Hen House Garden Path

Forking Path

The Hen House paths are a very small network of paths from Rooster Bridge to the hen house and through the Hen House Borders to the grass area beyond.

These borders were newly planted in the year 2000, and their plantings are continually changing. As a result the paths themselves have to take the odd new twist and turn.

The main Hen House path originally formed a line between native plantings on one side and mass Rugosa roses on the other. In its early days it was wide and easily travelled, and made sense. In other words the plants by the edge were still rather small.

Completely Overgrown

After a year of growth and some rather indiscriminate plantings the path has become very overgrown. The original edging plants like Stachys had been swamped by lavenders and assorted perennials. The native area had been crowded by intruders, and the original intent of this path had been completely destroyed.

The Path Joins Duck-Lawn

The growth of a large upright flax has caused some curve remodelling, but the Toe Toe that I shifted in to hide the tree stumps is doing brilliantly. By luck rather than good design it was positioned back far enough from the path not to cut any passing visitor's skin.

There have been many re-evaluations of these paths. One year the main path was totally redirected, and the roses were thoughtfully spread out. Some of the intruders in the native section of this border have found new homes. Change is one of the joys of gardening, and moving a stone edged path is easier than clipping back a flax bush.

Indiscriminate Plantings

Lost Paths

The main path's entry point from Duck-Lawn still isn't right (at the moment it's thoroughly overgrown with euphorbias) so I look forward to trying again to fix this design feature. How many versions will it take to get the right point of entry?

It's far too easy to think of paths merely as ways to charge through a garden. I wish I had the nerve to make a path with a deadend, or have one that doubles back and goes nowhere.

Or for once a Moosey path might actually withstand the test of time and remain in the same place.

Mind you, I'm pretty good at designing Lost Paths...