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Gravel landscaping is a fantastic solution for people who really hate maintaining a lawn and garden. Landscapes featuring gravel can be a part of your lawn or, in some areas where grass is extremely difficult to grow, gravel can be combined with rock landscaping to create a very attractive and welcoming landscape.
Southwest landscaping commonly includes gravel features. In areas such as Arizona, Texas and New Mexico and many other hot, dry areas, the cost of irrigating a lawn and garden combined with the frustrations involved with trying to grow grass have resulted in the rising popularity of the gravel landscaping. |
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These gravel and stone landscapes require very little maintenance, so not only does this solve the high cost of watering a lawn, but it also saves time and lawn maintenance cost. In these areas, unless pampered carefully, a lawn will never have that lush look of southeast landscaping where rain and humidity are not a rarity.
Some people think of gravel landscaping as boring and bland. It does not have to be colorless. A well-designed gravel landscape can incorporate colorful features by using colored gravel, colorful benches, walkway designs or lawn accessories to add the color scheme you want. Gravel is readily available in a rainbow of colors and you can get really creative with garden designs, using different colored gravels in different areas of the landscape plans.
To combine rock landscaping with gravel landscaping, you'll want to purchase some large rocks or field stones which can be placed in an attractive display. In many southwest yards, you'll see beautiful displays of natural stone, either a single huge stone or several smaller ones placed in a random-appearing display as if they happened to fall in that pattern. These look great with a large cactus as a natural gravel landscaping focal point.
If you want to mix gravel landscaping with areas of grass or you simply love planting flowers, you can employ borders that will keep the gravel in place and limit your irrigation to the areas that you want the added color and lushness of grass or garden flowers. This provides the best of both worlds!
One great place to implement gravel landscaping in any part of the country, even where grass and garden plants are easy to grow, is under deep shade where it is impossible to grow lush natural lawns. You can landscape the area yourself or hire a professional.
Simply remove all the struggling grass or other plants underneath the large tree in a circular, square or irregular design. Edge the area to be covered in gravel with flexible rubber garden border or four-by-fours, depending on the design you desire, so that the gravel will remain inside the area defined. The flexible border permits you to utilize an irregular edge design, which can add extra interest to your gravel landscaping area. Fill the area inside the border with gravel, either natural or in color, and place a nice table and chair set or a bench for seating in the shadiest area. Your most problematic gardening problem will become the focal point of your lawn!
As you can see, gravel landscaping does not have to be boring. It can be a creative and useful tool to create desert landscaping or solve common lawn problems that have long plagued you.
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