Stone Garden Bridge Design

Garden bridges add a bit of cottage charm to any garden, outdoor play area, or private observation area. Installing a pond or waterway on your property, however, can become an expensive project. But you can use garden bridges as accents without installing any water at all. In your mind, perhaps you can only picture a bridge spanning a pond, river, or creek. But the possibilities are much wider.

Use a bridge to connect two flower beds. Of course, the flower beds would not be strips right next to your house. Install two round or oblong flower beds in your back yard. Cut up the soil in the area you've marked. Place an edger around the boundary of each bed; this could be a plastic garden edger, a row of rocks, stacked bricks, or whatever you want. To prevent weeds from encroaching, you can install a flower bed liner before you plant your flowers. (When you're ready to plant, you will cut holes for the plants.) Plant your flowers and mulch the beds. Install the bridge to connect the two beds.

You can also install garden bridges in the middle of an existing path. If you already tend a garden with walkways or paths that move through it, place a bridge right on one of these paths. Who said garden bridges have to connect anything? Use one as pure accent. It might be the very element that your garden has been missing for years.

Create a faux stream or pond. This gives the appearance of a creek running through your yard without the great expense of actually installing a real pond. If your yard contains a rut, line it with stones to look like a dry stream bed. Measure the width of the rut to select a bridge that will fit and transport you from one side of the rut to the other.

You can use garden bridges to link two or more patio areas. Pour several separate concrete pads in your back yard. Use each pad for a different function. One can house your grill and buffet table. Place your patio set and umbrella on another pad. Let kids draw with sidewalk chalk and play games on another pad. Install a bridge between two pads as a walkway between them.

Install garden bridges as walkways from your house to other special areas of your yard, such as an arbor, an outdoor swing, a gazebo, or a picnic table.

Bridges aren't just for water gardeners. Use them as accents for your garden or walkways for your back yard. Use a bridge to connect two flower beds. Place one in the middle of a garden path. Transform an annoying rut into a faux stream bed and span the "banks" with a bridge. Link two or more concrete patio areas with garden bridges. Or use bridges as paths between your house and other features of your yard. As you can see, you have many options for using bridges as accents. Dream up something special for your own yard today.