Why have a landscape path?
Landscape paths enhance the aesthetics and functionality of Houston landscaping designs. The geometric patterns they create in a yard give definition to landscape style. They also help support the architecture of the home by reflecting key elements of material build and architectural motif. Pathways have a direct impact on the emotional state of the viewer, alter perceptions of space in highly desirable ways, and help create special zones of interests dedicated to special purposes.
A path can be made from any material that will support human foot traffic. Because of this, pathways offer landscaping professionals near unlimited creative freedom because they can be built to compliment any style of Houston landscaping and home architecture. Common materials used to build pathways include brick, pavers, crushed stone, gravel, natural stone, and decorative concrete.
Pathways stand out to the eye and subconsciously move the viewer’s gaze along their surface. Wherever the path goes; the eye follows–and the feet are never that far behind. Pathways are essential to getting people to explore the landscape because they motivate the viewer to witness every destination point to which they lead.
The direction that a landscape path travels can have a direct emotional impact on the mind. Straight, linear runs reinforce a sense of order and control. We often create paths like this in formal, neo-Classical, modern, and contemporary Houston landscaping designs. Curved lines appear softer to the eye, and are often instrumental in blending hardscape designs with softscapes of trees, hedges, custom gardens, and even ornamental grasses.
A meandering path generates mystique and interest. In a small yard, it can have the effect of making the existing space appear enlarged. In a very big yard, a lighted landscape that twists and turns into the far corners of lot makes the property appear far more safe and navigable.
Landscape paths make the yard more functional as well. Every Houston landscaping design involves dividing the yard into unique zones of interest. These zones vary in size depending on what they are intended to support. There are zones for relaxing, zones for entertainment, and zones for private time with significant others. Pathways can be very instrumental in defining these zones without altering the unity of the overall design. They act as natural borders between spaces, but they are low enough to the ground that they do not create hard barriers between different areas.
One of the most important applications of the landscape path is found in garden design. Larger gardens are simply too complex to admire from the side. To truly experience their magic, one must walk through the garden and experience what it has to offer from within. The largest gardens typically have seating areas, or even some sort of structure, located in a key point
Landscape paths also connect the most important zones of interest so people can travel freely from place to place. Outdoor buildings, such as summer outdoor kitchens, garden pergolas, and covered patios look much more aesthetically pleasing when they are networked together in this way. They work much like rooms inside a home, with paths acting as hallways that lead guests from point to the next in an outdoor living environment.
