We’ve pondered over our neglected backyard for years now. Our garden deserves more than a weed-filled lawn and a few patches of dirt. This year we hired a landscape architect to help put our ideas to paper, and now we’re finally ready to fix the landscape.
The design is simple, manicured, and geometric; the 60-by-60-square-foot backyard will be lined in a horizontal cedar fence, following straight planting beds (think lots of boxwood shrubs), geometric gravel paths, and centered with a square lawn in the middle. Look at these 10 geometric backyard gardens with gravel paving, and you’ll see what inspired me.
Quartz Gravel
![](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/fields/st-johns-wood-garden-del-buono-gazerwitz-gardenista_0.jpg)
Pavers in Gravel
![Designer Naomi Sanders edges a gravel hardscape with tightly clipped borders of box to create a dramatic contrast between gray and green. Photograph by Jennifer Roper. For more of this garden, see Before & After: A Grande Dame in LA\2\17;s Hancock Park.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/lucerne5-hancock-park-la-garden-naomi-sanders-gardenista-733x489.jpg)
Gravel and Boxwood
![Paved with gravel, a patio complements adjacent bluestone pavers. Boxwood balls planted in straight rows create symmetry in this Brooklyn garden enclosed by a slatted wood fence. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Gardenista. For more of this garden, see our Gardenista Book.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/prospect-garden-brooklyn-matthew-williams-gravel-bluestone-733x468.jpg)
Gravel Pit
![Photograph by Jack Thompson courtesy of Robertson Design. A gravel pit centered in a wood deck creates a serene symmetry.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/robertson-design-gravel-pit-wood-deck-733x576.png)
Modern Gravel
![In a Brooklyn backyard, garden designer Brook Klausing edged limestone pavers with crushed limestone dust mixed with gravel. “It’s a very modern look, but I tried to soften it with the gravel and plantings, like the ferns in the gravel,” says Klausing. For more of this garden, see Designer Visit: Brook Klausing Elevates a Brooklyn Backyard. Photograph via Brook Landscape.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/flatbush-garden-brook-klausing-3-gardenista-e1456346311371-733x489.jpg)
Gravel Lawn
![](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/gravel-garden-la-matthew-williams-dsc-3769-733x933.jpg)
Gravel Patio
![Landscape architect Christine Ten Eyck\2\17;s gravel patio in her walled garden in Austin, Texas. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Gardenista.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/gravel-patio-austin-texas-matthew-williams-dsc-6392-733x933.jpg)
Gravel and Grass
![A small lawn of turf grass is bordered by straight planting beds; a row of hydrangeas marches alongside a gravel path. Photograph by Matthew Williams for Gardenista.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/brooklyn-backyard-lawn-gravel-path-cropped-matthew-williams-dsc-5958-733x445.jpg)
Gravel Fire Pit
![Photograph by Jim Powell for Gardenista. Surrounded by woodland, a gravel seating circle surrounds a fire pit and provides a buffer between sparks and the garden. For more of this project, see Lessons Learned: From “Neglected” Slope to Charming Garden, in South London.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/fire-pit-gravel-benches-catriona-andrews-garden-gardenista-733x489.jpg)
Gravel Squares
![](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/fields/bluestone-backyard-foras-studio-brooklyn-1-Gardenista.jpg)
For more backyard inspiration (and gravel), see:
- Before & After: An Artful Gravel Garden in Sonoma, California
- 10 Things Your Landscape Designer Wishes You Knew About Gravel (But Is Too Polite to Tell You)
- Before & After: An Airy Gravel Garden for a Midcentury British House in West Dorset
- Before and After: A Modern Brooklyn Backyard on a Budget.
- Landscape Designer Visit: A “Showstopper” Backyard in Brooklyn.
Finally, learn how to successfully use gravel in a hardscape project with our Hardscaping 101: Gravel Guide.
N.B.: This is an update of a post published on August 10, 2015.
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