More recently, summer cottages were densely planted with fruit trees and shrubs, and the remaining land was divided into neat beds. Today, it’s not the friendly ranks of vegetable crops that delight the eye, but lawns, gazebos and pools. The beds have lost their positions to elegant flower beds. Country plots are increasingly used for outdoor activities. At the same time, the fantasy that the owners of the site show is envied by professional designers. What are, for example, flowerbeds made of stones with their own hands built by caring summer residents. However, knowing the rules for choosing a suitable stone and methods for laying it, it is not so difficult to break a beautiful flowerbed.
We choose stones for a country flower bed
For the device beds of natural stones in the country use a different material. Including:
- Sandstone. Enough decorative stone with many different shades of gray, yellow, brown and even red. It allows air to pass through but is not too durable.
- Limestone. White, gray, and even cream limestone stones have a porous structure. Cracks of such stones are filled with earth, after which improvised containers can be used to plant plants in them. Algae and mosses grow well on limestone.
- Tuf (travertine). Tufa is also a type of limestone. Plants planted in a hole on travertine can grow and beautifully braid a stone. Groundcover plants are used for this purpose.
- Gneiss (slate). Gneiss flat slabs can have a very attractive green, purple or blue color.
- Granite. This stone is not so often used, despite its visual appeal. He is able to greatly acidify the soil. It is used in small quantities.
- Basalt. This amazing stone, due to its decorative appearance, is often used to decorate and create flower beds.
- Pebbles. Such a generalized name are stones of different sizes and colors, having a rounded shape. Water grinds such stones, and use them for flower beds of various kinds.
- Dolomite. This is a mineral and rock, which can become a real decoration of any flowerbed. Dolomite is often used as an ornamental stone.
Usually, to create a flower bed, one or several large boulders are chosen, around which a composition of smaller stones is created. Thinking about how to make a functional flower bed of stones, we stock up on additional materials. Sand, gravel and large gravel are required for drainage. For mulching, wood bark, peat and small gravel are prepared.
1. sandstone - a beautiful, but short-lived material; 2. limestone - has a porous structure, suitable for growing moss; 3. tuff - often used for growing ground cover plants; 4. slate - a very beautiful stone
1. granite - a beautiful stone, which is rarely used, as it acidifies the soil; 2. dolomite - often used as an ornamental stone; 3. basalt - a stone that always looks advantageous; 4. pebbles - a material used not only for flower beds, but also for paving
The general harmony of space is achieved by adding decorative paths or ponds to the flowerbed of stones, in the decoration of which stones are also used. For example, pebbles or marble chips.
General rules for placing a flower garden
If you have to build not just a curb of stones, but the entire flowerbed, the use of stones of the same type and similar geometry is not a prerequisite. The use of different stones, each of which will bring its own emphasis, may be a good find. But do not forget that the basic style in the design of the entire garden, its buildings and flower beds should be preserved.
There are general rules for breaking flower beds, which must be taken into account:
- beautiful flower beds made of stones should be located so that their presence does not interfere, but delight: for this purpose, a place along the wall of the house or in the central part of the garden is suitable;
- plants need conditions for growth and flowering, therefore, they should be selected according to the same conditions of comfort, for example, ferns and periwinkles prefer the shaded part of the garden, and marigolds and lupins are light-loving plants;
- when planting plants, it is necessary to take into account their relationship to moisture, size and other properties;
- the flowerbed itself should have a fairly simple form;
- it’s easier to make one large flower bed than two small ones.
The last rule is simply taken into account, because lesser efforts do not always provide a better result. The number and location of flower beds depends on the overall design of the site.
A small but bright flower bed located near the fence pleasantly refreshes the landscape of the site and does not interfere with the walks and rest of summer residents
A flower bed with stones in the center of the plot forms its own relaxation area, which is quite capable of replacing, for example, a gazebo
The procedure for arranging flower beds with stone fencing
You can, of course, make an ordinary flower garden and decorate it with a curb made of natural stone, but more and more often the owners of the plots prefer to create tall flower beds made of stone. They look more solid and solid. For such a structure, it is necessary to lay stones in several levels until the wall for the flower garden reaches the desired height.
The device of a stone bed will have to start with the foundation. Take twine, pegs and note the estimated location of the flower garden. We will dig a trench along its perimeter with a depth of about 30 cm and a width corresponding to the size of the stones to be used. You can remove the layer of earth from the entire surface of the future flower garden.
It’s not so difficult to break a flower bed of stones: you need to make a foundation, wait until it dries, fill the ground and plant plants
At the bottom of the resulting recess, you can put polyethylene or roofing material. Now you can fill the concrete foundation. A foundation that is strong and ready to use will be an excellent foundation for a stone flower bed. Stones should be laid on a completely dried foundation.
Making a flower bed on a concrete base is optional. If you confine yourself to a groove around the perimeter of the structure, you need to lay it out with geotextiles and fill it with sand a third. The most massive stones are laid on compacted sand.
Natural stones are heterogeneous and valuable precisely because of the uniqueness of their sizes and shapes. But the naturalness of the stones leads to the fact that they are quite difficult to fit to each other. The gaps between the stones are filled with earth, which must be well compacted. Now the stones will half peep out of the trench, tightly fixed with sand and earth. They will become the basis for the entire structure.
For subsequent masonry, a solution can be used. If the flower bed is made of stones and cement, drainage holes should be provided in its lower layer. In addition, cement should be used only from the inner surface of the stones, so that the effect of dry masonry is preserved on the outside.
The flower bed does not have to be of outstanding size: even a small flower garden is able to emphasize the style of the site, make it more comfortable
After cement hardens from a garden spray, a special sealant is applied to the surface of the flowerbed. It will prevent the formation of various cracks in the joints of stones. Remember that the cement solution does not reach the required degree of strength immediately, but only after a week. And then it’s possible to fill the ground and plant all the supposed plants.
If the height of the structure does not exceed 60 cm, then cement can be dispensed with. Stones are laid in a dry way, carefully fitting them to each other and filling the voids with earth. The low construction of the stones does not collapse if you try to pick up the stones in shape, minimizing possible voids.
