How to make a gravel garden or border - beautiful drought tolerant gardening!

Create a gravel garden for drought tolerant gardening! Also known as a 'dry garden' or 'dry border', this is the answer to having a beautiful garden without needing to water it all the time. Tips from the head gardener at Beth Chatto Gardens, Asa Gregers-Warg.

Find out if your garden is right for a gravel garden, what plants you need and how to plant a dry garden. Planning a dry garden border is different from planning a herbaceous border - here's what you need to know.
00:00 Welcome
00:33 Beth Chatto and how she developed the dry garden
01:12 Asa Gregers-Warg, head gardener at Beth Chatto Gardeners
01:50 How to start a gravel garden or dry garden in our own gardens?
01:41 How to plant a gravel garden

Good dry garden plants include:
From 5.14
1. Stipa tenuissima (Pony tail grass)
2. Stipa gigantea
3. Lychnis coronaria (red campion)
4. Verbascum bombyciferum (Giant mullein)
5. Lavender
Also Agapanthus, alliums, Stachys byzantina, euphorbias and succulents. Some succulents, such as agave, will need to be over-wintered inside in Zones 9 and colder.

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[pansepot]

The Beth Chatto dry garden is stunningly beautiful. The artistry of choosing and combining all those subtle colors and shapes is incredible.
I also greatly appreciate the honesty in explaining that a gravel garden is NOT an easy maintenance garden. I suspected as much having observed how easily seeds germinate in gravel but somewhat this aspect is rarely touched upon on gardening shows. Thanks very much for the upload! Great video full of beauty and useful info.

[margiemaclin]

Thank you for another wonderful video. I never thought to look at a garden in black and white just to see what that reveals.

[steveaustin]

Great advice linking the style of gardening to plants, maintenance and design. I often find it helpful to view my garden at twilight when the colour disappears and it is possible to simply focus on structure and space. You really make every word count in your youtube clips. This makes your work quite a pleasure.

[felimuller]

I recently redesigned my parent's front garden using many of beth chatto's principles and I'm super happy how it turned out. it is south facing, very sandy soil above sandstone and with the street giving off even more heat temperatures can rise above 45 degrees easily. using plants that cope with these conditions has already paid off, even in the current heat and drought watering is absolutely minimal.
thank you for this video, as always, very informative!

[carmenbailey]

The gravel give a neat and peaceful look, but I have to say my love is still cottage gardens. Thanks for sharing 👍❤️😊

[kellic]

I absolutely love the idea of imagining the garden in black and white! I’m about to go outside and take some photos of areas that need work and put a b&w filter on them - brilliant! Thanks for another great video!

[GrannysGarden]

Finally a dry garden with a bit of interest. So many dry gardens are just rosemary and thyme with some palm elements and this garden has shown that there are so many other options available. Very interesting video.

[beththurston]

Lovely garden! I saw some very familiar plants as I have a native plant garden in coastal Southern California. Thanks for the tour and really good advice!

[bluesky]

I garden in the prairies of Colorado where our annual rainfall is about 15 inches with humidity hovering around 30 percent. It is very dry. I have had xeric gardens for close to 30 years, but do have to do supplemental watering because the combination of wind, sun, low humidity and low rainfall will turn these plants into crispy critters. 😁 Of course some do better than others. I have always admired the Beth Chatto gardens. They are truly beautiful. Thank you for the informative and candid interview Alexandra.

[janewoods]

I hope to use a few of these tips in my garden in Spain! Many thanks.

[ankabubanj]

I would like more plants on that list... Also some trees and shrubs if possible to add to the list... Thank you for a very interesting and educational video... Would like more like that... Maybe a prairie garden in next video to come... Once again thank you... Greetings from Croatia!!!

[lynnmoss]

Oh I see my previous question here about the grass answered. Stipa, so beautiful, but not hardy to zone 6. I will find something similar. Thank you for another great video!

[helenyoung]

Thank you for that, it was fascinating and I have learnt a lot and will be using that knowledge in my garden even though I live in a very wet part of the south west !!!

[paultsworld]

This was really interesting Alexandra - I fancy gravelling a part of my English Garden. Although I'm in the NW of England the soil is sandy and therefore very dry.

[paulawalker]

Thank you, Alexandra, for another very interesting and relevant video. Some great tips.

[barbll]

Very beautiful gardens. I love the gravel. It's also makes a soothing crunching sound when you walk on it which I love. I'm currently about to install gravel pathways in my garden. They are long overdue and the lack of division makes the beds look messy.

[heidinoreng]

Many questions answered! Wonderful garden

[leafygreensla]

Answered my question of membrane below gravel Y/N: answer is No. Many thanks!

[inglishhomeandgarden]

Thank you for a great episode.
(- Särskilt tack till Åsa.)
The gravel garden is amazing!

[michellebeissel]

Fabulous episode! Asa is GREAT. Thank you.