Digging In: My New Garden Obsession

By Jennifer Smith 

One of the joys of gardening is there’s always something new to try, be it a new plant, gardening philosophy or way to approach garden design and care. One should never be bored if gardening is your passion.  Lately I’ve become obsessed with gravel gardens. A slew of Amazon book deliveries will attest as much. Can you ever have too many plants or garden books? No.

I was inspired by Beth Chatto and her gravel garden, as have many fine and talented garden designers that offer me endless inspiration, such as Dan Pearson. Beth’s approach to gardening an area that would have been a turn-off to many if they were not permitted to completely overhaul the soil and build a new garden foundation, was revolutionary, or at least it was to me.  Her carpark turned garden was comprised of rather poor-quality soil over a base of a well-draining sandy gravely mix. Rather than fight the site she found plants that would thrive in such a setting. The compacted earth was broken up to improve drainage and soil amendments were added, not to transform the garden space, but to give new plants a little boost. The plants were watered once, and only once. Her plants thrived in the site with the soil and the water allocated by nature. Her garden was a brilliant testament to the right plants for the space. 

I was eager to create our own gravel garden. Fortunately, we had an area in the garden that was less than perfect, or more honestly, I was aching to replant with something new. With Beth Chatto in mind, we removed the plants and pine straw and added a rock perimeter and filled the space with several inches of chipped limestone. In this bed of gravel would go our plants.  Native cactus, pink muhly grass, Baptisia, Kniphofia, Agastache and a smattering of annuals were added to the garden.  It’s rarely watered and only a handful of weeds have been removed. At first, the open areas of gravel looked a bit harsh, but within two months the garden was awash with colorful blooms and the buzz of delighted pollinators. Skippers, monarchs and hummingbirds contribute to the beauty, and success of this garden. 

It’s a very forgiving garden. There’s little need to weed as it takes a long time for seeds to set roots through the deep gravel. I can walk in the garden at any time without fear of compacting loose, well amended soil. I find the gravel to be an attractive setting for the type of plants we are keen to add to such a site. The garden should never need a gravel refresh, at least not for many years to come. The conditions created in this space is conducive to a generous plant offering ensuring blooms from early spring to late fall. It’s late October as I draft this column, and the garden is still in full bloom. 

The gravel garden may be the answer to the ever-frustrating strip of lawn between the street and the public walk. This no-man’s-land of sod is often neglected and unbecoming.  It’s narrow, difficult to keep watered, can get hot and is often subjected to excess snow when the streets are plowed and treated with salt.  What if we transformed the lawn strip to a gravel garden? Expenses would be minimum as this space is often small. It could be economically planted with a new plant or color palette of annuals each spring. Unlike creek rock which is a guaranteed ankle buster and is difficult to keep tidy as it collects debris, chipped stone is safe to walk on, should one walk through the garden and is easy to keep clean. As long as you keep sight lines open and preserve space for people to cross from the street to the sidewalk, a gravel garden may be the key to transforming a landscape deficit to a garden showcase.  

The results in our gravel gardens are very promising. I look forward to adding more such gardens and sharing the results with you, here. Until then, happy gardening!

Jennifer Smith is an award-winning pollinator garden designer with Wimberg Landscaping.