The combination of flowers and stone – creating a gravel garden on the site

The combination of flowers and stone

A gravel garden in landscape design appeared not very long ago, but in a short time became very popular. Each owner of a private house wants to equip such a beautiful corner on his site. After all, it does not require constant care, and the most important advantage is that you can do it yourself without resorting to professionals.

Content

• Flower arrangements on stones
• Creation technology
• Do you need tracks
• Gravel Care

The gravel garden in appearance resembles a piece of wild prairies from meadow steppes. In style, it is simultaneously similar to the Japanese Zen garden and rock garden. But the steppe landscape also has its own special charm. It is characterized by a combination of stunted plants and a gravel mound. Here graceful forms and clear lines, monophonic flower beds and motley flower beds can be combined, in a word, there is no limit to the creation of such a garden of fantasy.

Flower arrangements on stones

Most often, a gravel garden is located on the spot where most of the sun falls. Its main element is pebbles, gravel or gravel. These natural materials create warm, loose and permeable soil that is suitable not only for meadow grasses, but also for flowering perennials. Even cereal plants take root perfectly among pebbles and flowers.

Special costs for creating a gravel garden will not be required. In order to have a feeling of personal space in the area, floral arrangements need to be created with your own hands. Of course, attracting a family to create a paradise is only welcome. The main thing is to get creative and give freedom of imagination, especially to children. Very often, young children have such a sense of aesthetics and a sense of harmony that their masterpieces stand out among the works of the best designers. Therefore – no advice to the child. Moreover, the law of permissiveness applies in the field style. Here you can create empty spaces, play with the colors of plants, with their difference in height and structure.

A combination of decorative cereals and herbaceous perennials looks very harmonious in the flower beds. Even on hot summer days, the gravel garden is filled with juicy colors, if there grows euphorbia multiflora, feather grass and ordinary yarrow. In autumn, these plants will envelop the garden with warmth and light..

Bulb plants such as tulips, decorative onions, and imperial hazel grouse can set colorful accents in the garden. And the atmosphere of field nature is emphasized by irises, thin-leaved peony and white ash. Many summer residents specially cultivate wild field plants. This significantly reduces the cost of seeds and maximizes the overall picture of the garden to the field style..

Group compositions of decorative cereals and flowering perennials give the flower garden a special charm. Cereal plants with their graceful leaves and slender stems in the gravel garden always look attractive and set the rhythm in planting, towering above neighboring undersized bushes. It is not necessary to buy decorative seeds of cereals that turn green in the garden until mid-autumn. You can take ordinary grains of wheat or oats, sprout them in advance and plant them in a designated place. It’s okay if the spikelets in the middle of summer ripen and turn yellow. Against the background of bright spots of poppies, hyacinth and cornflowers, they will look very harmonious.

Creation technology

You can turn into a gravel garden as all six hundred parts of your site, and one square meter of it. Having decided on the place of the future flower garden or garden, it is necessary to clean the area from herbs and weeds. Then you need to remove 25-30 cm of soil, mix it with coarse gravel crushed stone with a size of 16-32 mm and evenly fill the recess with this mixture. Geotextiles, a synthetic non-woven material, are spread over the entire plane. He will not allow weeds to germinate. Make cross-shaped cuts in the canvas and plant the planned flowers there. Around the stem of the plant should be poured a layer of gravel of approximately 5 cm. Pebbles will not sink into the ground, since this will be hindered by a layer of geotextile. In areas where there is a lot of sun, it is better not to use white gravel, it strongly reflects rays and heat. The dark coating promotes the rapid growth of flowers and herbs, because it heats up faster.

If you decide to plant flowers in flower beds already covered with gravel, then this is quite possible. All you need to do is to peel the stones with your hands, make an incision in the canvas and do everything as described above. With the same success, plants can be transplanted from place to place, creating new compositions.

Do you need tracks

The gravel garden differs from others in the absence of paths. But you can recognize them among the vegetation: they pass where nothing grows, walking around the site you can turn anywhere, just so that the flowers do not stomp.

Gravel paths are created according to the same principle as flower beds. And so that gravel after rain does not drown in the ground, the first layer of gravel can be mixed with cement. A non-woven fabric also spreads onto compacted soil and is covered with gravel.

If the color or size of the pebbles on the track is different from those under the colors, and you want to keep clear boundaries, set an invisible border. It can be done with wooden pegs and a plastic border tape. Such boundaries are often created between the gravel bed and the lawn so that the stones do not fall into the grass and damage the lawn mower..

Gravel Care

If you did everything right, creating a gravel garden, then there will be practically no need for care. The only condition: in the first year, the plants need to be firmly established, so during this period they need to be regularly watered. When the roots of herbaceous perennials sprout inland, they can generally be watered only on very dry days. Flowers will have enough groundwater, especially since a good layer of stones will not allow moisture to evaporate.

It is not necessary to add additional fertilizers to the soil, they can only do much harm. All of the above plants are naturally adapted to lack of nutrients and moisture. Therefore, they are not afraid of even the most extreme conditions.

If some weed still survives between the flowers, it will be easier to remove it than on a regular flowerbed. Because its roots cannot be fixed in gravel as firmly as in ordinary earth.

In general, to create a gravel garden with your own hands is very simple, it is even easier to take care of it. Big dreamers complement their flower beds with brooks, animal figures and rockeries. You make your own site for yourself, therefore, how to make it original – decide for yourself. Creative mood and good luck!