Ideas in stone - this is how you integrate stones into the garden
Mother Earth has a large pool of magnificent types of stone ready for us to beautify the garden. From cheap sandstone to expensive natural stone, there is something for every budget. This is how stones fit harmoniously into the garden:
- Erratic boulders as majestic eye-catchers and an optical haven of calm
- As a decorative and stabilizing slope fastening
- The ideal filling for gabions as a privacy screen
- Indispensable building material for the drywall
also read
- Successful garden design with stones
- Creative garden design without lawn - 5 ideas that inspire you
- Creative garden design with water features - tips, ideas and trends
Under the hand of creative stonemasons, stones are transformed into shapely accessories for every garden style. In the Japanese garden, stone lanterns, stelae and Buddhas are important elements for an authentic design. Professionally processed, stones function as a bench for eternity in the cottage garden, the Mediterranean and Baroque garden.
Design stylishly with gravel - more than a hodgepodge of stones
Gravel comes up trumps with a variety of advantages that go far beyond the simple look. So gravel as a floor covering is significantly cheaper than paving. As a white or colored mulch cover, gravel in the bed evens out temperature fluctuations, keeps the soil moist longer and suppresses annoying weeds. This is how the stones fit decoratively into your garden design:
- The ideal subsurface in the Mediterranean garden
- As a curved, raked floor covering to simulate a river in a Japanese garden
- Gravel paths give box gardens and cottage gardens an unadulterated flair
- Gravel covering ensures more safety at fireplaces
Even this little excursion into the multifaceted possible uses shows why the imaginative garden design cannot do without gravel.
These plants harmonize with stones and gravel
In the creative garden design, stones and gravel serve as prosaic elements, whereas plants take on the lyrical part. However, not every plant is suitable for combination with the inorganic material. The following list names proven species and varieties:
Bushes (100-800 cm)
- Ash maple (Acer negundo 'Flamingo')
- Rocket Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum 'Skyrocket')
- Spring cherry (Prunus 'Accolade')
- Wig bush (Cotinus coggygria
Subshrubs (up to 100 cm)
- Beard flower (Caryopteris x clandonensis)
- Ivory gorse (Cytissus x praecox)
- Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
- Dwarf spar (Spierea japonica)
Ornamental grasses
- Bearded grass (Andropogon scoparius)
- Chinese reed (Miscanthus sinensis)
- Pennisetum alopecuroides
- Heron feather grass (Stipa pulcherrima)
Flowers next to stones and gravel
Perennials
- Coneflower (Echinacea)
- Sedum telephium
- Pearl basket (anaphalis)
- Cranesbill (geranium)
Bulb flowers
- Imperial crown (Fritillaria imperialis)
- Tulips (tulpia)
- Steppe candle (Eremurus)
- Ball leek (Allium)
So that stones and gravel are not overgrown by weeds, simply lay a weed fleece as a base. (€ 28.90 at Amazon *) Where trees and shrubs should thrive, open the cover with a cross-shaped cut.
Tips
When the summer sun takes you into a headlock on the south-facing terrace, a shady seat in the small garden corner invites you to linger. A floor covering made of light-colored gravel also reflects the sun's rays, which cheat their way through the canopy of trees.
