Johannesburg - If we are to take care of our environment, it is important our gardens become more eco-logically friendly.
One of the ways to achieve this is by growing plants that require minimal amounts of water, which is the reason gravel gardens are gaining in popularity.
When gravel gardens are landscaped with suitable plants, they require less water and, once established, they are extremely colourful.
What is a gravel garden? It is a low-maintenance garden that suits water-wise plants, such as those that grow in a Mediterranean-style garden, and could be the solution for a sunny, hot area in your garden.
Follow the answers to these three questions to make sure your gravel garden is given the best foundation to become a spectacular feature:
Where is it best to place a gravel garden?
A gravel garden suits an open and sunny area, where the soil is well-drained.
The occasional hillock and hollow introduced as a miniature mountain will draw more visual interest and help with drainage.
Locate a gravel garden away from entrances. Loose gravel can be carried on the soles of shoes into the house. A wide concrete strip or a paved path would stop gravel from spreading to lawns.
Perhaps not the typical gravel garden, but an attractive alternative would be where gravel is used on a broad pathway, with large rocks on either side as raised beds for an array of drought-resistant plants.
How do you avoid weeds in a gravel garden?
Make sure the soil has been dug deeply and enriched with compost to provide nutrients for plants. If you use a permeable weed-suppressing membrane liner, this will restrict weeds from spreading. Cut an “X” slit into the membrane for each plant, large enough to insert the root ball. After planting, water each plant well before spreading gravel.
Without a liner, plants will not be as restricted and will be able to spread and grow, but so will weeds. Generous self-seeders will need dead-heading to prevent their seeding in the gravel, and weeds should be removed as soon as they appear.
The size of the gravel is a personal choice. Some landscapers recom-mend spreading large pieces of gravel first and compacting the area before spreading a few centimetres of crushed or pea gravel. Plants are watered initially until established, and then require little watering.
What do you plant in a gravel garden?
Many of the plants suitable for a gravel garden are probably growing in your garden, but assume a totally different appearance when grown in a border.
Succulents and drought-tolerant plants come from hot dry places in the Mediterranean, California, Mexico, Australia and South Africa, and a combination of these works well.
Repeat a plant such as lavender to unite the planting scheme and plant in groups. Include vertical plants as focal points, as well as low-growing and spreading plants. If the area is large, introduce one or two water-wise trees, such as olives, for height.
In smaller areas, choose plants such as Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), indigenous red-hot pokers (Kniphofia spp) and verbascum for vertical interest.
With their striking form and narrow foliage, cordyline, phormium and aloes are frequently used as accent plants among large rocks in pebble and gravel gardens.
Bulbine frutescens has succulent grass-like foliage and orange or yellow flower spikes with frilly yellow stamens; Euphorbia tirucalli has pencil-like, yellow, orange or red foliage; the paddle-like leaves of Kalanchoe thyrsiflora form rosettes and deepen in colour in winter; Senecio mandraliscae (blue chalk sticks) has pencil thin, upright blue foliage.
The fascination of succulents lies in their extraordinary form. The spekboom (Portulacaria afra), often grown as a hedge in arid gardens, is a 2 to 3m shrub of unusual shape with succulent stems and leaves and pink flowers in early summer.
Many South African succulents belong to the mesembryanthemum family. These annual and perennial “vygies” are admired for their flowers that add vivid splashes of colour on sunny days. Their flowering period varies for the different species.
Silver-grey foliage plants with leaves covered in fine hairs (lamb’s ear) or a waxy coating (Cotyledon orbiculata) reduce transpiration and help keep the plant cool.
The culinary sage Salvia officinalis has soft grey-green foliage. The variety Purpurascens has attractive mauve-grey-purple leaves.
Add plants that move in the wind, such as the butterfly-like flowers held on thin stems of gaura, the feathery foliage of aromatic bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Purpureum) and non-invasive grasses. Introduce smooth pebbles as a contrast to the coarse gravel, and interesting features in the form of driftwood, weathered rocks or African pottery.
Kay Montgomery, Saturday Star