This guide is for gardeners who want something more immersive than a traditional border, but don't know where to begin.

Six years ago I stood in front of a newly prepared garden with thousands of plants to place. But I didn't know what to do next because I wasn't trying to create a traditional border. I wanted something I could walk through.

By the second season, as the plants filled in, I realized something was missing: I needed a way into the garden. I had beautiful swaths of plants, but they still weren't immersive because they were large islands that I had to walk around.

So I kept carving paths and moving plants until the garden had become closer to my vision.

This guide is the product of years of observation, trial and error, and reverse-engineering what worked. I left that garden behind, but not the lessons. I'm here to share those with you.