People have long noticed that the combination of living plants and lifeless stones creates a special peaceful atmosphere. We present to you ideas that will transform your site and allow you to fully express your imagination.
In landscape design, stones are used as a decorative element, as well as to imitate natural conditions, for example, when creating a waterfall or an alpine slide. In the first case, for decoration, it is better to take beautiful, smooth stones or pebbles. In the second, coarser material is suitable: blocks with chips and cracks, shapeless boulders. You can take different types of stones. Limestone, sandstone, tuff, marble, and granite look great.
Stones of various sizes and shades can successfully decorate any summer cottage. They will look especially good in a flower garden, near ponds and benches. But it is better not to place stones in the garden near trees, so that in the future there will be no problems with cleaning the area.
If you don't have many stones on your property to create compositions, there are several ways to get them. The simplest, but also most expensive, is to buy cobblestones at a hardware store or garden nursery. It’s cheaper to look for stones in forest fire ditches. You can find some of the stones yourself when digging up your garden or ask your neighbors.
So, let's look at how you can use stones and boulders in your landscaping.
Create an alpine slide with your own hands
You've probably heard more than once about the beauty of alpine slides (rock gardens), which imitate rocky natural landscapes. Creating such a flower garden in the country is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. There are no strict rules for designing a rock garden; stones can be placed in slight disorder. The tiered effect will give the alpine hill a natural look, otherwise it will just be a flowerbed decorated with stones.
To create a slide, you need to dig a pit and be sure to make drainage. If possible, you can delegate this to special companies that deal with landscape design.
Choose stones in the same color scheme and the same type. Don’t forget about the plants, they will need enough space, so immediately plan a place for planting. It is best to plant slow-growing and unpretentious plants: sedum, saxifrage, junipers, etc. And don’t forget to treat the soil with herbicides before planting.
You will find even more colorful ideas for creating an alpine slide in our article.
- 15 original ideas on how to arrange an alpine slide at your dacha (photo)
Don’t know where and how to place a rock garden on your summer cottage? Take note of these non-trivial ideas!
What is a rock garden and why is it needed?
The rock garden, as a heritage of the East, carries a deep meaning. In Japan, the element of inanimate nature has long been a subject of worship, endowed with energy that gives peace and serenity.
Initially, stone compositions were located only at monasteries and temples, where each element had its own meaning:
- pebbles (sand) were a symbol of water;
- horizontally lying boulders represented islands and mountains, and vertically standing boulders represented the sky;
- plants and moss were identified as a prototype of the land covered with forests.
Attention!
In Japan, the reconstruction of a rock garden is entrusted to specially trained craftsmen. Today, a stone mini-garden is a way to decorate the landscape design of a dacha or personal plot. But the Japanese believe that such a composition allows them to achieve harmony and helps them cope with everyday hustle and bustle.
A traditional rock garden is a plain, the main part of which is covered with gravel or sand, with boulders of different sizes distributed on it. At first glance, their arrangement may seem chaotic, but each of them has its place.
When composing a composition from cobblestones, there are rules, for example, stones in a group must be placed in groups of 3, symbolizing the triad from Buddhist philosophy. On a base of pebbles (sand), furrows parallel to each other are made along one side of the garden and around the stones. Thus, the surface of pebbles symbolizes the ocean, and the boulders themselves are islands.
In addition to the specific arrangement of boulders in a group, the Japanese have another tradition - to lay out sacred representatives of the animal world from stones. The following are listed: the stork, as a symbol of the heights conquered by man, as well as the turtle, symbolizing long life.
Important! One of the features of the Japanese rock garden is that no matter what direction a person stands, his gaze always falls on an equal number of stones.
Create a rock garden - a luxurious stone flower garden
If when creating an alpine slide it is important not to overdo it with stones, then in the case of a rock garden the opposite is true. Here, stones, boulders, pebbles, gravel, sand are salted, and plants only complement the inanimate material. Rockeries have their own characteristics: usually they do not have tiers; only the addition of stone peaks is possible. Also, it does not have to be placed in the most visible place; an area without strong lighting will do. Plants in a rock garden must be combined. A variety of conifers, succulents, and annuals will look beautiful.
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Artificial stone: endless variability
The use of natural stone as the main material to create a beautiful landscape around a country house has been practiced for a very long time. However, modern technologies offer a worthy alternative to natural material - artificial stone. It is not inferior to its counterpart in terms of quality characteristics, in addition having undoubted advantages:
- The widest color palette;
- Extended size range;
- Significant weight loss;
- The ability to create elements of complex configuration (tops of fence posts, cast columns, balusters, decorative inserts);
- Ability to imitate any texture.
Artificial stone includes types of bricks, clinker, concrete-based products, synthetic options using natural stone chips. The main point when choosing an artificial stone is confidence in compliance with all technological conditions during its production.
Decorate your garden with a dry stream of stones
If you want to quickly create a durable and attractive composition that does not require special care, choose a dry stream of stones. It’s quite simple to make; in addition, you can take any plants to decorate the stream, not necessarily moisture-loving ones. The composition will not attract mosquitoes, but if necessary, it will become a good place for storm water drainage. Make the base of the stream from small stones, and place large cobblestones along the edges. Or fill the entire stream with pebbles of the same size. See the slideshow below for design ideas.
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Erection of elevated structures
A tall flower garden requires the construction of a powerful retaining wall made of stone 500-1000 mm high. The design of the flower bed will be more original if it is built in a multi-tiered manner. The walls must be secured with cement mortar.
At the first stage, you need to mark the area of the site, taking into account the width of the retaining wall. Then a groove 250-300 mm deep is dug. Fine gravel should be poured onto its bottom in a layer of 100-150 mm.
You can also add fragments of stones or construction debris here. Reinforcing bars or mesh are laid on top, and then concrete is poured.
Then large cobblestones begin to be laid at the first level on the site. They need to be sealed with mortar. Leaving vertical slits will ensure the best outflow of water. After you raise the wall to the desired height, you need to start laying several levels of smooth and attractive blocks.
Remember, to arrange the outer surface of the above-ground part of the retaining wall, it is advisable to turn large stones outwards with a more attractive side.
As a result of the work carried out, you will receive a frame with a cavity inside. Drainage of gravel up to 70 mm thick and sand up to 50 mm should be laid at its bottom. Then nutrient soil is added and watered.
Additional soil is added from above and leveled. This will create an attractive and original composition that can decorate any country house.
Lay out a path of stones at your dacha
Stones will be an excellent basis for a garden path. You can use different materials for it, but it is best to choose cobblestones or rounded rubble stones. Sandstone with an anti-slip effect is also suitable, but it is quite expensive. Of course, you should not make stone paths throughout the entire area; they are not always convenient for transporting goods. Therefore, a small path near the house will be quite enough. Add low-growing plants, such as sedum or ephedra, to the edges of the finished path.
housedb.ru
protoolzone.com
- Do-it-yourself garden paths - how and from what you can make them
All about how to build a practical and beautiful garden path at your dacha.
Types of stone: main features
To decorate the area around a country house, designers propose combining four natural elements - earth, water, wood (living plants) and stone. Decorative stones for landscape design are selected taking into account the appearance of the main structure.
Garden styles using stone decor:
- castle;
- Japanese minimalism (rock garden);
- rural;
- classicism;
- antique.
The chosen style dictates the use of a specific material. Wild stone varies in strength (granite is stronger), size, color, and ease of processing. The artificial material is what the customer wants it to be. Special additives increase strength, expand the color palette, create structure, increase dirt- and moisture-repellent properties, and regulate weight. In addition, concrete stones can be made by hand using molds for garden paths.
Make a simple and effective flower bed with boulders
If you don't want to do anything fancy, try simply placing stones in the flowerbed. For example, a large rough boulder will look beautiful surrounded by bright flowers. Try not to have too tall plants around it, otherwise there will be some neglect effect. Several stones can be placed on all sides of the flowerbed, and it is better to choose material of different sizes to make the composition look more interesting.
Build a waterfall on the site
A pleasant splash of water and small rainbows - all this will become possible if you have your own waterfall on your site. Rocks and stones are an integral part of any waterfall. You will also need pebbles for the bottom and beautiful smooth cobblestones to form the “shores”. You can complement the natural imitation with ledges and rapids, then the waterfall will be especially stormy and attractive.
meadowviewstone.co.uk
Choose plants for the composition taking into account their moisture needs.
- 10 plants that should be planted on the banks of ponds and along streams
A selection of beautiful plants that are ideal for planting along streams and at the base of waterfalls.
Arabesque
This type of stone flower beds is used quite rarely. This is due to the fact that the design of this flower bed is quite formal and suitable for decorating any government buildings.
The arabesque itself looks like a large canvas on which flowers are located. In addition, you can use your imagination and plant flowers so that they are arranged in a pattern.
Let us remind you that this method is one of the most expensive, since the canvas itself is quite large and you will have to plant a lot of flowers.
Evergreens - a complete list with descriptions and recommendations from a gardenerVertical gardening - from idea to implementation, choosing options according to budget and attractiveness (photo + video)
- Vertical flower beds - basic principles and rules for choosing plants and arranging a suburban area with your own hands
In addition to the fact that planting flowers will take a lot of money, they are also very difficult to care for. They only need to be watered using a special hose with a special spray nozzle.
Considering that this method has quite a lot of inconveniences, it also has a plus. The main advantage of this method is that it looks incredibly beautiful and large-scale.
To summarize, this method of laying flower beds is only suitable if you have a fairly large dacha and have a lot of time and money.
But, if you have a rather small dacha area, then it is better to pay attention to other types of stone flower beds.
Decorate your flower beds with stone borders
Decorating a flower bed with stones is a simple and beautiful way to transform your garden. Thanks to this border, plants will not grow, and the appearance of the area will become neater. Place large cobblestones in one row, and place flat pebbles in the form of small towers. It is not necessary to dig the stones in; over time, they will begin to sink into the soil on their own.
Rock garden
As you might have guessed from the name, a flowerbed is a small hill of flowers and stones. You most likely thought that this flowerbed looked very sloppy and ugly. But this is fundamentally not true.
If you choose the right stones and flowers for your rock garden, you will get a pretty beautiful flower bed that will decorate your dacha.
Due to the fact that the flower garden has a multi-level shape, stones need to be selected in different sizes. It is also important that the stones should look organic next to each other. Depending on what kind of dacha you have, you need to make a rock garden of the appropriate shape.
In general, this is a fairly universal flowerbed that is suitable for any area. The main thing is to learn the technique of correctly laying stones on top of each other. This should be done as the size increases.
As for plants, you need to use perennials that will last you a long time.
As for care, everything is not so simple. You need to care for both stones and plants. Yellowed leaves need to be removed from flowers so that healthy leaves do not die.
The main task when caring for stones is to analyze the stability of the entire structure. Simply put, you need to check whether the stones lie securely on top of each other.
These are the main types of flower beds made of stones, which are the most famous and widespread. Make your choice yourself.
We will advise you to experiment and eventually you will find a flowerbed that will look perfect in your dacha.
Use rocks as mulch
Mulch made from gravel or granite chips can be used not only on garden paths or between beds, but also in flower beds. Stones are a durable material, so this mulch will last you for many years. But be careful, in too hot weather, such inorganic mulch can cause overheating of the roots and even death of the plants. Therefore, either make stones part of the composition, or choose a flowerbed in the shade or partial shade for mulching.
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Granite: application in landscape design
Durability, weather resistance, dim colors, accessibility - these are the main advantages of this material. The disadvantages include weight and processing complexity. Examples of using granite:
- A granite block is an excellent vertical for arranging a relaxation corner with sun loungers. On sunny days, the stone heats up quite strongly, therefore, by covering the remaining sides with a hedge, the owners of a suburban area will receive an area with a unique microclimate where they can sunbathe even in early spring.
- Granite paving stones are an almost eternal material. A garden path made of paving stones (small cobblestones) will serve even great-grandchildren, and its installation is comparable in simplicity to playing with children's blocks.
- Granite crushed stone or screenings - serves to fill the space between individual stones in rockeries, alpine slides, emphasizing the “stoniness” of the man-made composition.
Make stylish gabions from stones
Gabions are wire mesh structures filled with stones of different shapes and textures. Gabions are very strong, durable and practical. With their help, you can strengthen the slope of a site that is located in a lowland, or decorate any landscape object - from an alpine hill to a waterfall. This design also looks unusual as garden furniture. Making gabions is not easy, but the result is worth it!
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What you shouldn't forget
The choice of material and the realization of one’s own fantasies is the prerogative of the owner of a suburban area. The main thing when using stone in landscape design is its appropriateness, compliance with the chosen architectural style, as well as the size of the property. A marble Hercules on 6 acres with a wooden house will cause bewilderment; a miniature alpine slide will look strange among the ship’s pines. But a high-quality object that corresponds to the general concept will please the eye every day.
Decorate the banks of the pond with stones
Stones go well with the water element, so they belong near a small pond. Thanks to the stones, you can hide the artificial materials from which the pond is made, and also make it more picturesque. In addition, the stones will extend its service life. For stability, the stone blocks are secured with cement. If the reservoir is deeper than 1 m, you can place several boulders on the bottom so that they can be seen through the water column.
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Where can I get stones
There are many modern companies in all cities of the country where you can buy both natural and decorative materials at a wide variety of prices. Here they will not only sell goods, but also offer a design solution for a specific site. In the absence of available funds, suitable material can be searched in the natural environment. Craftsmen can give it a more sophisticated look.
Did you know? Stones, like living beings, experience birth, growth and death. It’s just that, unlike living organisms, they are able to live for millions of years, remaining unchanged.
