Paths and Walkways: Simple Projects, Contemporary Designs (Garden Design) [Paperback]

Hazel White (Author), Matthew Plut (Photographer)

Book Description

Series: Garden Design | Publication Date: February 1, 1998

Gardeners wanted; no experience necessary! Chronicle Books is pleased to introduce an exciting and unique new how-to series, Garden Design books. Beginning with Water Gardens and Paths and Walkways, Garden Design books present beautiful photographs of enchanting garden elements and then offer complete step-by-step directions for building the projects pictured. Featuring ideas from award-winning gardens created by renowned landscape architects, the elements include classic garden structures as well as whimsical contemporary designs. Easy-to-follow directions explain exactly what to do and how to do it, what it will cost, and how long it will take. With projects suited to both small and large spaces, the Garden Design series is more than a new collection of lovely picture books -- it is a valuable tool that enables readers to actually create their own outdoor havens. Paths and Walkways covers brick, gravel, stone, grass, wood, and concrete, and features easy "recipes" for such projects as a beach trail with poppies of Rhodes, a stepping stone bridge across a meadow, fieldstones with irises, and Mediterranean crazy paving, not to mention a complete plan for the Path of Righteousness.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this charming, beautifully photographed book, Hazel White has put together a breathtaking group of recipes for decorative paths and walkways. Each plan is explained first in terms of the image, fantasy, and feel that's being created, and is then followed by a list of "ingredients"--the plants, tools, materials list, and step-by-step instructions. Paths and Walkways is suitable for beginners, but is sure to provide ideas for experienced garden planners as well. Each project can be adapted for very large or small areas, and has information on maintenance of the materials and care of the plants. The different paths and walkways are rated individually by expense, difficulty of implementation, and the type of location required in relation to sun and shade. Even if you can't find exactly the garden passage you're looking for, the elements outlined in Paths and Walkways will allow you to improvise a plan of your own.

From Publishers Weekly

In this launch of Chronicle's Garden Design series, horticulture writer White suggests that paths give a garden structure, much as a skeleton shapes a body. She notes that paths, by facilitating movement from place to another, have a narrative quiality. Such concepts as scale, symmetry (or asymmetry), curving and/or straight lines, materials (dirt, wood, stone, brick, etc.) and edging also contribute to a path's ultimate effect. These concepts and those specifically concerned with building different kinds of paths are lucidly and briefly addressed in the first two chapters. The rest of the book is devoted to detailed "recipes" for constructing 24 specific paths. Photographs of each path are accompanied by a list of the equipment and supplies (including plantings) required to build it and to satisfy its maintenance needs. Grouped according to material (e.g., Brick; Grass and Wood), the projects are also classified according to ease or difficulty and relative expense. Such elements as grade and climate are left to the reader to consider, as are the many variations that will certainly be required of any given project by specific sites. The projects, such as Fieldstones and Irises, embellished with boulders, marguerites, euphorbias and lamb's ears, or Herb Parterre, using gravel, crushed rock, metal edging and dwarf myrtles, will surely spark further ideas in the interested gardener, while White's matter-of-fact approach to their construction will help reluctant or intimidated gardeners get started along paths of their own. (Mar.) FYI: White's Water Gardens, another title in the series, is also being published in March.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition edition (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811814297
• ISBN-13: 978-0811814294
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #288,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Heavy on text, May 10, 2001

By 

WHills (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Paths and Walkways: Simple Projects, Contemporary Designs (Garden Design) (Paperback)

I was curious about what kind of garden publications Chronicle Books would be putting out so I bought three in the series; Water Gardens, Paths and Walkways, and Small Patios.

I think if I had seen these in the bookstore I would've probably put them back. I was expecting something a little heavier on the visuals from Chronicle Books.

But the examples are interesting. Nice range of elements, and tending to favor the quirky in design. The author describes the garden element in question (depends on which book you have) and uses one overall photograph and two detail shots. The detail shots seem there mostly for atmosphere and to break up the page. She also includes a one-page, how-to discussion, and a list of tools and materials.

I'm not looking forward to all the reading.