Proposed Gravel Garden - ideas and advice appreciated!

Great ideas thankyou. I'm sure the husband could move the car over a wee bit if I threatened him

 

My first idea was a sort of crescent moon shape in the bottom left corner there. But I wasn't sure how to define it or make it look like a bed- thought it might just look sort of random. Not fussy abt looking like a shared space really, just want my share of it to have plants in and look good

 

It isn't the kind of thing you could whistle up on the back of an envelope and get done in half an hour is it... I need to get a list of possibilities and then think hard. Thank goodness for you lot!

 

I think you said earlier that your not a fan of planters (or I might have imagined that), but have you considered that there are some really nice ones available, albeit at a premium, that are not the cheap looking plastic ones? In my head I'm imagining a collection of different styles and sizes, all hunched together in a corner, with a quarter circle inside if that makes sense. Each one planted with different plants to your taste.

Apart from looking good from the outset, it has two major advantages that spring to mind. The first is that you can rearrange them to your heart's content until you get it just how you want it. The second is that if you have some inconspicuous storage space elsewhere on the property, you can swap them in and out so the ones on show are always at their best. For example, a container of beautiful spring flowers might look a bit sad in autumn, so you get the old sack barrow out and move the whole container, and switch in something that's at its best at the end of the year.

 

No room anywhere, tiny house and tiny back garden. And I don't like planters but this is an excellent way to plan and design what I want. I could buy the plants, mess around with the pots until I get them where I want them, then dig a hole and shove them in it. Just need to get the shape right. Not sure if I want the semi circular thing or the more formal border up the path thing. My brain hurts. I think I need cake.

 

Thanks clueless xxx

 

Ok. I feel that I'll go with the formal straight lines look, as that will fit with the modern look of the house. Plus I think it will be easier for me to stick to and harder for me to mess up - although I did fancy a crescent moon shaped bed too. But for now, I think some kind of lavender border up both sides of the path, then maybe adding green stuff to that when it's done. I wouldn't have been able to work this out without you lot, TYVM.
Now to find out who does a good price for 5000 lavender plants...

 

J Parkers are currently offering some good deals on multi packs of lavender.

Lavender is an excellent choice. It has almost everything going for it. The only one downside is that after a few years it tends to get leggy and straggly. There are ways to mitigate this, but it is something to keep in mind.

 

I could add Rosemary or Veronica once the lavender is in and I see how it looks, and I can thin out and tidy the lavender every year. Awesome! I do like a A Plan

 

You said you didn't want pots fumanchu but how about something like these...

 

really thought I wrote a whole statement on this thread but can't find it.
Anyway, with gravel as it will absorb sun, and become hot, plant roots will cook, and get dried out etc. I am assuming your continuing the gravel as a weed preventative that is. Me, would not use gravel around any plants.

 

Sheal, these are lovely but still come under the heading of "pots" in my brain (what's left of it).
Redstar that's why I wanted a gravel garden setup with plants that will cope ok in gravel. It's not so much the weed control thing as a tidyness thing. I just don't like pots plonked here and there - I prefer plants in the ground.
I could do a border around the gravel - I'd have to pay somebody local to do it, but we could maintain it. I did think of that at one stage but didn't know what to put in it. That's why I come on here and pester you lot - my head is full of wee plants running around and I can't get them to sit still!

 

I'm wondering what the soil under the gravel is like it's possible that it's pretty poor stuff and badly compacted.
Lots of people use gravel over here around plants @redstar, as a weed suppressant on top of a membrane.
Especially with Mediterranean type plants, it also stops mud splashing up on the plants in wet weather.

 

Pete it looks rubbish and is full of horrible black spiders. I'm not touching it - will get somebody to do it for me.

 

Are you going to get rid of all of it then?