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| There are times when a gravel garden is a good alternative to hardwood mulch. We converted a guest parking area that was surrounded by unsuccessful garden beds into one contiguous gravel garden in April 2010. A year later, I have no regrets!
Japanese iris, monarda, buddleia, rosemary, salvia, sedum, dusty miller, nepeta, hollies and crepe myrtles grow well. The gravel is permeable, allowing the water to get to the roots, but it also reflects the sun and keeps the soil moist. Cameron  Source: definingyourhome.blogspot.com via Freda on Pinterest |
Here is a link that might be useful: Blooms in the gravel garden
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by aklinda 7 (lindanewland@myway.com) on Wed, May 30, 12 at 15:09
| Very beautiful. I live in the desert Southwest where gravel is used quite a bit and often looks stark and sterile. But there is nothing stark about your garden - I love it. |
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| Just beautiful...as usual! |
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- Posted by buyorsell888 Zone 8 Portland OR (My Page) on Wed, May 30, 12 at 15:27
| It is gorgeous! Just as all those stark and sterile gardens in the Southwest could be if their owners put some effort into it. Pet Peeve of mine. There is no reason xeriscaping has to be ugly. The choice of plant materials in the desert is greater than ever before and yet you see so many ugly yards and commercial landscapes giving desert landscaping a bad name. :( |
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- Posted by wonbyherwits z7b NC (My Page) on Wed, May 30, 12 at 16:36
| It seems there are many choices to work well in the Southwest. Agastache, lavender, salvia, Russian sage, gaillardia in my garden would do well with gravel. Can't those be grown in the SW? To keep the cost down, we had to use locally quarried gravel. At first, the idea of blue "driveway" gravel was unappealing to me. But, now that it's all done and the plants are very happy I wish I had done this from the beginning when we built in 2005. The rock keeps the moisture in the soil far longer than our "regular" mulched beds. I was so sure that my existing Japanese irises and monarda would die after we put the gravel around them. However, the opposite happened. Those plants do as well as any in the other gardens. That iris bloomed before any of the ones in my garden that aren't in gravel. This is the southwest side of the house. If you read the "history" link in my blog post, you'll see how bad this area looked before the make-over. Cameron |
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- Posted by ashleyzone6b (My Page) on Sat, Jun 9, 12 at 7:29
| I really like your gravel driveway/garden. Brilliant! |
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- Posted by wonbyherwits z7b NC (My Page) on Sun, Jun 10, 12 at 15:58
| Thanks! |
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