Creating a Water Wise Garden Path with Benefits
Water wise garden pathways are becoming a smart alternative landscape choice, especially in areas where lawns are water grabbers and gardeners are creativley looking for easier and more efficient ways to garden in smaller spaces.
Easy, low maintenance indigenous low groundcover plants, grasses, perennials, small shrubs, aloes and succulents to stepping stones and crushed stone – landscaped together will create a waterwise garden path that will be kind and beneficial both to the environment and visiting wildlife.
Benefits of water wise garden pathways:
- Living mulches
Low growing plants play a valuable role in the conservation of water. A layer of evergreen low growing groundcovers, shrubs and perennials will serve as a layer of mulch – they will reduce water evaporation and at the same time will control soil temperature and prevent rampant weed growth in summer.
- Habitats for small creatures
Low growing indigenous plants will become safe habitats for small creatures. Low-growing Aloes will attract birds and bees and some small shrubs with fruit, for example (Carissa macrocarpa) will attract birds.
- Lawn substitutes
Lawns are beautiful, but the costs of maintaining a lawn are becoming high. Water especially is becoming a precious commodity and by choosing to reduce the size of your lawn and creating interesting pathways is a small step to gardening more wisely.
- New water wise plants
Many exciting and new low growing succulents, Aloes and indigenous groundcovers are now available. Select the best ones for your garden path, taking into consideration your climatic and rainfall conditions of your garden.
