Bricks make a beautiful addition to patios and paths, both for the yard and garden. People have been using bricks to add beauty, promote artistic skill, and add value to their property and personal space since they began making them.

If you’re planning on covering up or decorating that old patio or adding a path on your property this summer, you’ll find that there are tons of bricks, designs, styles, and sizes. So much so, that it might be overwhelming.

To keep things in perspective and simple, we’ve added tons of photos for you to view as you come closer to your final idea.

Running Bond Simple, versatile, and ever popular, the running bond pattern is commonly used for both patios and paths. Pavers can be laid straight for a clean and orderly look, or set at slight angles to create a curve. Because of its simple design, running bond is well suited to covering small areas.

Basket Weave For casual, cottagelike design, try the basket-weave pattern. Instead of creating a “field,” as with running bond, the bricks are laid horizontally and vertically in pairs, with each pair creating a “tile.” Basket weave can be used by itself, or if space permits, easily incorporated into another pattern.

Herringbone Of the various brick patterns, herringbone is one of the most formal and has been a staple in traditional paths and patios for centuries. Unlike basket weave, the herringbone pattern, with its zigs and zags, works well when it’s used to cover irregular areas.

Stacked Bond Sometimes called Jack-on-Jack, the stacked bond pattern features bricks stacked in even rows and columns. Its simple straight lines can make a smaller space seem more expansive. It also works well for contemporary designs.

Long Soldier Course Rows of bricks can lure the eye forward, so long soldier courses work well for narrow paths. The courses can be bent into circles, angled, or set inside another pattern to create a narrow path within a wider one.

BHG

The Corner Fountain

Water Fountains make great additions to the beauty, peace, and serenity of almost any garden. While they tend to be expensive; depending on the materials they’re made out of, they will last for a long, long time.

You can add a fountain to almost any garden and space fairly easily; and there are all kinds to chose from. We have hand picked a few for you to look at here, and you can follow the link below to get more ideas.

Garden Fountains

Bird Element - $475.00

Most people don’t know it, but Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon citratus), is a natural and effective mosquito repellent.

You can either plant it in the ground or leave it in the pot you bought it in. The plant itself, will grow to about 15 inches around at the base, very thick, and about 2 feet tall in height.

Some people consider the citronella that it natural produces to be better and more effective than that current candles they sell on the market. If you want to use the lemon grass as a repellent, by wearing it on your skin, you’ll want to cut one of the stocks, peel back the leaves until you expose the core, and gently squeeze and rub the oils that are secreted on your body. Make sure you cover all exposed skin with the oil.

If you simply want to repel mosquitoes and other insects from your garden or around a patio, you can simply place the lemon grass plants around the outside perimeter.

So, while you’re waiting, planning, or simply shoveling the driveway – here is a list of beautiful Spring Flowers that are popular, and perfect for that first break in the weather.

Agapanthus

Amaryllis

Anemone

Birds of Paradise

Cherry blossom

Dahlia

Freesia

Heather

Hyacinth

Orchids

Peony

Sweet pea

Tulip

Zinnia

Up until a few years ago, I remember going out to my flower bed every year after a long New York winter had passed to find that the flower bed almost always needed a complete over haul.  Meaning, that during the course of late Summer/Early Fall and the Winter, the look, texture, and resilience of the bed had fallen flat. Actually, more like, packed flat from all the snow and ice.

After rearranging or replacing dead plants and flower, the last thing we always had to do was go out and get more mulch for the bed.  I noticed year after year, that within a month, the mulch had faded, been blown away, or had weeds growing up through the black canvas underneath and through the mulch.  Or the weeds us the mulch as soil and grew in it.

We finally decided, that we were going to give stone a try.

Using stone, for us, has saved us a lot of time, money, and energy.

While stone is a little more expensive on the front end – depending on how much and how often you had to replenish your mulch, it should pay for itself within the first two or three years.  For us, if I remember correctly, the cost of mulch vs. using stone was not that much different.  Ordering it by the yard, ended up giving us a lot more than we needed, so we used the rest in areas that we had always planned on doing.

Advantages of Stones:

Only have to be placed once

Won’t blow away

Can be easily maintained, transferred

Multiple colors, shapes, and sizes

Advantages of Mulch:

Cheap

Biodegradable

Easy to transport