Need some help with your outdoor space? Find local landscape contractors and gardeners in the Houzz Professionals Directory.
This crisp, contemporary garden created by Germinate Design mixes its angles, spikes and hard surfaces with tactile planting that blurs the edges.
A particularly striking example of this is the pathway that leads to the dining patio. The area feels more like stepping stones than a formal walkway, as you have to pick your way across a lush carpet of the ground-cover plant, vinca, which thrives on all sides of the stones.
Need some help with your outdoor space? Find local landscape contractors and gardeners in the Houzz Professionals Directory.
Green up a rill
Planted rills are a bit of a trademark feature for garden designer Charlotte Rowe, who incorporated the idea into the pathway of this unusual modern garden, which encircles a detached house.
A rill is a small channel and, here, Charlotte has slimline versions crossing a path made from Spanish limestone slabs and pale grey limestone gravel. Rather than the more usual free-flowing water, though, Charlotte has filled the rills with the shade-loving ground-cover plant, Galium odoratum.
The narrow green strips are designed at different lengths and the shape is also repeated in gravel and paving to create an organic, less formal look in what is an upscale, elegant design.
Check out the whole garden.
Planted rills are a bit of a trademark feature for garden designer Charlotte Rowe, who incorporated the idea into the pathway of this unusual modern garden, which encircles a detached house.
A rill is a small channel and, here, Charlotte has slimline versions crossing a path made from Spanish limestone slabs and pale grey limestone gravel. Rather than the more usual free-flowing water, though, Charlotte has filled the rills with the shade-loving ground-cover plant, Galium odoratum.
The narrow green strips are designed at different lengths and the shape is also repeated in gravel and paving to create an organic, less formal look in what is an upscale, elegant design.
Check out the whole garden.
Cut a path through flowerbeds
A garden pathway is often designed to skirt the perimeter of a lawn or weave its way across it.
Garden designer Neil Jones has done things a little differently in this petite modern plot; his natural stone pathway (from patio to pergola/dining area) is located amid a key planting zone. “We positioned the slabs within the flowerbeds, which helps to slow your journey,” he explains.
Low-level thyme, zesty-hued euphorbia plus scented jasmine and lavender surround the slabs, while spiked downlighters softly mark the route.
Here, the design is pictured soon after planting, but you can imagine how lush and magical this path will feel to walk along as the foliage and flowers mature.
See before and after images and learn more about this garden.
A garden pathway is often designed to skirt the perimeter of a lawn or weave its way across it.
Garden designer Neil Jones has done things a little differently in this petite modern plot; his natural stone pathway (from patio to pergola/dining area) is located amid a key planting zone. “We positioned the slabs within the flowerbeds, which helps to slow your journey,” he explains.
Low-level thyme, zesty-hued euphorbia plus scented jasmine and lavender surround the slabs, while spiked downlighters softly mark the route.
Here, the design is pictured soon after planting, but you can imagine how lush and magical this path will feel to walk along as the foliage and flowers mature.
See before and after images and learn more about this garden.
Soften with gravel
Paving stones of some sort are perhaps the most obvious idea that comes to mind when considering a pathway to a contemporary home. Here, though, in a structured garden at the back of an ultra-modern extension, the team at PEAKE Projects have tapped into the power of grey as a colour associated with contemporary schemes, but incorporated it in a soft way with gravel.
Versatile and water-permeable, gravel is more often associated with driveways. But that’s a shame, as it comes in a vast array of tones, sizes and shapes – from pebbles to these small, angular stones – and can work beautifully as a feature in a garden, too.
The crisp finish perfectly complements the topiaried foliage and ties in wonderfully with the back of the house, yet is a softer approach than geometric slabs, which could have risked reflecting the architecture too literally.
Paving stones of some sort are perhaps the most obvious idea that comes to mind when considering a pathway to a contemporary home. Here, though, in a structured garden at the back of an ultra-modern extension, the team at PEAKE Projects have tapped into the power of grey as a colour associated with contemporary schemes, but incorporated it in a soft way with gravel.
Versatile and water-permeable, gravel is more often associated with driveways. But that’s a shame, as it comes in a vast array of tones, sizes and shapes – from pebbles to these small, angular stones – and can work beautifully as a feature in a garden, too.
The crisp finish perfectly complements the topiaried foliage and ties in wonderfully with the back of the house, yet is a softer approach than geometric slabs, which could have risked reflecting the architecture too literally.
Mix shape and form
If larger stones appeal, this is one way you could go. Smaller gravel is typically easier underfoot and so, with upsized pebbles, your path may benefit from a secondary surface on which to put your feet – like these rectangular pavers.
A mix of materials also adds interest and texture, and the combination of pale pebbles with angular slabs creates a slick yet soft contemporary look in this design by Landscaping Solutions.
If larger stones appeal, this is one way you could go. Smaller gravel is typically easier underfoot and so, with upsized pebbles, your path may benefit from a secondary surface on which to put your feet – like these rectangular pavers.
A mix of materials also adds interest and texture, and the combination of pale pebbles with angular slabs creates a slick yet soft contemporary look in this design by Landscaping Solutions.
Curve cobbles
Although cobbles are often associated with ancient streets, this design by Kate Eyre shows how they can work in a contemporary, urban scheme, too.
The curved path in this wraparound garden in south London is made from dark grey granite setts, laid to form a non-linear route that creates a gentle continuity between three distinct spaces.
This design is also a lesson in how framing will firm up the path’s effect: the dark grey raised bed edge is distinctly modern and complements the granite, while abundant planting at the path’s edges softens the overall effect. The varieties include Lavandula angustifolia spilling over the raised bed, architectural Buxus sempervirens balls, which contrast with cottage garden favourite pink Echinacea purpurea, blousy white Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, and gently rustling Stipa tenuissima, the grass in the foreground.
Tell us…
What kind of pathway do you have in your garden – or what would you like to have? Share your thoughts and photos in the Comments.
Although cobbles are often associated with ancient streets, this design by Kate Eyre shows how they can work in a contemporary, urban scheme, too.
The curved path in this wraparound garden in south London is made from dark grey granite setts, laid to form a non-linear route that creates a gentle continuity between three distinct spaces.
This design is also a lesson in how framing will firm up the path’s effect: the dark grey raised bed edge is distinctly modern and complements the granite, while abundant planting at the path’s edges softens the overall effect. The varieties include Lavandula angustifolia spilling over the raised bed, architectural Buxus sempervirens balls, which contrast with cottage garden favourite pink Echinacea purpurea, blousy white Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, and gently rustling Stipa tenuissima, the grass in the foreground.
Tell us…
What kind of pathway do you have in your garden – or what would you like to have? Share your thoughts and photos in the Comments.
This decked pathway is one of two in a triangular-shaped garden. They were partly designed to sit higher than ground level, so as not to disturb the roots of the ancient, protected trees they pass, but they also look stunning, creating the sense of winding your way through a lush canopy at treetop level.
The FSC tropical hardwood, yellow balau, chosen by designer Nigel Gomme of Cityscapers, not only complements the jungle theme of the planting, but is also particularly hardwearing and stable.
The paths zigzag their way around the garden, hugging a central lawn, connecting the patio with two garden buildings and gently reflecting the shape of the garden itself.
Explore the rest of this magical garden.