FLAGSTONE PATH

Two years ago in 2010 we noticed what the woman at the garden centre humorously dubbed a 'cowpath' between the bottom of our staircase and the steps down into the water.  Bare patches of mud in the grass from heavy foot traffic were making their mark so we added the darker stone  - just a suggestion of a path.  I quite liked it.

Very minimalist.

2010

Last year we added in the rest of the stones when we realized we still had a pile of flagstone from the backyard left over in the city.  The stones are all on the ground but not all securely dug in quite yet, though it is top of my list to finish this up now that I have added the ground covers between the stones.

April 2012

I have added three varieties of Creeping Thyme near the front in full sun and toward the back some Scotch Moss  and its darker cousin Irish Moss. 

Since I don't know for sure which will survive best from this mix I only planted about half of the space between the stones and plan on waiting until next year before I fill in in the rest, after the results from this test are in. 

With our move now scheduled for this summer I may have to fill in everywhere before I go.  I can already see which ground covers I prefer since the spring's planting.
In order to give the perennials a better chance I am carving out the grass between them.  I'd rather have some dirt showing in the short term than have the plants struggle against the grass. 
Tedious work, but someone has got to do it - and that someone is me. 

In retrospect, leaving grass between the stones would have been fine, but I wanted to play with ground covers, so be it, there is no going back now! 
I hope it looks amazing one day...