On occasion, but they are actually quite visible, framed as they are in concrete. More plants get stepped on near the edges of the flower borders than they do growing in the paths. This is where I grow some of my choice plants, rock garden-sized bulbs. In effect, it works much like the zigs and zags in Japanese paths, slowing one down so there is time to observe the garden and soak up whatever is there. But when you need to get a wheelbarrow down the path, you just roll right over them. They bounce back. Plants that spread too far into the center of the path do get stepped on and learn to grow lower.

I have found the toughest plants to be a little Australian violet Viola hederacea, which grows in shady sections; a gazania-like plant, Drymondia, which could probably be run over by tank tracks; a low-growing yarrow and dianthus, which would be overwhelmed by other plants grown anywhere else in the garden; a creeping oregano and thyme that smell good when they get stepped on, and the creeping Verbena rigida, which brings a most casual air to the planting.