Gravel Gardens Are Popping Up In every single place—Here’s Tips on how to Plant One Correctly

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In his new e book, former editor-in-chief of Better Homes & Gardens Stephen Orr takes a firsthand strategy to gardening, sharing essays about his lifelong horticultural pursuits and suggestions from all these years of expertise. And on this chapter of the e book he’s solely sharing with Domino readers, Orr reveals extra in regards to the type of his personal seaside backyard in Cape Cod, referred to as a stone backyard or gravel backyard, a “waterwise” custom that works effectively in locations that get plenty of rain—or little or no.

Creating a gravel backyard of vegetation that might be completely happy in a layer of silvery pea gravel has been a dream of mine for many years. My obsession started early with the entrance yard of a girl who lived down the road from us within the West Texas city the place I grew up. Contrary to all of the keepers of trim inexperienced lawns on our avenue, Mrs. Ramsey topped her yard in gravel and dotted it with agaves and prickly pears, twisted mesquite bushes, and a sequence of seasonal flowers, together with California poppies and poppy anemones in spring. There’s one thing dramatic in regards to the spare simplicity of vegetation poking up, seemingly randomly, by way of a mulch of stone. I used to be drawn to the otherworldly look of her plantings—a lot in order that I felt I needed to possess a few of that magnificence. I snuck down early one spring morning to snip all her anemones and a good portion of her larkspurs, which I hid in our doghouse. I used to be shortly came upon by my mother, who should’ve puzzled what I used to be doing on the market. She pressured me to return the limp stems to Mrs. Ramsey, which I did tearfully. I bear in mind her solely as a shadowy determine in a doorway carrying cat-eyed glasses above a grim mouth.

My gravel backyard desires had been additionally nourished by the books I learn once I was a younger rooftop metropolis gardener, dreaming of an in-ground backyard. The late English backyard author Beth Chatto’s The Dry Garden, first revealed in 1978, is commonly credited with beginning the dry or gravel gardening development each within the UK and among the many backyard cognoscenti within the United States. Say her identify and most avid gardeners will reply with “right plant, right place,” a phrase she popularized within the Nineteen Sixties. The phrase has develop into a horticultural cliché, although clichés develop into clichés as a result of they’re true. Her idea was easy—don’t put vegetation the place they don’t wish to develop. She was motivated by all of the vegetation she and her husband had planted (and misplaced) through the years. It may appear odd that one of many seminal consultants on dry gardening lived in England, however her area of East Anglia is likely one of the driest components on the island, with a mean of lower than twenty-four inches of rainfall a 12 months.

Chatto centered on vegetation from Mediterranean climates around the globe the place winters are chilly however not frigid, and summers are sizzling, sunny, and dry. Not all such cool-wet-winter and dry-sunny-summer vegetation hail from areas across the Mediterranean Sea. They additionally might be present in coastal areas of South Africa, Australia, California, and components of South America. These coastal plant communities share a standard thread of resilience and toughness, whether or not they’re within the scrubby garigues of southern France, Greece’s phrygana, California’s chaparral, the South African fynbos, or the matorral of southern Spain and South America. On Cape Cod, Massachusetts, we have now our personal sandy coastal heathlands made up of bearberry, black huckleberry, broom crowberry, and lowbush blueberries that develop the place bushes had been felled way back by early colonists or cleared by fireplace. Though my backyard is commonly dry in midsummer, one in all its saving graces is the quantity of maritime dew that varieties on the vegetation in a single day, including very important moisture to the rising setting—simply as within the Mediterranean.

Though we have now planted and discovered from many issues in our gravel check plot, this spring we’re planning to scrape the entire house and herald an enormous supply of recent gravel as soon as finalizing a design. I’m envisioning winding pathways amongst islands of vegetation, utilizing Chatto’s triangular design ideas the place a tall plant is flanked by a supporting case of lower-growing vegetation and ground-hugging mat varieties. It’s a glance borrowed from nature with a random/not random grouping and pretty dramatic top adjustments that vary from a couple of inches to a number of ft. Right now, it exists solely on paper. While we look forward to this subsequent section, we have now been spending a good period of time weeding and trimming again the catmints, lavenders, and santolina, which have quintupled in dimension over three years. Backlit by the comfortable mild of an Outer Cape sundown that gilds every plant’s edge, this backyard that mixes laborious stone surfaces with delicate flowers appears like Utopia to me. I wish to suppose Mrs. Ramsey would approve.

These waterwise gardens work effectively each in areas that get little rain or plenty of rain. The gravel conserves soil moisture throughout dry spells whereas offering sharp drainage and absorption throughout downpours. During my time planning our backyard, I’ve come throughout quite a lot of contradictory data, so I’ve tried to seize probably the most useful suggestions right here.

Tips for Creating a Gravel Garden

Assess Your Native Soil Conditions

Heavy clay retains an excessive amount of water. Gravel gardens require pretty free-draining or sandy soil. But the gravel will even retain a useful little bit of moisture beneath the plant like every mulch. Many vegetation appropriate for such a location, resembling Mediterranean varieties, want leaner soils over compost-rich ones.

Know the Impact Gravel Has on the Environment

Used loosely, gravel is a catchall time period for all small stone. Technically, although, it’s extra rounded, fashioned naturally by the weathering motion of water, whereas crushed stone is sharper-edged and machine-made in a quarry. Both gravel mining and crushed stone may cause habitat disruption and water high quality points, however crushed stone entails exponentially extra processing and vitality consumption to provide.

Aim for a Layer of Gravel Between Three and Four Inches

Some say six, relying on website situations. Gravel depth is necessary. A thinner layer will enable naked earth or weeds to come back by way of, whereas too thick of a layer can hinder plant efficiency and make strolling or shifting a wheelbarrow tough.

Choose Your Gravel Color Wisely

Consider your native stone and consider the colour in each a moist and dry state. Using native supplies will assist combine the backyard with its environment.

Take Into Account the Shape and Size of the Gravel

This is essential for walkways. Rounded gravel can flip and slide underfoot, and bigger stones might be uncomfortable to stroll on barefoot. Choose angular stones with a one-sided cleave for visitors areas, as they type a tighter bond that may help foot visitors or gear. Fine gravel ranges from mud to ⅛ inch. Pea gravel ranges from ⅛ inch to ⅜ inch. The latter is appropriate for strolling however can stick in sneakers and journey indoors. Smaller gravels want an edging barrier to maintain them in place. Medium gravel ranges from ⅜ inch to ¾ inch and may face up to extra visitors as a result of it’s heavier and doesn’t transfer round as a lot. Coarse gravel, starting from ¾ inch to 2 inches, is usually used for building or drainage tasks. 

Read the Fine Print

When ordering gravel, notice that the listed dimension within the commerce displays the filter or grate used to kind it, not essentially the top product dimension. “0 to ¾” signifies a grate with ¾-inch holes, permitting materials together with stone mud to move by way of. Specifying “¾ clean” will lead to a supply of solely ¾-inch stones. “Minus” gravel merchandise comprise high quality or dust-size particles, whereas “clean” gravel merchandise are washed and due to this fact costlier.

Avoid Landscape Fabric or Plastic Grid Systems

They are sometimes advised as a layer beneath any gravel utility to suppress weeds. However, {many professional} gardeners know the unreal layer could make a scenario worse, as weeds connect themselves to the material and soil well being turns into compromised resulting from lack of aeration. I additionally keep away from them as a result of most merchandise comprise, or are product of, plastic, and I don’t wish to add that to the environment. The appropriate gravel depth ought to assist cease weeds from germinating.

Plant With Care

Planting a gravel backyard in spring or fall can work higher in areas with sizzling, dry summers. Use smaller vegetation, as they require much less water and develop extra shortly as soon as their roots set up. Soak every plant earlier than putting it in a generously dug gap.

Excerpted from THE GARDENER’S MINDSET by Stephen Orr. Text and pictures copyright © 2026 by Stephen Orr. Illustrations copyright © 2026 by Chad Jacobs. Photograph on web page 75 by Johanna Burke. Photograph on web page 198 by Nancy Iacoi. Published within the United States by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.