In a gravel garden, strangely enough, not only gravel is used, but also other types of stone: crushed stone, naked, pebbles. First weed control is needed. After this, you need to create a fertile soil layer from light earth, peat, sand, organic fertilizers.
The introduction of fine gravel into the soil has a stabilizing effect, improves the structure, the soil becomes loose, in the spring does not condense from flood waters, it warms up faster. Gravel provides plants with optimal conditions for self-seeding and growth. In winter, gravel perfectly protects the seeds from rotting. In summer it works like a protective mulch.
Selection of plants is traditionally carried out according to the criterion of unpretentiousness. The decorative qualities of green spaces are also important. Against the background of gravel, for example, plants with a wax coating on the leaves look especially beautiful.
Growing herbs look spectacular in gravel. At the end of spring, they shimmer with colors, from blue-violet to silver-white. Autumn colors cereals in bronze and purple tones. And in winter, the frosty herbs look bizarre and mysterious. The calming rustle of cereals gives the impression of freedom and lightness.
The list of ornamental crops for the gravel garden includes thyme, sedum, various forms of yarrow, physostegia, hosts, almost all types of wormwood, maned barley, poppies, incense, lunaria, plantain, milkwort, perennial asters, bought, tansy, feather grass, stonecrops, angelica , saxifrage and many others.
Particularly attracting attention are tall flowers and herbs: Chinese miscanthus, Japanese anemone, paniculate gypsophila, mullein, cotton-buds, tall Veronica, goldenrod, monarda.
Shrubs and trees are also used in gravel gardens.However, it should be remembered that their number should not be too large so as not to spoil the beauty of the landscape. Alternate woody and herbaceous plants, bulbs, perennials to give the garden an image of a semi-wild, natural landscape.
Planting plants should be in large groups evenly throughout the gravel garden. The garden changes regularly, as the plants grow, develop, move seasonally, forming new groups. To maintain a well-groomed appearance, it is necessary to remove weeds, cut off faded shoots that have lost their decorative appearance.