Gravel Garden
The Gravel Garden
The gravel garden was a late addition to the Scott County Teaching Garden in 2022 during the renovation of the entire garden. The space originally was a spot that contained gravel and weeds.
When the garden renovation occurred, and the Pergola Garden was planted with plants in maroon and “gold” (colors of the University of Minnesota), and the gravel area seemed to be “screaming” to “do something to it!”
Because a “Gravel Garden” seemed like it would fit for that space, it seemed to be a good name for this new garden.
How does one plant a Gravel Garden? Looking to the internet, it seems to be a simple way to grow a garden!
Since the Pergola Garden was filled with maroon and “gold” plants, it seemed the plants in the Gravel Garden needed to somehow coordinate with its’ neighboring garden, and its plants also needed to be drought-tolerant.
The plants decided on were:
- “Domino” Yellow & Red Coreopsis: The red in this plant is more like a maroon color. 15” high. Blooms in Summer.
- Black-Eyed Susan ‘Deamii’: Yellow with a brown center. 24-30” high. Blooms in June-September
- Sedum ‘Sunsparkler Dazzleberry’: A succulent, grows to 8” high. Blooms in late summer to autumn.
Heuchera “Plum Pudding”: Grows to 8” high, and blooms in summer. This is an experiment. This variety normally doesn’t belong in a “full sun” setting. However, the color is amazing, and the thought is maybe the other plants surrounding themwill give them a bit of shade.
- Ninebark ‘Fireside’: Drought Tolerant, foliage is deep red to purple. Height 5-7’, the plan is to keep it on the smaller side by trimming in the spring.
- Day Lily ‘Stella De Oro’: Bloom time Early summer-autumn. Height=12”
- Penstemon ‘Husker Red’: This plant was moved from the Memorial Garden. The leaves are maroon and it gets small white flowers in late spring/summer. Mature Height=28 to 32” tall.
The key, to establishing the plants in the gravel garden is to prevent the root balls from drying out, until they have a chance to root down below the gravel layer.
Step 1– Lined the bed with bricks to contain the pea rock (gravel)
Step 2– Removed as many weeds as possible from the existing gravel. Ideally, the space should have about 4-5 inches of gravel. In this garden, there is 3 to 4 inches.
Step 3– Before planting, the roots of the plants were soaked in water for about 10 minutes, so they were good and wet. Then a hole was dug through the gravel which was 2 times larger than that of the plant, compost was added to the hole, and then the plant was added. It was a very windy day which added to the importance of watering these plants.
Important – The crown of the plant should meet the top of the gravel.
It is important to water the planted area well until the plant has been established into the soil.
Credits
- Pinterest-finegardening.com
- Pinterest-gardengatemagazine.com
- Better Homes and Gardens-bhg.com