It's not without reason that rock and desert gardens have become a trend in recent years. The combination of stones and plants for the gravel bed achieves a great effect with little effort and can be designed in different ways - as a Japanese, Mediterranean or Alpine garden. After planting the desired plant species, even less care is required, which is a significant advantage, especially for beginners and hobby gardeners.
Pros for creating oneGravel garden:
- can be created as a whole or individual beds
- requires little maintenance
- Only a few weeds grow on the area
- Can be implemented on both dry and moist areas - the surface must therefore be treated accordingly
A dry and sunny location is recommended for the gravel garden. Ideally, this has loamy soil or a substrate with a high proportion of sand or gravel. This is a prerequisite for water to drain away easily. Special constructions make it possible to create oneChoice beetson other wetter surfaces. The bed is made deeper and at least 15 centimeters of gravel and chippings are incorporated. The last 5 centimeters on the surface basically consist of a mulch layer of gravel or chippings.
To suppress weed growth, a barrier layer of fleece is placed under the gravel. For the plants, a cross cut is made in the fleece and the soil mixture is dug out as much as is useful. Ultimately, you will need to water vigorously and wait for the low-maintenance plants to grow.
First, you should decide on a garden design – Mediterranean, Alpine, Japanese or formal.
When designing in the Japanese or Mediterranean style, certain types of plants give the character, while in an alpine garden the gravel beds are created with a slight slope, like in the mountains. As a formal variant, geometric designs in the Baroque style emerge, in which only accents made of gravel are used.
Subshrubs, perennials and ornamental grasses are typically suitable. The most popular include: lavender, ground cover roses, butterfly bushes; flowering perennials as colorful accents – pitch pink, mullein or verbena; Different types of grass visually loosen up the overall picture - pennisetum grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides), pampas grass or blue fescue (Festuca glauca).
If you have limited space, the following types of plants are recommended:
- Wolfsmilch (Euphorbia)
- Katzenminze (Nepeta)
- Scharfgrabe (Achillea)
- Honorary Award (Veronica)
- Stonecrop, also called stonecrop (Sedum)
When designing a Japanese-style garden, you should use plants sparingly. Dwarf trees, which can also be perennials, have a flat growth habit and are therefore particularly suitable for living in areas and zones with a lack of nutrients. These include Almrausch, dwarf willow, mountain pine (Pinus mugo subsp. mugo), for the shady area – hosta, Japanese ornamental cherry, Ginko biloba, dwarf lilac. Add accents made of rock or bamboo, such as boulders, lanterns, water sources, fountains, lanterns and small bridges.
If you are aiming for a Mediterranean garden, place various herbs between the stones and cistus for a colorful contrast. Aloe vera, yucca palms, agaves, cypresses and hibiscus are drought-loving plant species, but some of them are sensitive to frost. Ideally, some of them are planted in flower pots and stored in a suitable, bright room in winter.
Alpinum is a form of rock garden in which stones, rocks and plants are arranged randomly in order to achieve the most natural impression possible. The following plant species are typical for the European alpine garden:
- Bluebells (Campanula)
- Nelken (Dianthus)
- Steinbreche (Saxifraga)
- Edelweiss (Leontopodium)
- House root species (Sempervivum)
- Borstgras (Nardus stricta)
- Schneeheide/Winterheide (Erica carnea)
- Pine species
- Filziges Hornkraut (Cerastium tomentosum)
