An Azalea Walk(way) to Remember

A few years ago, I cut an image out of a magazine of the most beautiful azalea walkway leading up to someone’s house. I tucked it into my little outdoor inspiration file and vowed to borrow the idea once my husband completed our reclaimed brick walkway.

As many of our cottage projects go, it sat on the back-burner for awhile after the walkway’s completion. In the interim, I kept squirreling away reclaimed bricks to eventually tackle the project when it was the right time.

As the weather turned cooler a couple of weeks ago, I started the project in earnest in the hopes of taking advantage of the temperatures while it lasted.

Beginning with my pile of reclaimed brick, I got to work planning. I knew I wanted to use the bricks to edge out the walkway flower beds and also create a barrier for my future vegetable garden.

After measuring and attempting to lay them out in a straight line, I got to work partially burying them. I wanted to sink them just enough to keep them steady, leaving them high enough to contain the mulch. I used drainage rocks in the shallow brick trenches to ideally keep the bricks from sinking too far. We’ll see how that holds up over time.

Once the flower bed edges were complete, I planted Autumn Carnation Encore Azaleas. This was a hard decision for for me. There were several white varieties, but in the end, I was afraid they would compete with my gardenias. Once they were planted and a few blooms appeared, I felt confident in my decision.

In the short term, while I wait for them to fill in, I placed solar lights between each plant. They’ll bloom three times each year and very closely resemble my wild (and huge) heritage azalea in the backyard.

Azaleas are my absolute favorite flower, in case my blog title didn’t give it away. They are most beautiful when slightly unkempt and rambling free. With very little effort to maintain them, azaleas reward gardeners with brilliant blooms. Though they are evergreen, our variety’s leaves will slightly bronze in the cooler months.

I can’t begin to explain the excitement of seeing my azalea walkway come to life. Especially knowing that I did the work myself to make it happen. I have more outdoor plans that I hope to get after as the weather changes; I hope you’ll stick around as I get to work.