The Zimbabwean Gardener Issue 2 Spring 2012 | Page 14

Have you always wanted a stream going through your
garden? By creating a dry riverbed with pebbles, you will be
able to achieve something similar at a much cheaper price
too. Choose a small section of your garden where the dry
riverbed will run through. Dig a small trench for the riverbed.
Make sure you use different sized pebbles and plant up beds
on either side to give it a more natural feel. Use plants that
will cascade over the pebbles to make it appear even more
natural such as grasses, ferns and lilies. To add an extra touch
to your river, build a small bridge over it.

Be daring and remove a portion of a bed, keeping a
couple of plants as focal points to give your design
dimension, such as bushes, palms or small trees. Then
scatter different sized pebbles around the base with the
desired design in mind. Add a couple of low water wise
plants to enhance the design as well as pots at different
angles for height. A good way to use broken pots is to
bury the broken part and have pebbles flowing out.
By adding pebbles to cover the soil in a pot plant, not o