The Zimbabwean Gardener Issue 2 Spring 2012 | Page 13

Garden design
When we were living down South, we found people were
moving more and more towards hardscaping, as they were
low maintenance gardens. Low maintenance does not mean a
mundane garden with no interest; it is more in keeping with our
lifestyles, budgets and style.

Hardscaping is all about landscaping with
non living materials such as pebbles, gravel,
stepping stones, trellises, decking and
statues to enhance the look of a garden.
The use of pebbles plays a large part in low maintenance
gardens. However, it can also bring so much more to the
garden, as it creates texture, contrast, enhances features and
mostly importantly you can relate it to any style.

If you use pebbles in your garden, do it
where they will not be littered by leaves and
other debris, or it will end up looking messy

Why use pebbles
In Zimbabwe, we have wonderful rolling lawns and large
herbaceous borders, however, water is becoming scarcer
and we need to adapt our way of gardening. One way of
reducing not only our water usage, but also our lawn area
is by hardscaping with pebbles, gravel and decorative sand,
which is all available in Zimbabwe. These act as great covers
or mulch, which prevent evaporation making it suitable for
water wise gardens.

Another great use for pebbles is that with a bit of imagination
and creativity, you can use them in areas where plants do not
grow well, to cover up bare patches in the garden bed or for
areas where traffic is heavy. Deep shade is an ideal place for
the use of pebbles, as it is always difficult to find something
to grow well in these areas. It does not take much to be
imaginative with pebbles, as by simply adding them to any
feature, gives it a wow factor.

How to pebble up your garden
If a garden bed is looking sparse in a certain area or
plants are not growing well there, redesign your bed by
using pebbles to fill in the gaps. Choose the shape of
the area where you want to put the pebbles, then find
an appropriate focal feature such as a birdbath, bench
or fountain. If you put in a bench, put stepping stones
leading towards it to make it more inviting. Border the
area around the pebbles with low lying plants with thick
foliage.
Create a modern looking aloe or succulent garden using
pebbles as a ground cover which will add more contrast;
small white pebbles always look good with succulents.
Remember to place plants in groups of uneven numbers.
If you do have an established succulent garden, give it a
facelift by covering your bare soil with pebbles.

Pebbles act as great covers or mulch, which prevent
evaporation making it suitable for water wise gardens.

Pebbles are great to use as paths but they need to
be retained by either using mondo grass, cobbles or
edged with bricks. To add more interest to the path, add
stepping stones in between, which will enhance the path
even more.

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