Create a Water-Wise Garden With Stone

Use more hardscape in your designs to adjust to hotter and drier conditions

As water supply becomes a critical issue inSouthern California , it has become imperative to look for a new definition of what gardening is about and what we want our landscapes to look like . With a thoughtful attack , these spaces can be cosmetic , ecologically friendly , useful , and maintainable . But we call for to expand our habit , expectations , and perceptual experience to embrace wider possibilities . Below you ’ll learn how to create a water - wise garden with stone as a main characteristic .

Stone is a perfect garden material when purposefully placed for form and function

Stone is usually consociate with desert landscaping . However , most of the Southern California biome is more flexible thandesert . line up creative way to desegregate nonliving materials with growing flora can increase ocular impact whilesaving piddle .

Using a wide definition of stone , the creative gardener can incorporate stepping - stones , pavers , chip , rocks , bricks , boulder , blocks , crushed rock — and even molder gravel and tumbled Gunter Wilhelm Grass — into the textural and color pallette of the Modern SoCal garden .

Hardscape materials offer many options and benefits

Stone , rock-and-roll , and even concrete offer a medium that has endless possibility . These fabric will not burn , so they offer wildfire opposition . Stone can be pose up to be permeable so that it aid save rain or run - off by permeate it back into the ground . It can also be used to create basins to put in treasured water .

Because it is substantial and unwavering , stone and its many form can back up weightiness . Chips , pebbles , and slabs can be used to build fountains or other recycled - urine features . Stepping - stones and crushed rock are unanimous pick for pavingpathsandpatios . Boulders and rocks can be sculpted into beautiful and practicalseating area .

Filling areas between Harlan Stone can offer chance for artistic planting . Beautiful and baffling creep perennials like sedums ( Sedumspp . and cvs . , Zones 3–11 ) work perfectly to fulfill between and to soften the boundary of flat pavers . Partner boulders withsmall trees , coloured shrubs , orornamental grasses . And liven up drift of crushed rock with sprawl patches of colourful succulent , tough aboriginal shrubs , or brightly hued annual or recurrent blossom .

Many stone designs require little or no maintenance

When combined with native orsucculentplants , stone and rocks provide juxtapose and eye - catch excogitation elements that demand very little care . small-scale piece of rock-and-roll and gravel can be spread as amulchand to establish body of water - permeable airfoil . The addition of matte rocks to behave water into depression helps to retain water for slightly thirstier , drouth - tolerantplantings .

Here are some ideas to help start the process of designing with stone .

1 . Sketch out a jumpy , overall landscape painting layout with basic rock framework elements

3 . Take reward of the properties of stone

Have fun choosing and designing paving materials . stone , rocks , gravel , and preformed pavers can transform an average garden into something especial . Smaller stonework is simple to set up and easy to move should you change your mind later . It can immingle nicely with plantings , reduce the motive for watering a full landscape without look waste . A creative stone design offers limitless opportunities to tailor-make unequaled , artistic , and practical gardens that will engross redundant rainwater in wet weather yet take minimal irrigation when it ’s dry .

— Jane Gates is the proprietor of Gates & Croft Horticultural Design in Los Angeles and the source ofAll the Garden ’s a Stage : Choosing the Best Performing Plants for a Sustainable Garden .

Photos : Jane Gates

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