Some experience tell me a more "natural" walkway must match bed and plants,soft "S" fluid line shape is better.

In a word (s) - crusher fines. The small particles left over from rock crushing operations.

With the proper prep, the material is supposed to be very durable for use on hiking trails, etc.

thanks duluth,
I had never heard of that term before.

If indeed you are talking about stone dust make sure you have a vacuum cleaner in good working order as this will gradually migrate from your garden to your carpets. This process will speed up exponentially if sprogs are involved.

I had to laugh at myself, being that asking for a "natural" look is pretty vague.

The local landscaping areas all call it breeze around here. I googled breeze and did see where it's sometimes referred to as crusher fines too.

Inkognito are sprogs, children? Did you have it and rip it out? Have you heard of the color "bleeding" and staining flooring in the house. We were going to lay out a extra large area rug to collect as much sand from the beach instead of spreading it throughout the house. Would this be enough. I don't like maintenance and this sounds like I would be increasing it. Oh but I like the look, sound (crunching underneath your shoes), and definitively the price.

sound (crunching underneath your shoes) doesn't say crusher fines to me. Do you mean 'Italian burglar alarm'?

Here is a link that might be useful: pea gravel/shingle

Breeze is max 1/4" in size and packs down extremely well but when walked on it makes the sound reminiscent of what I hear when out hiking.

The more I thought about the rocks coming into the house, I can't see it as a problem being that we'd be about 30-50' away from any of the entrances to the house. Just my DH and I for a path that will likely only get used during LARGE gatherings or maintenance of the yard.

Still I'm concerned if it compacts as well as it says or if there are any problems that would be a deal breaker.

I've considered barking the path and surrounded areas leaving the path free of plants but the path leads to steps which could be a difficult transition of materials. Thoughts on the possibility are welcome too.

I have no experience with the stuff and had to look it up to see what it is.

my thoughts:

I suspect that unless your family and guests ALWAYS remove their shoes prior to entering the home you will find the 'color' will
1. stain the shoes and
2. eventually rub off on your flooring and possibly your furnishings as well. (and your auto interior too)

aside from the color issue is those tiny tiny little grains and the larger pieces will get wedged in the treads of the soles of athletic shoes and will scratch and scar your flooring. Then over time they will loosen and fall out too. This happens long after that 30 to 50 feet from the walk ways.

But it does look nice in pathways and play areas :)

Oh so thats what that stuff is called, had to google it. I figure it makes a pretty good bike path, or a path where you'll be towing/moving stuff. I have seen some in austin the was too rough and it was horrible, if you feel it would cut you up and it was too slick. I have seen some in socal that was designed really well around a lot of Italian Cyprus and looked really pretty.

Here in California the local eqivalent to rock crusher fines is known as decomposed granite fines, and unlike pea gravel, does not "crunch" when walked across. Unless a stabilizing polymer product is added to solidify it, it isn't ideal for slopes,(it easily erodes), and it does get tracked into the house and can ruin wood floors. If you don.t have a level pathway, you must use a polymer stabilizer, and you should also contain the edges if you want it to stay in place, which greatly adds to the ultimate initial cost to install it.

If the stuff you are looking at makes noise when walked upon,(maybe it was never compacted with a roller), or it is mostly larger dized particles more akin to gravel. Gravel probably is a better choice for sloped paths and where tracking fines onto a wood floor is an issue, but still gets moved around over time and is going to require topping off occasionally and will also require weeding as will the pathway with smaller fines. Here in California the decomposed granite paths and paving readily grow moss and grasses such as annual blue grass each winter rainy season and need to be sprayed or hoed to keep clear. In the summer rainfall regions of the country, weeds will just grow in breeze that much faster.

You can buy a breeze stabilizer to help cut down on tracking, etc. I am currently installing a breeze pathway in my side yard, and plan to add the stabilizer. I will let you know what I experience! I figure that if I don't like it, I can use it as a base for flagstone or free-form concrete stepping stones...

Our landscaper recommended breeze as a solution for path in our xeriscaped yards. Worst decision we ever made! We asked for something that we could walk on year round (northern colorado, snow that melts quickly) and roll the trash cans on. TOTAL mud when saturated. We had them embed flagstones to walk on and it's still very messy. They sprayed 2 layers of polymer (have to have at least 72 hrs.dry before and after), scattered stuff all over, terrible for the hardwood floors. We sprayed 2 more layers. It's more compact but still requires sweeping and after rain it migrates. We have edging but it spills over. Nothing grows in it, not even weeds. We will replace it with something more useable. So, ultimately it will be MORE expensive than pavers and more work than installing flagstone and planting and maintaining groundcover such as wooly thyme that would be cooler and look better.

Our HOA has breeze walkways and the drainage is so poor you can't walk on it for a day or two after light rain w/o getting it caked on your shoes. After one season it is uneven and packed down but still has smattering of little crushed stone. I do not recommend it at all, perhaps unless you have elevated stepping stones.

My breeze is continuously full of weeds. I have a dog so I have to be careful about weed killer. Suggestions?

Being careful means letting the weedkiller dry before letting the dog walk on it.

I love breeze! Made a small (12×12) flagstone patio and 10 ×3 strip stone walkway with breeze as an underlayment (2 in.) and slightly graded stairway all with breeze also in between stones. Solid as can be on northern CO clay, soaked or not! Yes the sand can get on top of the stones and be "sticky" on shoes. Common sense says have a way to alleviate that (shoes off at the door perhaps?

We regret putting in our Breeze pathway three years ago - so much that we ended up laying down large pieces of flagstone on top just to give it some character, less muddy mess when it rains, etc. Now we’re thinking of adding pea gravel on top of the Breeze and in between the flagstone. And the weeds are relentless coming up through the Breeze; we‘re hoping the pea gravel will help.

I live mine, had my driveway here in the rockies for 30 years, never needs anything. Weeds appear, but I pull them out and they dig out, too, easy as cream pie after a rain - it's very loose to get weeds after watering or rain.

weedkiller: vinegar. Target spray vinegar on any weeds.