Features of the design of tracks with elevation differences

Landscaping paths

This article will focus on ways of landscaping paths, paths and stairs with elevation differences.

Playing with multi-level objects of garden decor allows you to find unusual landscape solutions that attract the eye. The means of connecting sections of the garden of different heights always look advantageous, regardless of the general background. These can be stairs, paths, paths and their various combinations. Despite their showiness, these design elements need a stylish and harmonious design. To do this, there are several ways of landscaping multi-level areas.

Greening paths: specific features and tasks

Greening the connecting elements of the garden landscape allows them to fit into the overall picture, not allowing them to get lost against the background of lush garden plantings or, conversely, to stand out too much, destroying the harmony of the composition. Even in cases where the path or path is located on a classic lawn or a neat site, it is necessary to create a decorative frame for them.

Layered paths, paths and stairs are landscaped in a variety of ways - from densely filled curbs and mixborders to more modest options that involve the use of a small number of plants. Whatever the chosen landscaping option, its main goal is to reveal all the beauty of the landscaped object and show it from its best side.

At the same time, such landscaping has two completely different tasks: on the one hand, it is necessary to ensure a harmonious combination of a multi-level path or staircase with the overall picture of the garden, not allowing it to upset the compositional balance. On the other hand, you need to show the object in all its non-trivial beauty, highlighting the difference between the levels.

Thus, at the same time it is necessary to mask and effectively present a multi-level element of the garden landscape. After all, catchy and self-sufficient paths, stairs, promenades can not only complement the composition and emphasize the original appearance of the garden, but also draw attention to themselves, distracting it from other zones, flower beds and decorative objects. It is the use of various forms of landscaping that allows to solve this seemingly unsolvable problem.

Among them, there are several main types:

- a curb or mixborder located along the entire length of the track or along the perimeter of the site, creating the effect of lush thickets;

- islets of plants scattered with dotted lines, occupying the most noticeable areas along the path;

- combinations of the first two types, suggesting the presence of green islands along with a border frame.

The principle of framing multi-level garden design objects basically repeats the principles of work on the design of a flower bed, which forms a frame around the recreation area. It is necessary to comply with the compliance of such a framework with the general styling in order to prevent the effect of disparate areas that are not linked by a single concept.

In order to choose one or another type of design for a path with elevation differences, stairs or a promenade, you should determine the basic concept, adhering to the following algorithm of actions.

1) It is necessary to determine which parts of the path need to be emphasized and highlighted - for their decoration, you can use lush borders, mixborders, or create single accents with the help of spectacular plants such as shrubs, standard trees, miniature flower beds.

2) The areas that stand out from the general picture also need to be outlined in advance - after all, they should be masked with the help of voluminous crowns of shrubs and thickets.

3) On the plan or already in the garden itself, you need to designate the width of the frames by drawing the boundaries of future plantings.

4) Make a selection of plants with the help of which landscaping will be carried out. First you need to decide on accents, then choose bright varieties to fill the frames and, finally, find suitable perennials to fill the voids.

5) The selected cultures must be filled in the spaces reserved for them, forming the framing of the multi-level object.

Landscaping paths: the choice of plants for decoration

The principle of choosing filling for different types of framing paths, stairs or promenades is the same: the maximum number of cultures used to create the background should not be more than 5-6. Several accents are added to them.

For example, for steps decorated with moss, bright carnations planted on the sides of the stairs can play an accentuating role.

First of all, volumetric accents in the form of shrubs and trees are chosen, located one by one, asymmetrically or parallel to each other, along the perimeter of the site - there are many placement options. Also, the function of accents can be performed by vines, bush types of roses, figuratively trimmed boxwood... With the help of the latter, you can create a spectacular frame for a solo plant.

Plants that fill the frames laid along the paths and stairs should be unpretentious, do not require constant maintenance and create a continuous volumetric carpet without voids. Geraniums, ground cover species of roses and phloxes, ivy, thyme, host, fern, daylily, bell, lupine, undersized juniper and many others meet these requirements.

Another option for the design of frames and borders is minimalistic and involves the formation of a homogeneous base on which single accents will be highlighted, linking the design of a multi-level object with the rest of the garden.

The use of pot and tub crops for landscaping paths and stairs

If the creation of a mixborder or border is not possible, the task of landscaping is successfully performed by compositions from pot or tub plants. They can be placed in a row or in groups of several, installed on the stairs and landings themselves, or filled with them in the surrounding space. This method of gardening is notable for its convenience and the ability to easily change the arrangement of plants, experimenting with their expressive qualities.

Landscaping options that combine plant borders, mixborders with elements of pot design are interesting.

Landscaping paths photo